around_the_world_today_August_08

AROUND THE WORLD: AUGUST 1st - 12th, 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - MARCH 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - APRIL 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - MAY 1st - 20th, 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - MAY 21st - 31st, 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - JUNE 1st - 15th, 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - JUNE 16th - 30th, 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - JULY 1st - 19th, 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - JULY 20th - 31st, 2008

Subject: Around the World Today - Tuesday 12th August

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Deep 6.2 Earthquake felt in region.

ENGLAND: Norfolk - The fire service has been inundated with calls to homes in the county because of flash flooding. The heavy rain led to about 90 calls to flooding incidents in the space of an hour this morning from 9.45am to 10.45am (Tuesday) by Norfolk County Council's fire and rescue service.

UKRAINE: A tornado damaged 12 houses and four cars in Kamyanka village in the Leninskiy district of the Crimea. According to the Ministry of Emergency's Crimean Directorate, the tornado hit the village and then went to the Sea of Azov. A group of Ministry of Emergency rescuers is working in the village.

VIETNAM: Specimens from 570 ducks raised by two households in Vietnam's southern Ben Tre province have been recently tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, according to local newspaper Youth on Tuesday. The bird flu test has been conducted by Vietnam's 6th Regional Animal Health Center, the newspaper quoted the provincial Veterinary Bureau as reporting. The bureau has disinfected and isolated the affected areas in Ben Tre's Ba Tri district.

ENGLAND: Dorset - Strong winds have blown a rare Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish on to the Dorset coast - the third to be reported in days. The jellyfish, which are found in tropical waters, have long tentacles that produce an excruciating and potentially fatal sting. But yesterday a live 6in man-of-war was found in Kimmeridge Bay, with others seen at Burton Bradstock and Durdle Door. Julie Hatcher at Dorset Wildlife Trust said they were blown across the sea.

USA: Alaska - Alaska Airlines canceled 41 flights by early on Monday because of a towering plume of ash created by the eruption of a volcano last week, the airline said. The cancellations began Sunday evening and affected flights between Alaska and Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Colombia, the airline said in a statement. The ash was created by the eruption of Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutian Islands on Thursday.

NIGERIA: A strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza previously not recorded in sub-Saharan Africa has been detected in Nigeria for the first time, FAO said today. Nigeria has recently reported two new Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks in the states of Katsina and Kano. Laboratory results from Nigeria and an FAO reference laboratory in Italy show that the newly discovered virus strain is genetically different from the strains that circulated in Nigeria during earlier outbreaks in 2006 and 2007. The new strain has never been reported before in Africa; it is more similar to strains previously identified in Europe (Italy), Asia (Afghanistan) and the Middle East (Iran) in 2007. �The detection of a new avian influenza virus strain in Africa raises serious concerns as it remains unknown how this strain has been introduced to the continent.

USA: Georgia - Patients and staff members were forced to evacuate the emergency room at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egelston early Sunday morning. The DeKalb County hazmat team was called after a chemical smell made several people sick. A mother and child were brought in by EMS suffering from effects of chemicals that were brought with them. A staff member opened the chemical in ER which lead to that having to be evacuated and decontaminated. Turn out to be swimming pool tablets, probably chlorine based. (Want a good exercise scenario? Small truck in RTI damages cargo of chlorine tablets. Light rain and light breeze)

KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti oil official says a small explosion at one of the country's oil refineries has killed one Asian worker and injured another. Production was not affected. Basil al-Dabbous, spokesman for the state-owned Kuwait National Petroleum Company, says Monday's blast at the Shuaiba refinery was an accident that took place during routine maintenance. He says the injured man is in stable condition. Al-Dabbous says the refinery's production of 200,000 barrels a day was not affected. Shuaiba is the smallest of Kuwait's three refineries. Oil is the mainstay of the tiny Gulf country's economy.

TURKEY: Four workers were killed Monday and twelve others were injured in an accident that occurred at a troubled shipyard in Istanbul's Tuzla. The sixteen workers fell into sea when the ropes of a ship's boat snapped.

VENEZUELA: A 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook east Venezuela on Monday morning, damaging dozens of buildings and forcing patients to evacuate a hospital in the oil producing region. The epicenter of the quake was on the coast of the state of Sucre at a depth of 18.6 miles (30 km), about 190 miles (305 km) east of Caracas, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

CYPRUS: The level of water at dams is very critical, according to the Water Development Board and in spite of various measures the government is taking to ease the situation, water cuts will continue. Water Development Department senior official Sofoklis Aletraris told CNA on Monday that the mobile desalination plant at Moni as well as the plant to treat water from the Garilis bores will operate in early November, while Larnaca desalination plant is due to be extended by late November to early December. However, he added, water cuts will not cease because it is not possible to meet existing needs.

BULGARIA: Up to 500 people were evacuated from their homes after a sulphur dioxide leak in Bulgaria's second largest city of Plovdiv. The inhabitants of the Plovdiv district of Gaganitsa were evacuated last night following reports of pollution involving sulphur dioxide. According to local authorities, between 400 and 500 people were affected. The concentration of sulphur dioxide in the air of the region was reported to be several times higher than the permitted levels. Initial reports said the dangerous gas leaked from a tanker, left unattended at a service station. The tanker was moved outside the city under police guard. Some evacuees went to stay with relatives, while others were accommodated in the local hospital.

USA: Massachusetts - The discovery of E. coli bacteria in the Pembroke, Massachusetts water supply prompted local authorities to issue a state of emergency on Sunday. Authorities are making efforts to deal with the emergency situation and are currently delivering bottled water to all who need it. As much as 8000 gallons of free bottled water is being handed out to Pembroke residents this morning.

SWEDEN: 5 farms have been mysteriously affected by an outbreak of salmonella in Skane, southern Sweden. The Swedish Board of Agriculture has so far not discovered the outbreak's [source]. Speaking to Dagens Nyheter newspaper, the Board of Agriculture's veterinary inspector Elod Szanto described the outbreak as one of biggest salmonella outbreaks of the last decade. The farms are now been sanitised and a total of 700 calves, lambs, and bulls have had to be put down. Szanto believes that the infection could have come via wild birds or rodents, and they are currently investigating that possibility.

GEORGIA: The United Nations refugee agency or UNHCR said on Monday it was mounting an emergency airlift of relief supplies for those displaced in the South Ossetia conflict. The first airlift flight, carrying 20,000 blankets and other aid items, is scheduled to fly from UNHCR's central emergency stockpile in Dubai to Georgia overnight Monday, the Geneva-based agency said in a statement. A second flight is planned for Wednesday from Copenhagen -- another of the agency's central logistical hubs. Altogether, the two flights will carry humanitarian supplies for up to 30,000 people.

Subject: Around the World Today - Monday 11th August

INDIAN OCEAN: A 6.0-magnitude earthquake has hit off the coast of India's Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean.

CANADA: Toronto - Explosions at a propane facility forced thousands of people to evacuate early Sunday, and witnesses described the sky lighting up in the glow of an enormous fireball before turning black with billowing smoke. Police said there were only minor injuries, but firefighters were battling blazes at the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases facility hours later. The series of explosions around 3:50 a.m. EDT also shut down the city's busiest highways, snarling traffic for thousands of travelers. Some residents said the blast was so forceful they felt their homes rock as though they had been struck by an earthquake.

USA: Alaska - The Alaska Volcano Observatory has issued a red alert for planes flying near the Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutian islands after a major eruption Thursday sent ash plume 45,000 feet into the air. The 2-square-mile Kasatochi island about 50 miles west of Adak is uninhabited. Kasatochi is one of three Aleutian volcanos currently erupting. Okmok began erupting July 12. Mount Cleveland erupted July 21.

SCOTLAND: Fife - Flood waters are receding after rivers burst their banks, homes were flooded and roads were blocked by torrential rain across Fife. Every firefighter on duty in the area was called out to help deal with more than 100 incidents overnight. The north east of Fife, Falkland, Kirckaldy, Oakley, Rosyth and St Andrews were worst affected. Many of the calls dealt with by emergency services involved homes being flooded when streams burst their banks. There was also a "slight landslide" on the A92 near to Kilmany, where the road was closed after being covered with mud and stones.

INDIA: Heavy monsoon rains brought down homes and swamped parts of southern India, killing at least 40 people over the weekend, officials said on Sunday. The rains triggered flooding in Andhra Pradesh state and swamped its capital Hyderabad where 14 people were killed, mostly crushed under the roofs of their homes. Two people were electrocuted by uprooted power lines. More than 150,000 people have been shifted to makeshift camps in the state's coastal belt where flood waters damaged homes and crops and washed away roads. Heavy rains across the Ratnagiri district has caused flash flood at Rajapur, Chiplun, Sangameshwar and Khed towns here on Sunday. Total rainfall in Ratnagiri district from June 1 to August 9, 2009 is recorded 18,787 mm at an avrage of 2,087 mm. Maximum rain recorded on Sunday is 188 mm in a day. Indavati dam near Lanja is ovrflowing and the dam has been damaged from one end. However, the dam is still safe. Almost all dams in Ratnagiri district are overflowing. In Sindhdurg district also heavy rain continues for last two days disturbing public life.

CYPRUS: Weather experts have warned people to avoid staying under the sun for longer than 10 minutes due to a high UV radiation warning in Cyprus. The entire region will be under the influence of a hot weather front starting from today, with temperatures expected to reach a high of 40C in inland areas and 35C on the coasts over the coming week. People are warned to stay out of the sun from 11am-4pm when the sun's rays are at their most powerful.

IRELAND: A clean-up operation is underway in Dublin and Kildare following flash flooding yesterday. Garda say flood water has subsided in most areas, but parts of north county Dublin are still badly affected.

VIETNAM: At least 137 people were dead or missing in mountainous northern Vietnam on Sunday after heavy rains brought by tropical storm Kammuri triggered widespread flash floods and landslides. Thousands of troops, police and emergency services rushed to flooded towns in the poor and heavily deforested region to deliver drinking water, food and medicines to people stranded on the roofs of their houses. By early Sunday, two days after the rains first hit the area, 92 people were confirmed dead and 45 listed as missing, according to reports compiled by AFP from central and provincial emergency relief agencies. About 300 homes were destroyed and 3,500 damaged by the floods, which had wiped out about 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) of crops.

PHILIPPINES: Almost two years after its major eruption, Mayon Volcano spewed ash again Sunday morning reaching about 200 meters above the crater before drifting east-northeast, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said. Ed Laguerta, Phivolcs resident volcanologist, said the ash-ejection was recorded by seismic sensors around the volcano as an explosion-type earthquake, which lasted for one minute.

USA: Illinois - A bat found in northern Macoupin County recently tested positive for rabies, and county authorities are encouraging the public to keep pet vaccinations up-to-date and alert authorities if they see an animal they think could be rabid.

JAPAN: Mount Asama, which stands over Gunma and Nagano prefectures, emitted volcanic fumes on Sunday for the first time in four years, the Meteorological Agency said. An observation camera set up by the agency caught Mount Asama shooting up volcanic fumes to about 400 meters above its crater at around 2:35 a.m. on Sunday.

Subject: Around the World Today - Sunday 10th August

JAPAN: Twelve workers at a Showa Denko K.K. plant in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo, were hospitalized today after a leak of toxic phosgene gas. The gas didn't leak outside the plant, said an officer at the prefectural police headquarters, who declined to identify himself. Phosgene, a poisonous gas used in chemical attacks during World War I, is used in the production of plastics and pesticides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

VIETNAM: More than 100 people were dead or missing in flash floods and landslides as heavy rains brought by tropical storm Kammuri pounded mountainous northern Vietnam, officials have said. At least 72 people died and 37 were missing since the storm hit the poor and widely deforested region from Friday, having previously lashed Hong Kong and south-eastern China, central and provincial emergency officials said. Worst-hit was Lao Cai province near the Chinese border, where at least 36 people died and 32 were missing, hundreds of houses were destroyed or damaged, and transport links were cut, isolating some areas.

BUKINO FASO: National radio says at least 31 people have been killed in a mudslide at an unofficial gold mine in Burkina Faso. There are thousands of unofficial, or bush mines, in West Africa. Desperately poor villagers eke out a living, risking their lives to descend deep chutes and then use mercury to force the gold out of the dirt. The mines are especially treacherous during the monsoon season. According to radio reports, the landslide was brought on by heavy rains in a mining village in southwest Burkina Faso. Local authorities are digging for survivors.

MALAYSIA: A six-hour power failure across Malaysia's Sarawak state on Borneo island caused chaos and plunged more than two million people into darkness. The electricity outage hit on Saturday evening, darkening cities and towns across the state and causing massive traffic jams as signals failed. "The state government wants to find out the source of the massive blackout. We need to know exactly," Deputy Chief Minister George Chan told The Star newspaper, describing the blackout as unprecedented in the state. A Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation official told the daily that it believed the cause of the outage was a fault along the main power grid between the towns of Sibu and Bintulu.

Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 9th August

THAILAND: Authorities in Thailand's central province of Rayong declared the province as a dengue disaster zone after 1,397 people were infected and two of them were killed this year. Rayong deputy governor Siripong Hantrakul was quoted as saying that by declaring a disaster zone, the provincial administration could spend its emergency fund of 50 million baht (about 1.47 million U.S. dollars) to fight the spread of the disease. He said Rayong, some 150 kilometers from Bangkok, remained on top of the provinces with the highest dengue spread rate, according to the report. Dengue or Dengue Fever is an infectious disease normally transmitted by mosquitoes, common in a tropical country like Thailand especially during its rainy season, which falls around June through October.

CZECH REPUBLIC: A Czech train bound for Prague from Krakow, Poland, crashed into a collapsed road bridge today, killing six passengers and injuring 41, authorities said. Five women on the train and one man outside were killed in the crash, Miroslava Michalkova Salkova, a spokeswoman for the Novy Jicin police district, said in a phone interview. The EuroCity 108 train hit the collapsed bridge, derailing four cars at 10:30 a.m. local time outside a station in Studenka, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of Prague, Czech Rail spokesman Radek Joklik said by phone. A preliminary damage estimate is for 120 million koruna ($7.4 million), he added. Five victims were Czechs and one was a Polish citizen, CTK news agency said, citing no one. Two French, one English speaker and as many as five Poles were among the injured, Michalkova Salkova said, without elaborating. Earlier estimates by authorities had placed the death toll at 10. The bridge has been under repair since April 16, according to a notice on the Studenka town Web site. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who called the crash the worst train accident in 10 years, visited the site, along with Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek and Transportation Minister Ales Rebicek.

ITALY: A hydrofil has hit a pier in a Sicilian port injuring 81 passengers, including one woman who is fighting for her life. A 10-year-old child had a serious head injury. The vessel struck a pier in the western Sicilian port of Trapani adding that the accident occurred in the same place where a woman died in a similar collision last year.

CHAD: Torrential rain in the Chadian capital N'djamena has caused serious flooding that has cut off parts of the suburbs from the city centre. Collapsed houses, flooded streets and deep pools of stagnant water are visible throughout the low-rise, desert capital. Immediate figures on the number of people affected were not available from the government.

JAPAN: A small amount of liquid containing uranium splashed out of a container at a Japanese nuclear fuel plant near Tokyo, slightly exposing two people to radiation, the plant operator said Friday. The amount of radiation in the spill was "extremely low" and there was no health threat to the workers, Global Nuclear Fuel-Japan Co. said. The company said the incident was also contained inside the plant in Yokosuka, about 45 kilometers southwest of Tokyo. The accident occurred when the plant workers were changing oxygenated water containing uranium without closing a valve on a tank, causing bubbles to emerge and splash on to them, the company said in a statement.

PAKISTAN: As many as 37 people died during the current spell of rain and flood in eastern Pakistan's Punjab province, reported Friday. Apart from human life losses in ten districts of Punjab, 3,472 houses were completely damaged, said the report. Director Relief and Crisis Management Mian Muhammad Akram as saying that a number of relief camps had been set up to house the affectees. He said that government officials had already been directed by the Chief Minister of Punjab to fully ensure best possible relief measures in all the affected areas on top priority.

AUSTRALIA: Victoria - Thirty workers needed medical treatment after an ammonia gas leak at the McCain Foods plant in Wendouree yesterday. About 500kg of ammonia leaked when a pipe to a tank outside the french fries section of the factory was ruptured about 1.45pm. Fire officer Terry Fradd said there had been demolition work undertaken at the factory in Ring Rd and part of a wall appeared to have fallen down damaging the pipe. Staff were evacuated from the section and the administration buildings according to emergency procedures.

SPAIN: Spanish firefighters have almost contained the two major wildfires currently active. The first major blaze is located in the province of Saragossa in the northeast of the country that has burned a 2.200 hectares (5,436 acres) forest zone so far and the second one, near the central city of Segovia has burned 1.100 hectares (2,471 acres) of forest.

GREECE (08 Aug) A wildfire that broke out on Thursday afternoon in Kallithea, near Sparta in southern Greece, is under partial control after burning a large forest region on Mt Parnonas.

CHINA: Eleven people were killed and over 93,000 people had to be evacuated when the Chuhe River in eastern China flooded after a severe tropical storm lashed part of the country. Source: ChannelNewsAsia

JAPAN: A 4.5 magnitude and about 40 km (25 miles) depth earthquake shook Tokyo on Friday, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Officials said there was no danger of a tsunami.

INDONESIA: A 5.9 magnitude and 10 km depth earthquake hit Indonesia with an epicenter located at about 51 km (31.69 miles) northeast of Sumbawa Island. There was no immediate report of casualties or tsunami warning. However, several hundred houses were damaged.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The tropical storm Hernan with maximum sustained winds near 100 kph (65 mph) is located about 1287 km (800 miles) southwest of Baja California in Mexico and it is expected to strengthen and become a hurricane later today, according to the US National Hurricane Centre.

ITALY: Italian vessels have rescued at least 250 would-be migrants from boats and vessels off the coast of Italy. The navy rescued at least 175 people, believed to be from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia from three vessels, 190km (120 miles) south of Lampedusa island. A further 72 people - including seven women and a child - were rescued from a rubber dinghy by the coastguard. Local politicians say Lampedusa is facing a crisis with 12,000 would-be migrants brought ashore since January.

Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 8th August

VENEZUELA: A mystery disease has killed dozens of Warao Indians in recent months in a remote area of northeastern Venezuela, according to indigenous leaders and researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, who informed health officials here of the outbreak on Wednesday. At least 38 people have died, including 16 since the start of June, said Charles Briggs, an anthropologist at Berkeley, and Dr. Clara Mantini-Briggs, a medical researcher there. They are a husband-and-wife team known for their research on a cholera outbreak that killed 500 people in Venezuela in the early 1990s. Preliminary studies of the latest outbreak indicate that it may be a type of infectious rabies transmitted by bites from bats, the researchers said. The symptoms, which last three to six weeks, include partial paralysis, convulsions and an extreme fear of water, they said, and those who die become rigid just before death. The disease is believed to be fatal in most cases.

SPAIN: Yellow flags have been hoisted over ten Catalan beaches owing to the presence of large numbers of jellyfish off shore. Nine of the ten beaches affected are in Girona province - Cala Rovira, Cavall Bernat, Riuet and Platja Gran in Castell-Platja d'Aro, Tamariu (Palafrugell), la Platja Gran de Palam?s y Sant Pol, Canyet y Sant Feliu, and Sant Feliu de Gu?xols while the only beach affected in Barcelona province to the south, is Pineda Centre - in Pineda de Mar.

NETHERLANDS: The first case of the bluetongue livestock virus in 2008 in the Netherlands has been confirmed, the Dutch Agriculture Ministry said on Thursday. The case was discovered in a farm in the eastern town of Staphorst in an animal that had not been vaccinated against the disease, the ministry said in a statement. Experts are now investigating what strain of virus has affected the animal and expect the results on Friday, it said.

SUDAN: The United Nations is scrambling emergency aid to more than 40,000 people displaced by floods in southern Sudan. Seasonal heavy rains in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state caused the Kuom river to overflow in the town of Aweil, making 39,000 people homeless in the region, officials said. "This is an area of concern for us and we are looking to getting people on the ground quickly," said the UN regional coordinator for southern Sudan, David Gressly. Floods have displaced a further 1500 people in 14 villages of neighbouring Warrab state.

SCOTLAND: Residents living within the Lochwinnoch area have been warned to leave their homes for a second time this week - amid fears a dam could collapse. Torrential rain last night caused water levels at the Maich Fishery to raise by further 30 feet. Sandbags are being put in place at the Maich Water inflow into the dam in an attempt to stop the already high water levels, to rise. Police are concerned that further rain could cause the structure to burst and are asking driver and pedestrians to stay away from the area.

NIGERIA: A strange disease, which medical experts linked with malaria, has killed 10 persons in Katsina State. Confirming the incident to newsmen yesterday in Katsina, the Director, Public Health in the state Ministry of Health, Dr. Halle Idris, noted that the disease was as a result of convulsion from malaria attack. Dr. Idris attributed the death to delay in taking the affected persons to the hospital for quick medical attention. According to leadership's investigation, six children and 4 adults died from the disease in Katsina general hospital. However, when our correspondent visited the hospital, the ward housing children was jam packed with those attacked by the ferocious malaria disease. Similarly, the director advised people to be watchful and report any suspicious ailment to the authority concerned for quick intervention. He also gave assurance that the disease would not be allowed to get out of hand, calling on people not to panic over the incident as his ministry was taking adequate measures to curtail its spread.

CZECH REPUBLIC: A record high number of jaundice (hepatitis) cases has been reported in the Czech Republic this year and a crushing majority of patients have got infected in Prague, according to the State Health Institute (SZU) data released to CTK. It is clear that the hepatitis A incidence will be much higher than last year. From January until the end of July, the SZU registered 130 patients with hepatitis A, which is two more than during the whole last year. Prague faces an alarming epidemic of hepatitis type A this year. The infectious illness, transmitted by dirty hands and food, has spread mainly in the community of drug addicts and the homeless. Only in July, 62 new cases of hepatitis A were diagnosed, compared with only seven in July 2007 and eight in 2006. Prague sanitary inspector Zdenka Jagrova said 90 percent of cases were from Prague, followed by people from its surroundings in central Bohemia. Hepatitis type B, transmitted by blood, and C are frequent among intravenous drug-users.

IRAN: Heavy rain and flooding has killed three people and injured 80 in northwest Iran near the border with Turkey, the state broadcaster reported on Thursday. The governor of Maku, identified only as Aseri, said the rain and flooding in his city had also destroyed buildings. It said rescue workers were tending to the injured. Parts of Iran are suffering a drought which has hurt harvests and led to a sharp drop in water behind dams, limiting hydro-electric production and leading to power cuts.

INDIA: Uttarakhand's health department is alarmed after the death of a girl due to high fever and severe lung infection. Another girl has reported similar symptoms. The officials are suspecting the spread of the deadly hantavirus and these to be the 1st cases of the disease in India. Authorities at Mahant Indresh Hospital here said 2 girls, one from Dehradun and another from Tehri, were admitted some days ago with very high fever and severe infection in their lungs, both symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS).

USA: Alaska - Two U.S. Fish & Wildlife biologists were rescued from volcanic Kasatochi Island in the Aleutians yesterday shortly before an eruption sent an ash plume 35,000 feet in the air. The biologists, who were studying birds, have not been identified, but seismologists said they narrowly escaped burning flows of gas, steam and ash that probably enveloped the mile-wide island.

QATAR: A large number of dead fish have been seen floating in the sea off Qatar. A group of fishermen who returned after their catch to Shamaal on Monday said they saw a vast quantity of dead fish floating about 45km off the coast. The high temperature of sea water is believed to have caused the mass death of fish.

CANADA: The Canadian military is sending a long-range Aurora aircraft to investigate reports of a mysterious explosion along Canada's Northwest Passage that may have killed several whales. The drama apparently began in the early-morning hours of July 31, when an Inuit hunting party at an outpost camp at Borden Peninsula on northeastern Baffin Island was alerted to the sound of an explosion, followed by a cloud of black smoke. An Inuit member of the Canadian Rangers, a military reservist unit stationed in the far North, reported the incident, and said a hunter at the camp saw several dead whales on shore when he went over to investigate.

INDONESIA: A powerful 6.6-magnitude quake hit eastern Indonesia early Thursday, injuring at least four people and destroying more than 100 homes, officials said. The quake struck at 6:41 am (2241 GMT Wednesday) about 51 kilometres (31 miles) northwest of the town of Sumbawa, at a depth of 10 kilometres, the meteorology office said. Local district chief Abdurahman said 124 houses had been destroyed.

Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 7th August

INDONESIA: Three people have died and 13 have been admitted to hospital with symptoms of bird flu in Indonesia, a nurse treating the patients said Wednesday. Officials and residents in Asahan district of North Sumatra province said villagers began showing symptoms of avian flu after a large number of chickens died suddenly last week. The nurse at Asahan district's Kisaran hospital said three people had died after suffering bird flu-like symptoms in Air Batu village.

CHINA: China evacuated nearly 400,000 people and called thousands of vessels back to port as a severe tropical storm lashed its southern coast late Wednesday, state media and government agencies said. Severe Tropical Storm Kammuri made landfall in China's Guangdong province, packing strong winds, the local weather observatory was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

EASTERN EUROPE: Experts are concerned that some of the states that emerged from the former Soviet Union are on the brink of widespread HIV/AIDS epidemics, the global AIDS conference heard on Wednesday. Concentrated cases of infection among intravenous drug users, sex workers and gays are now placing some countries on the verge of a generalized epidemic.

Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 6th August

SPAIN: A forest fire was affecting Zaragoza yesterdayday with the blaze remaining out of control after breaking out yesterday afternoon. Several air and land forces are being used to fight the flames which have affected some 2,000 hectares of pine and low mountain land close to the municipality of Zuera. Some 300 people are currently involved in fighting the flames. The critical time of the day is the heat of the day and the situation has been further complicated by the winds in the area. The fire was started by a traffic accident at 2,30pm yesterday afternoon on the road between Villanueva de Gallego and Castejan de Valdejasa when a car hit a tree. The two occupants of the car escaped unhurt

PAKISTAN: A landslide triggered by torrential rain killed seven people and soldiers were searching for eight others buried under the rubble of their homes in a mountain village in northern Pakistan, police said on Wednesday. The accident happened late Tuesday in Hilalabad village, about 110 km (70 miles) east of Gilgit, the capital of the country's Northern Areas.

SINGAPORE: An outbreak of the mosquito-borne chikungunya fever infected 17 workers in an area of Singapore and a Chinese national in another area, as health officers are trying to contain the virus in the city-state. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the dengue-like disease, which causes fever, rash and debilitating joint pain that can persist for months. Following the latest cluster of three chikungunya cases reported on Aug. 2, the Health Ministry has been carrying out active case detection at and around the site in Kranji Way, a northern industrial area. So far, 282 workers have been screened and 17 have tested positive for chikungunya fever, the ministry said in a statement on its website on Wednesday. These 17 cases have been admitted for isolation and treatment in a communicable diseases center.

USA: New York - A hospital patient in upstate New York appears to be stricken with Legionnaires' disease. Preliminary tests indicate the unidentified person contracted the potentially fatal respiratory ailment, but a definitive diagnosis won't be known for up to 10 days. It isn't yet known if the illness was contracted before or during the patient's stay at Rochester General Hospital. The hospital had two cases of Legionnaires in the spring and the bacteria was found in several places at the hospital. The origin remains under investigation.

USA: California - Nine people were missing and presumed dead and four were hospitalized Wednesday after a helicopter carrying firefighters crashed the night before in northern California, aviation spokesmen said. The Sikorsky S-61 helicopter entered a remote area to pick up firefighters battling wildfires, said Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration. The crash happened about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 35 miles northwest of Redding in the Trinity Alps Wilderness area of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Two crew members and 11 firefighters were aboard, Gregor said. Three of the injured were contract firefighters, and the fourth was the pilot, said Sharon Heywood, the forest's supervisor. (Ours thoughts are with the families and colleagues of those that have died and are injured from within our EM family)

INDONESIA: Hundreds of houses collapsed after a strong quake with the magnitude of 6.6 rocked West Nusa Tenggara province in eastern parts of Indonesia on Thursday, meteorology and disaster management agencies said here. The quake was not potential for tsunami, said an official of the meteorology agency named only Subagio. The shakes of the quake were felt up to Bali Island in central part of the country with an intensity of 3 MMI (modified mercalli intensity), said Subagio. In Dompu regency and Mataram city of the province, the quake was felt at 3 to 4 MMI, he said. The quake occurred at 05:41 Jakarta time (2205 GMT) Wednesday with the epicenter at 51 kilometers northeast Sumbawa of the province and at 10 kilometers under sea bed, said Subagio. The quake seriously damaged over 124 houses, with 117 others suffering minor damage in Pukat district of Dompu regency in the province, but no initial report of casualties, said an official of the Disaster Management Agency Rini Ambarwati.

KYRGYZSTAN: An outbreak of anthrax has been registered in one more district of Kyrgyzstan, according to the news agency in the Ministry of Emergency Situations. According to officers of the Ministry, 3 persons have been hospitalized in the infectious department of Kara-Kulja district hospital with suspicion of anthrax. All of them are inhabitants of the rural formation (district) Kara-Kulja. Three men aged 39, 46, and 50 years old are now under medical supervision and waiting results of laboratory investigations. According to specialists at the Center of Quarantine & Especially Dangerous Infections of the Republic, anthrax was confirmed earlier in 21 inhabitants of the Osh and Jalalabad regions. One person died.

USA: Texas - The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department is investigating about a dozen cases of possible typhus infection, most of them reported in Central Austin. The type of typhus found in Texas, murine typhus, is most commonly caused by rats and their fleas, but opossums and cats can also be involved in transmitting the disease, according to the Department of State Health Services Web site. People get it from an infected flea.

USA: Alaska - Two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees requested to be evacuated from Kasatochi Island in the Aleutian Chain after seismic activity in the area, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The island, about 50 miles east of Adak, was reportedly experiencing tremors and volcanic uncertainty, which prompted the Alaska Volcano Observatory to issue an advisory in the area. The Coast Guard was poised to deploy a helicopter out of Adak late Wednesday and was expecting to pick the workers up at about 10:30 p.m., said Petty Officer 1st Class Jeremy Dawkins. Officials got the call at about 7:40 p.m., he said. The Alaska Volcano Observatory also issued a yellow aviation color code in the area as a result of the volcanic activity. According to the observatory, Kasatochi is a stratocone volcano that forms a small island between Adak and Atka islands. Its summit was destroyed during an explosive eruption likely within the past several hundred years that exposed its interior. Fish and Wildlife personnel stationed on the island have observed evidence of degassing through a lake near its top -- testimony of the volcano's youth, according to the observatory.

Subject: Around the World Today - Tuesday 5th August

NETHERLANDS: Groningen - A tornado raced through the north-east Dutch province of Groningen, reported early Monday. The tornado struck the villages of Lutjegast, Sebaldeburen and Doezum Sunday night. Cars were lifted in the air and small boats were tossed hundreds of metres across the water. Many farms were severely damaged. There were no victims of the tornado, as it occurred in an agricultural area with a very low population density. The tornado was categorized as an F1, Reinout van den Born, said a meteorologist affiliated with the Dutch meteorological institute Meteoconsult.

PAKISTAN: Up to 15 people were killed when heavy rains triggered a flash flood in northwest Pakistan on Monday, with hundreds more forced to abandon their homes, officials said. A small riverbed flooded by torrential rains overnight swept away several villages and killed livestock in the Khyber tribal region and outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.

CANADA: New Brunswick - Dozens of people living in communities just west of Edmundston, N.B., have been airlifted from their homes and summer cottages as flash floods washed out local roads and heavy rain fell for a third day Monday. The 74 evacuees were carried to safety by a Canadian Forces search-and-rescue Cormorant helicopter, emergency officials said. Heavy rain was continuing Monday after a weekend deluge of more than 100 mm washed out a bridge and four sections of a provincial highway.

SPAIN: A total of 29 provinces across Spain have been put on Heat Alert today for high temperatures, expected to reach 40 degrees in some places. The current heatwave affecting the country comes from a mass of African air, and five provinces are on Orange Alert, where considerable care of children and the elderly is advised. They are Toledo, Ciudad Real, Jaon, Cordoba and Sevilla. Yellow alerts are in the other 24 provinces on alert - Orense, Le?n, Zamora, Valladolid, Salamanca, Avila, Segovia, Madrid, C?ceres, Badajoz, Huelva, Cadiz, Guadalajara, Cuenca, Albacete, Granada, Murcia, Valencia, Alicante, Teruel, Zaragoza, Huesca, Lleida and Tarragona. The heat is expected to last in most areas until Thursday. The Ministry for Health is advising people to drink plenty of water of liquids, eat light meals, ensure that they use effective sun protection, and to lower the blinds at home during the central hours of the day.

USA: Gulf of Mexico - Tropical Storm Edouard is spinning toward the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, and it's threatening to pick up strength and gain near-hurricane speeds over the next 24 hours. In its path are some of the Gulf's oil and natural gas platforms.

USA: Tennessee - About 95 workers were evacuated Monday at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant (IOak Ridge) because of a fire at the "rubber shop" inside a high-security area of the plant. The early-morning fire was extinguished before 8:30 a.m., and the plant's emergency status was terminated a couple of hours later, said Steven Wyatt, a federal spokesman at Y-12. Wyatt said no details were available on what caused the fire, but an investigation is under way. There were no reported injuries, but two workers were sent to Y-12's medical clinic for evaluation and later released, he said. No radioactive materials were involved, but Wyatt said the fire involved "a hazardous material that could potentially pose a threat to workers in the immediate vicinity of the incident." The hazardous material was not immediately identified.

Subject: Around the World Today - Monday 4th August

KOREA: Jellyfish are swarming along Korea's western and southern coasts as sea temperatures rise. Fishermen and authorities are bracing for an expected surge in the marine creatures next month when their populations expand the most out of their one-year lifespan. So numerous are the jellyfish that the seas along southern and western beaches in August may appear to be nearly half water and half jellyfish

USA: Texas - Ten people went to the hospital after a plant explosion caused a chemical release. Benzene was released into the air after a small explosion at the Goodyear plant in La Porte, Texas, at about 10 p.m. Saturday. Several cars traveling on Bay Area Boulevard drove through the chemical as it drifted over the road. "About one or two dozen cars were exposed," emergency management coordinator Jeff Suggs said. One person was taken to a hospital by ambulance and nine others took themselves to the hospital. Their conditions were not released. None of the employees at the plant were injured. A few hours after the release, the chemicals filled up a nearby ditch and sparked a fire. A utility pole went up in flames and the lines began to spark. A half-mile stretch of Bay Area Boulevard between Fairmont Parkway and Choate Road was closed and is expected to reopen sometime on Sunday.

TURKEY: Strong winds on Sunday hampered around 1,300 firefighters battling to control a major fire sweeping through woodlands on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, officials said. Local governor Alaaddin Yuksel said the blaze in the province of Antalya had largely been brought under control, but at least one new fire broke in the region later in the day.

AUSTRIA: A government spokesman says plutonium has leaked from an International Atomic Energy Agency lab but no radiation escaped the building and no one was hurt. Daniel Kapp, a spokesman for Environment Minister Josef Proell, is quoted by the Austria Press Agency as saying the leak happened in the high security area of IAEA's nuclear lab in Seibersdorf, 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Vienna. Kapp says Sunday's leak activated an alarm, and the lab was evacuated. He says the IAEA has sealed the area pending further investigation. The IAEA is the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, and the lab is used for investigating small samples collected on IAEA inspection missions. The IAEA could not immediately be reached for comment.

NORWAY: Nearly 100 people were hurt when lightning struck down several times among spectators at a rallycross race in south-eastern Norway today. "A large number of spectators had gathered on a hill to see the race when lightning struck down twice among them,'' about 2pm (2200 AEST), Hans Eng of the Hedemark regional police said. "Ninety-one people have registered as having been affected by the lightning in some way. At least 39 people have checked into different hospitals and others are crowding into medical centres,'' he said. The Dagbladet newspaper website reported that 1,000 people were standing on the hill when lightning appeared to strike umbrellas and a nearby fence. The rest of the event was cancelled, the newspaper reported.

INDIA: Orissa - At least 10 persons have died of a mysterious disease within a span of 8 days near Bondamunda, about 10 km from here, triggering panic among local people. 15 other patients from the area who complained of mild fever, severe headache and vomiting are being treated in several hospitals of the district, doctors said, adding that efforts are on to identify the disease. The mystery disease had claimed 6 lives last week, while 4 people died yesterday [1 Aug 2008] in the Tilikanagar slum area near here. Assistant District Medical Officer R N Das told PTI that a team of doctors was rushed to the affected area this morning [2 Aug 2008] with medicines. Residents of the slum area accused the Rourkela Municipality of ignoring the locals.

PAKISTAN: Punjab - Six people are reported to have died and two children are missing after hill torrents caused by widespread rain flooded Rajanpur area. Dozens of villages have been submerged and over 100,000 people have been displaced.

CHILE: About 2,000 trucks are stranded in the area around the Cristo Redentor tunnel, the main trans-Andean route linking Argentina and Chile, following a huge snowstorm, national highway administration officials said Sunday. The heavy snow and strong winds in the Andes range also forced the closing of Highway 7, prompting many truck drivers to cross into Chile via the Jama pass in Jujuy, a province in extreme northern Argentina.

USA: Minnesota - For the second time in four days, experts responded to a problem inside the Prairie Island nuclear power plant. Around 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning, an alarm went off at the plant near Red Wing. It showed an elevated level of a dangerous chemical known as Hydrazine. The plant went to it's lowest of four emergency categories until ventilation systems removed the Hydrazine. Xcel says there was no threat to anyone inside or outside the plant. On Thursday, the unit one reactor shut down unexpectedly during a routine test. Today's problem happened as plant managers tried to restart the reactor.

FRANCE: Three people died and nine were injured, two seriously, when their homes in and around the northern French town of Hautmont collapsed after being hit by a mini-tornado, officials said on Monday.

INDIA: At least 140 people have died in a stampede at a Hindu temple in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. A rain shelter on the mountain path to the temple collapsed, triggering rumours of a landslide. Many of the victims were children, trampled to death during the panic. Fifty more people were hurt and are being treated in hospital. Tens of thousands of devotees had been gathering to celebrate the annual nine-day festival of Shravan Navratras

Subject: Around the World Today - Sunday 3rd August

MEXICO: Police say a lightning bolt has struck a soccer match in southern Mexico, killing two men and injuring six others. Prosecutors in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero say the local match pitted firefighters against civil protection officials. Mexican news media reported that electrical storms had been reported in the area, but the Friday match went on anyway at a local sports field. A report by the prosecutors' office said one player from each side died. The six injured all suffered second-degree burns and were being treated at local hospitals. There was no information on their condition. [Our thoughts are with the families and colleagues of our fellow EM professionals who lost their lives in this tragic event]

EIRE: 16 crewmen have been rescued from a Spanish trawler which sank off the west coast this morning. The alarm was raised at around 8pm after the 'Centuaro 1' got into difficulties around 500km off Eagle Island, Co Mayo. The crewmen were picked up by a sister vessel, the Anagandon, following a joint operation between Malin Head and Clyde Coastguards. The vessel is expected to dock at Killybegs late tomorrow evening. None of the crew is in need of medical assistance.

TURKEY: Firefighters continue their efforts to bring under control a forest fire which destroyed 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) in the Turkish tourism province of Antalya, as the flames moved to southeast, threatening touristic areas. Forestry Deputy Director General Mustafa Kurtulmuslu told the state-run Anatolian Agency that seven planes, six helicopters, 1,300 workers were exerting efforts to extinguish the fire.

USA: Hawaii - U.S. Senators Daniel K. Inouye and Daniel K. Akaka announced today that the counties of Honolulu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai have been designated as federal disaster areas as a result of an ongoing drought that began at the start of this year. All four counties have been cited as primary natural disaster areas by Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer, they said. Secretary Schafer has also declared Kalawao County, on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokai, as "a contiguous disaster county," Senators Inouye and Akaka added. "Our local farmers are hurting," Senator Inouye said. "To cite just one example, the drought has lessened sugar operations on Maui. The emergency, low-interest loans that will now be available can be a lifeline for Hawaii farmers."

USA: Hawaii - The event happened at 24.07.2008: A small radioactive leak aboard the fast-attack submarine Houston was confirmed during testing July 24, prompting submarine officials to notify federal authorities, according to a Navy spokesman. The boat was in dry dock for scheduled maintenance when the leak was discovered, said Lt. Cmdr. David Benham, spokesman for Naval Submarine Forces Pacific at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. One of the shut valves associated with the boats propulsion system was releasing water at a rate higher than design specifications, he said. "At no time was there any risk to the reactor plant, the safety of the crew or the safety of the public," he said. For context, he said the amount of radioactivity released was less than the quantity of naturally occurring radioactivity in a bag of common lawn and garden fertilizer. Water with trace amounts of radioactivity may have leaked for months from a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine as it traveled around the Pacific to ports in Guam, Japan and Hawaii, Navy officials told CNN on Friday.

CHINA: A 6.1-magnitude aftershock hit Sichuan province at 4:32 pm on Friday, leaving 231 people injured, four critically, China Earthquake Networks Center and local government said. The epicenter was located between Pingwu and Beichuan counties. The tremor caused severe landslides in the northern part of the province but no fatalities were reported. The two counties were among the hardest hit by the May 12 earthquake. In Pingwu, 130,000 people were affected, 540 houses destroyed and 2,450 others damaged, Meng Xiancai, deputy head of the county's publicity department, said. Most of the communication facilities were damaged in 25 towns of Pingwu.

TOGO: ECOWAS is sending its emergency response team to Togo to evaluate the damage caused by devastating floods that have displaced many people and washed away roads and bridges. The team arrives in the country tomorrow, 3rd August 2008 and will during the visit hold discussions with officials of Togo, including those responsible for emergency response in the country. It would also visit some of the affected areas during the assessment mission to enable the Commission to determine the relief to be provided and how to coordinate support with the international community According to reports, among the bridges washed away include one linking the country with neighbouring Burkina Faso. French soldiers have been dispatched to Togo to help.

USA: Virginia - Public health officials have confirmed 15 cases of E. coli among dozens of people sickened after attending a popular Boy Scout camp in Virginia. They say 14 Boy Scouts and one adult contracted the infection. Health officials have not yet identified the source of the E. Coli. They say 50 to 60 scouts reported being ill after attending the camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Nine have been hospitalized. There was no word on their conditions. An investigation continues.

USA: California - Firefighters say they are getting closer to containing a 137-square-kilometre wildfire that has destroyed more than 20 homes in the mountains outside Yosemite National Park. The blaze is about 80 per cent contained and all evacuation orders have been lifted.

WALES: A lifeboat crew has rescued 20 people after they were cut off by the tide in a river estuary. The group - who were on a canoeing and camping trip - were trapped in the Porthmadog estuary in North Wales, prompting the RNLI station at nearby Criccieth to send out a boat at about 9.45pm on Saturday. An RAF helicopter was also called to the scene, but overhanging cliffs prevented an airlift, so the people were taken to safety in the lifeboat.

INDONESIA: An Indonesian factory worker has died of bird flu, bringing the death toll in the country worst hit by the virus to 112, a top health official said Sunday.

NEPAL: At least 50 people in the Basudevpur Village Development Committee of Banke district in mid-western Nepal have been suffering from an unknown disease, The Himalayan Times reported on Sunday. According to the daily, headache, dizziness, fever, cough and diarrhea are symptoms of this disease, Mansoor Khan, a local, said, adding that the disease has been afflicting senior citizens and children the most. "Though we have informed the sub-health post based in the village about the disease, it has not sent health workers to diagnose the ailment and treat the patients," another local Raju Sunar said. Meanwhile, officer of the District Public Health Office, Om Upadhyaya, pledged to send a team of health workers to the village, some 260 km west of Kathmandu.

JAPAN: At least 20 people were injured when an escalator at a Tokyo convention center jerked to an abrupt halt Sunday, knocking down dozens, police and paramedics said. Around 60 people fell backwards on the 100-foot (30-meter) escalator when it suddenly shook and stopped moving at the Tokyo Big Sight convention hall, said Masafumi Shigeta, a Tokyo Fire Department official. The seriousness of the injuries appeared to have been limited because people fell onto one another. Paramedics took 10 people to a nearby hospital for treatment of injuries, including a possible broken leg, he said. Police were investigating the cause of the accident at the Wonder Festival exhibit of popular cartoon and animation characters.

NAMIBIA: The Ministry of Agriculture stopped all livestock movements in all regions north of the veterinary cordon fence yesterday following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the Kavango Region near Divundu. The temporary ban includes grass, thatch and "other plant material", which may also not be transported, and meat exports from the Oshakati abattoir have also been stopped until further notice. Four surveillance teams have been deployed and the results of laboratory tests are expected by Saturday.

CHINA: Torrential rains from Thursday to Saturday have left two people dead and resulted in flooding that forced the relocation of 53,800 people in east China. The flooding along the Chuhe River system in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces is the worst since 1991, with water levels in some sections exceeding warning levels or even historical records.

Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 2nd August

TURKEY: A three-story girl's dormitory collapsed in central Turkey early Friday, killing 17 students, officials said. "Authorities believe the building in the village of Balclar collapsed after a large gas canister exploded," the village's mayor, Mehmet Demirg?l, said. "At least 20 students were brought out of the debris with injuries," said Galip ?ef, an official with the local emergency services. Three of the students sustained severe burns, he said. An estimated 40 girls, between the ages of eight and 16, were staying at the dormitory in Balclar, near the town of Ta?kent, in the Toros mountain range. The students were attending Quran courses during the school summer break. Demirg?l said an estimated six more students were under the collapsed building. "We are hearing voices. I believe those inside the rubble will be saved," he told private NTV television. Earlier, officials said as many as 20 more students could be buried under the debris. The explosion occurred around 4:15 a.m. local time when most of the students were asleep. Television footage showed local people, some using their bare hands, trying to remove the rubble from a partly flattened, concrete building. One young girl in pajamas could be seen being carried to a hospital. Another could be seen being treated on the back seat of a van, before being moved onto a stretcher and taken away, groaning in pain. Osman Ayd?n, the governor for Konya province, where the village is located, said emergency teams had been dispatched from the capital Ankara to assist the rescue efforts.

USA: Minnesota - An unexpected automatic shutdown of a unit at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant has occurred, but the consequences are expected to be minimal, Xcel Energy said this morning. Xcel Energy said the shutdown happened at 8:17 a.m. Thursday while plant operators were conducting routine tests. There were no injuries and no radiological release, and no emergency response was needed, the company said. Prairie Island's other unit continues to operate at full power. Plant operators are investigating the cause of the shutdown, and repairs will be made before returning the unit to service, the company said. The idled unit should be down "no more than a few days," said Xcel spokeswoman Mary Sandok. As with any planned or unplanned power outage, Xcel Energy said it ramps up other generating units or buys power from other utilities to ensure enough power for its customers. Prairie Island, near Red Wing, generates enough electricity to power approximately 750,000 homes.

CANADA: A major national park in Canada's Arctic has been largely closed after record high temperatures caused flooding that washed away hiking trails and forced the evacuation of tourists, an official said on Friday. Every year around 500 people visit Auyuittuq National Park, which covers over 19,000 square km (7,340 square miles) on Baffin Island and is dominated by the giant Penny ice cap. The park is popular with hikers and skiers. The combination of floods, melting permafrost and erosion means that the southern part of the park will remain shut until geologists can examine the damage, said Pauline Scott, a spokeswoman for Parks Canada.

TURKEY: Firefighters, helicopters and aircraft from all over Turkey were sent to southern Antalya province on Friday to help fight blazes that has destroyed at least 1,000 hectares of woodland so far. Fire ignited Thursday in a village near Manavgat town of Antalya province, which is a popular coastal tourist destination, and now winds blow from the north in the direction of Serik town, officials were quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news agency assaying. Dozens of houses and barns were completely destroyed in the fire in these villages, said the officials, noting that Karatas village in Manavgat was evacuated but two villagers were reportedly missing since Thursday evening. No deaths or injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire was not immediately known. The flames were not threatening the ancient Greek theatre in Aspendos near the Mediterranean resort of Side, said the officials, adding tourists were still visiting the ancient site and that no blazes or smoke seen around.

EIRE: Limerick County Council has issued a public drinking water notice advising Newcastle West residents to boil their water before use. The areas affected by the boil notice include Newcastle West, Coolcappagh and Rathcahill, as well as the Ballyine, Dually, Reens Kilscannell, Old Mill Road, Killoughteen and Killeline Group Water Supply Schemes. The notice advises that water for drinking purposes, brushing teeth and food preparation should be boiled, and warns that water from the hot tap or domestic filters is not safe to drink. Parts of Limerick and Cork continue to experience flooding and power cuts.

SCOTLAND: Torrential ran triggered floods across Scotland yesterday with forecasters warning of more wet weather to come. The Ayrshire town of Kilbirnie was badly hit by fast-flowing water after the River Garnock burst its banks.

Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 1st August

FRANCE: Over 850 Bluetongue cases have been detected in Allier province of central France recently, the provincial council said in a statement Wednesday. The statement said the agriculture and environment committee under the council has found 854 cases of Bluetongue, or the ovine catarrhal fever (FCO), in livestock farms of the province until July 24. More cases are expected to be recorded in the near future, it said, adding the provincial council is planning to allocate 172,500 euros (268,910 U.S. dollars) to aid the affected farmers. Bluetongue disease is an insect-borne viral disease of ruminants, mainly of sheep and less frequently of cattle, goats, buffalo and deer. It is caused by the Bluetongue virus. There are no reports of human transmission. Bluetongue cases used to occur in warm countries such as Greece and Italy in southern Europe, but after 2006 cases have been registered in Belgium, France, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

CHINA: Tornadoes killed five people and injured 39 in east China's Jiangsu Province, official sources saidon Thursday.The first tornado hit Gangshan, Zhouzhuang and Sihu townships in Pizhou City at 5:10 a.m, Wednesday and lasted 20 minutes, said the Jiangsu Meteorological Observatory, and killed one person and injured two. The tornado also destroyed or damaged 253 houses in the three towns. A second tornado hit Linze Town in Gaoyou City at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday and lasted 15 minutes. Workshops at a garment factory collapsed and 41 workers were injured. The injured workers were sent to hospital. Four of them died despite doctors' efforts. Gaoyou City has seen frequent tornadoes in recent years.

ARGENTINA: Penguins are washing up on tropical beaches with scientists unsure why the Antarctic birds are heading closer to the equator than ever before. About 300 penguins have recently been found dead and alive along the coast of the Brazil' s Bahia state, 1200km northeast of Rio de Janeiro. The area is more renowned as a place to get a tan than it is to spot penguins. Its capital Salvador is closer to the equator than Cairns in northern Queensland and its temperature has hovered around 20 degrees Celsius this month. "This is unheard of. There have even been reports of penguins washing up as far as Aracaju,'' Adelson Cerqueira Silva of Brazil's environmental agency said, referring to a beachside state capital even closer to the equator. Mr Silva said biologists believe stronger-than-usual ocean currents had pulled the birds north but others have said overfishing and warmer ocean temperatures may have led the birds to search for food further north than their normal Antarctic and Patagonian habitats. Authorities had received hundreds of penguin sightings, he said. "We're telling people if the penguins don't appear to be injured or sick to leave them alone so they can swim back," he said. Up to 90 of the penguins found alive had since died in animal hospitals struggling to deal with the influx.

UKRAINE: Floods in western Ukraine have killed 30 people and prompted the evacuation of nearly 18,000, officials said on Thursday, after five days of rain caused rivers to spill over into villages and farmland. Emergencies Minister Volodymyr Shandra announced the death toll in a parliamentary debate convened to discuss compensation and changes to the budget. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told the chamber 18,000 residents had fled their homes. F

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