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1. President Bush says he is keeping troop strength in Iraq mostly the same until the next president takes over. About 4,000 Marines support troops are slated¹ to return in the coming months. But no Army brigades will pull out this year.

2. Western intelligence experts are checking rumors² that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il may be sick, possibly suffering from a stroke. Kim has not been seen for weeks and he did not show up for a parade marking the 60th anniversary of North Korea's founding.

3. Hurricane Ike is moving across the Caribbean, dumping rain on Cuba. The storm is blamed  for 80 deaths and will most likely move out over the Gulf³ of Mexico, possibly strengthening before hitting Texas or northern Mexico.

4. Polar bears in Japan have turned green, drawing questions from puzzled visitors at this zoo. The bears are normally white of course,but had a change of color after swimming in a pool overgrown with algae⁴. 

WORDS IN THE NEWS
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online
Merriam-Webster Online

1.take over [PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), V P from n, V P]
If you take over a job or role or if you take over, you become responsible for the job after someone else has stopped doing it.

2.be slated to  [V-PASSIVE: be V-ed to-inf, be V-ed for n]
If something is slated to happen, it is planned to happen at a particular time or on a particular occasion.
Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture...
Controversial energy measures are slated for Senate debate within days.

3.pull out
move out or away
"The troops pulled out after the cease-fire"

4.blame vt.
to say or think that someone or something is responsible for something bad
blame sb/sth for sth
Marie still blames herself for Patrick's death.
The report blames poor safety standards for the accident.
The decision to increase interest rates was widely blamed (=blamed by many people) for the crisis.

5.overgrown
If a garden or other place is overgrown, it is covered with a lot of untidy plants because it has not been looked after.
We hurried on until we reached a courtyard overgrown with weeds...