CNN 2008-09-15

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I’m Asieh Namdar at the CNN.com Newsroom in Atlanta. Here is a look at what’s happening NOW IN THE NEWS. 

The largest search and rescue operation ever in Texas has saved thousands of lives. Rescue workers are scouring¹ the Texas coast by helicopter, boat and on foot. So far rescuers have taken nearly 2, 000 people to safety. Rescuers are going door-to-door in Galveston where some of the most extensive damage from Hurricane Ike was seen. The bodies of three people were found among the wreckage² in Galveston today. But city officials say they won’t have an exact number until all of Galveston is searched.

It could be more than a month before power is restored in Galveston area. That’s what city officials are telling CNN about efforts to restore power. They say more than 500 people are having to be sent to San Antonio because of safety and sanitation³ problems resulting from the outages. The storm also battered⁴ Houston. Ike left high-rises without windows, roads filled with debris⁵, and thousands of residents without power. Houston’s mayor is asking the utility companies to do everything humanly possible to restore power. 

The remnants of hurricane Ike, which now are a tropical depression, are racing⁶ through the Midwest. The system is dumping heavy rain in several states and forcing officials to issue flood warnings and watches. And Chicago is under the gun from even more flooding because of Ike. Ike’s rains are piling up on the record amounts from another tropical system that moved over Chicago yesterday. Our record-breaking 6 inches of rain fell at O’Hare Airport last night and more is expected today. Chicago city officials are asking the state’s governor to declare a flood disaster. 

In Russia, government investigators⁷ say engine failure probably caused today’s crash of a passenger jet that killed all 88 people on board. The Boeing 737 took off from Moscow and was about to land in Perm when the pilot lost contact with air traffic controllers. Russian authorities say one passenger on board was an American. The US embassy says it’s trying to confirm it. Rescue teams have recovered the plane’s flight data recorder. 

And Nigeria’s main rebel group has declared an “oil war” in response to what it says ‘are unprovoked attacks by Nigerian government forces’. The group known as MEND says it has deployed⁸ hundreds of war boats and armed fighters to attack the country’s oil industry. MEND rebels have targeted four oil groups since 2006, bombing pipelines⁹ and kidnapping workers.

And those are the headlines this hour. For more on these stories and other news of the day, CNN is your source online, on TV or when you’re on the go.