around_the_world_today_August_08

AROUND THE WORLD: AUGUST 13th - 22nd, 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

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

Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 22nd August

CHINA: Seismologists say a 5.9-magnitude earthquake jolted southern China near the border with Myanmar - one day after another quake damaged homes in the same area. At least 3 fatalities have been reported.

CHINA: Hong Kong - Hong Kong was buffeted by gale force winds on Friday as typhoon Nuri churned toward the major financial hub, with most of the city and its markets shut down in anticipation of a direct hit.

USA: California - A HazMat situation Wednesday morning. About 25 people voluntarily evacuated from a Rancho Mirage medical building. It happened just after 10 a.m. at the Rancho Mirage Interventional Radiology Center. That's on Bob Hope Drive. Captain Fernando Herrera with the Riverside County Fire Department says there is construction work and painting going on at the medical center. Paint fumes traveling through the air conditioning to the other end of the building. HazMat crews aired out the medical facility. About 13 people were treated at the scene for eye irritation, nausea and burning in their throats. They were treated and then headed back to work.

CYPRUS: A heatwave is plaguing Cyprus with temperatures hitting 40C in Nicosia today. According to the weather service, temperatures of 35C were recorded on southern and eastern coasts, 32C in all other coastal areas and a whopping 34C in the mountains. Forecasters did however predict the possibility of isolated showers in Troodos today or tonight. Sea conditions are reported as moderate, with evening temperatures in the capital expected to fall to 24C with thin mist and low cloud cover.

USA: Rhode Island - A strain of bird flu has been detected in four swans found in the Seekonk River. The cases were discovered as part of routine surveillance by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. DEM says the strain of avian flu detected in Rhode Island is not the same strain that has infected people in Asia and Europe since 2003 -- so it does not pose a significant health risk to humans. However, the agency says the virus can be transmitted to wild birds and domestic poultry flocks. It is urging all poultry owners to employ standard biosecurity and sanitation practices. In particular, they should prevent flocks from having any contact with wild birds.

USA: Florida - Flooding from tropical Storm Fay triggered the shutdown of an 839-megawatt nuclear reactor unit at FPL Group's St. Lucie plant, but power supplies are still adequate, the company said today. Due to flooding in an area that holds equipment and pumps, the St. Lucie 1 reactor was taken offline around 6 a.m. Wednesday, said FPL spokeswoman Leslie Cifelli. "We had an extraordinary amount of rainfall. The reactor did not get wet. The equipment is safe. There was no damage at all," Cifelli said. St. Lucie 2, also with 839 megawatts, is operating at 100 percent capacity, Cifelli said. The shutdown "doesn't affect the grid," she added, referring to the state's network of electrical power. She declined to provide an estimate of when the reactor will be put back into service. A reactor at FPL's Turkey Point facility is also not operating so that a leak can be repaired.

FRANCE: 8 Farms have been hit by the Anthrax outbreak in Doubs. According to the Department of Veterinary Services on Thursday [14 Aug 2008], 38 cattle have died since the beginning of the month of July 2008. A beef animal died on Wed 6 Aug 2008 of anthrax at Avoudrey (Doubs) on a farm which had not been contaminated by the disease. Then 4 beef animals were found dead at the end of last week on 2 farms already contaminated from the same source at Passonfontaine. The contaminated farms are in 8 communes in the same sector covered by the DVS and the prefecture of Doubs. By an official demand by the prefecture from 7 Aug 2008, the vaccination of cattle and sheep has been made obligatory in 25 communes of the department of Doubs, and the opening of the game hunting season has been put back from 16 Aug to 26 Aug 2008; forestry work has been suspended and access forbidden to 6 ancient animal cemeteries that have been identified. The DSV estimate is that there will be 9000 animals (both sheep and cattle) that will need vaccination. The disease is transmittable to humans but only in exceptional cases and only in the case of extreme proximity to the animal, stressed the prefecture.

CHINA: Hong Kong - A 4th child has fallen ill with a mystery virus that is suspected to have killed 2 children and left one in serious condition, health officials said Thursday [21 Aug 2008]. The latest patient, a 3-year-old boy, was admitted to hospital Tuesday [19 Aug 2008] with fever and vomiting. His condition worsened after convulsions, and he fell into a coma, the Centre for Health Protection said. His condition was said to be critical on Thursday [21 Aug 2008], with signs of blood poisoning and brain abnormalities. Health officials are already conducting an investigation into the illnesses after the deaths last week of 2 girls, 9 and 3, who suffered from inflammation of the heart and blood poisoning.

UGANDA: Nine people out of 27 cases have so far died of an unidentified epidemic that has hit the western Ugandan district of Kasese in recent weeks, a district official has said. Peter Mukobi, the district health officer, said on Wednesday that preliminary investigations show that the outbreak may be typhoid but he is awaiting confirmatory results from the country's central public laboratory. He said that the victims showed signs and symptoms of fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea and later constipation. A medical team from the health ministry is already in the district carrying out various tests and promoting proper hygiene and sanitation as one of the measures to contain the spread of the disease, he said. "We are advising people to drink boiled water, wash hands after going to the toilet, dispose off fecal matter properly and generally maintain proper hygiene," said Mukobi. The East African country has recently been hit by a string of epidemics since late last year including Ebola, meningitis, cholera, Hepatitis E.

GREENLAND: In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists said Thursday. And that's led the university professor who spotted the wounds in the massive Petermann glacier to predict disintegration of a major portion of the Northern Hemisphere's largest floating glacier within the year. If it does worsen and other northern Greenland glaciers melt faster, then it could speed up sea level rise, already increasing because of melt in sourthern Greenland. The crack is 7 miles long and about half a mile wide. It is about half the width of the 500 square mile floating part of the glacier. Other smaller fractures can be seen in images of the ice tongue, a long narrow sliver of the glacier.

USA: Florida - Tropical Storm Fay began a second slow slog across mainland Florida Thursday, as President George W. Bush declared an emergency in the waterlogged, wind-battered state.

Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 21st August

SPAIN: A packed passenger jet caught fire Wednesday while trying to take off from Madrid's main international airport, Barajas. The Spanair plane, which was headed for Las Palmas airport on the island of Gran Canaria crashed and broke apart after failing to lift off from the runway. There are conflicting reports of fatalities but emergency services said that only about 20 of the 173 or so passengers have survived. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's Prime Minister, convened an emergency Cabinet session to discuss Spain's worst aviation disaster in over 20 years. The airport was immediately closed as 11 engines with firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze on the plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82. Forty-five ambulances were sent to the scene. Initial reports suggested that an engine on the left hand side of the aircraft caught fire as the plane headed down the runway. The smoke could be seen several kilometres away.

USA: Authorities in Memphis evacuated 10 homes near an ice plant after ammonia began leaking at midday Wednesday. No injuries were immediately reported after firefighters were dispatched to the Reddy Ice plant. Authorities called for a city transit bus to provide shelter for between 15 and 30 people who were told to leave their homes as a precaution.

SCOTLAND: West Lothian - The emergency services used an inflatable boat to rescue residents in West Lothian after a river burst its banks, engulfing homes in up to six feet of water. Among those rescued in the town of Broxburn were an 86-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman from their home, and four people and a dog from a block of flats. In another incident, an elderly woman in a wheelchair was rescued. Meanwhile in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, firefighters were forced to check there was no one in a car engulfed to its roof in flood water. There were 70 calls for assistance in the area after flash floods damaged homes and trapped cars. Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said attempts to get sandbags last night had been delayed by the council strike . A spokesman said: "It has been absolute mayhem overnight. We have had numerous reports of flooding and dozens of homes affected. A few elderly people have been rescued from their homes. They were affected by the cold and required hospital treatment.

PHILIPPINES: Five people were killed as Typhoon Nuri slammed into the northern Philippines Wednesday, triggering heavy rain and warnings of possible storm surges, officials said. Packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometres (86 miles) an hour at the centre and gusts of up to 170 kilometres per hour, at 4:00 pm (0800 GMT) Nuri was 90 kilometres northwest of the northern province of Cagayan, moving northwest at 15 kilometres per hour.

GEORGIA: Up to 280 hectares (692 acres) of forests have been burnt or are alight in Georgia after its conflict with Russia, the WWF said Wednesday, warning that key conservation areas were under threat.

NORWAY: Old Civil Defense equipment poses risks - Boots melted and other old Civil Defense equipment proved badly out of date when emergency crews needed it to fight Norway's largest forest fire in decades earlier this summer. Inventory from the 1960s is posing more risk than help. Gas masks found amidst the fire-fighting equipment were from 1961. Fire hoses from 1967, pumps from 1968 and gas masks from 1962 are among the items stored in Civil Defense warehouses in Oslo's Groruddalen district. Officials have reason to fear the equipment can't be relied upon if a need for it suddenly arises. MORE AT: http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2605801.ece

SUDAN: At least five people have been killed and some 1,500 homes destroyed in floods at camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) reported today. The floods affected several camps and UNAMID said a damage assessment was under way. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the area are trying to provide water, food and sanitation, it added. UNAMID yesterday also strongly condemned recent attacks on two of its helicopters in West Darfur. It said the incidents were "unacceptable obstacles to UNAMID's mandate and mission in Darfur," and called on all parties to cease and desist from violence and aggression.)

NEW ZEALAND: Owners of the car wrecking business engulfed in flames this morning have begun their clean-up. More than 60 firefighters battled the large fire in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga. Fire fighters were still at the scene this afternoon using foam to dampen down hot spots and awaiting a vacuum truck to remove chemicals. A fire communications spokeswoman said the fire was at the Strong for Honda car parts plant. The warehouse stocks tyres and car parts.

Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 20th August

NEPAL: Nearly 30,000 people are reported to have fled their homes after a dam collapsed in south-eastern Nepal leading to flooding in the area. The police say they are trying to rescue the stranded people, but the high water levels are making airlifting them difficult. The Koshi dam on the Saptakoshi river in Sunsari district collapsed on Monday afternoon after breaching embankments.

MALAYSIA: The inferno at the Tanjung Langsat Port, near Pasir Gudang, 45km east of here, worsened as a second fuel storage tank caught fire, while attempts to put out the blaze at the first tank were thwarted by insufficient fire-fighting material, strong winds and rain. The adjacent tank, containing about 8,000 cubic metres of highly flammable naptha, caught fire around 7.10pm yesterday after overheating. The first tank, containing unleaded gasoline, ignited at 6.45pm on Sunday. Fire and Rescue Department assistant director-general (operations) Amer Yusuf said fire-fighters from Malacca, Federal Territory, Negri Sembilan and Pahang were mobilised to assist in the operation. "We need a lot more foam before we can put the flames out," he said yesterday. When asked if there was a possibility other nearby tanks would be affected, Amer said this could not be ruled out if the fire was not extinguished in time. There are six other tanks nearby, containing naptha, gasoline and methyl tertiary butyl ether, and it is believed 50% of their contents have been relocated. The cause of the initial fire was still under investigation, Amer said. There are about 200 personnel and 13 fire engines on site working to put out the blaze. So far, no one has been injured. A spokesman for Swiss oil trader Trafigura Pte Ltd, which leased the tanks in June this year, said they were awaiting completion of a full assessment of the damage before they could assign a value to the loss. Crowds of by-standers gathered a few kilometres from the scene yesterday to watch as the twin tanks burned, with flames as high as 40m.

SCOTLAND: Firefighters battled to protect homes last night as parts of Scotland were hit by flash floods. Torrential rains and thunderstorms with up to an inch of rain descended over parts of Lanarkshire yesterday afternoon and into the evening, triggering a deluge. The Met Office last night issued a weather warning of further rain today leading to fresh flooding in areas, including west central Scotland and the Borders, where the ground is already saturated from recent downpours.

USA: Florida - Tens of thousands of people were without power and schools were closed Tuesday across southern Florida as Tropical Storm Fay made landfall, but the storm lacked the strength forecasters initially predicted. Fay came ashore earlier Tuesday at Cape Romano just south of Marco Island. Forecasters dropped hurricane warnings because the storm never reached the 74 mph (119 kph) threshold necessary for hurricane status. The weakened storm was a good sign for many residents as well as local businesses taking the risk of riding out Fay.

Egypt: A fire has broken out in Egypt's upper house of parliament in the capital city of Cairo, a security official says. "Twelve emergency service staff were taken to a nearby hospital after suffering smoke-related injuries," the official said on Tuesday. "The fire is currently limited to the Shura Council's second floor. We are still trying to determine the exact cause of the fire," the official added. The official said the fire "could have been caused by an electrical short-circuit" in the Building. All roads in the area have been closed off, allowing access only to emergency services and authorities.

USA: Florida - One of the two nuclear reactors at Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point plant near Miami has been taken off-line because of a leak. Roger Hannah, spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the problem was caused by a small leak in a pipe. The shutdown started on Friday afternoon and was completed on Sunday after several discussions between NRC staff and FPL. FPL spokesman Tom Veenstra said there was never any danger to the public. The event report filed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the shut-down was ''required by technical specifications'' after a leak developed from a ``structural weld crack. . . . The cause of the crack is being evaluated.'' Fueling Station readers may recall Turkey Point made news earlier this year when the NRC hit FPL with a $130,000 fine because security guards had been caught catnapping, and when the state Public Service Commission gave FPL permission to build additional nuclear plants at Turkey Point.

USA: Alaska - Hazardous materials teams from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the military responded Monday to the crash of a truck tanker carrying 9,000 gallons of liquefied methane on the Parks Highway. The semi pulling the tanker trailer rolled just before 9 a.m. at Mile 179 and emergency authorities closed the highway, the main road link between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Authorities said the highway could remain closed for much of the night Monday. The tank itself was put on its side. The cause of the crash was not known. Methane is highly explosive and transported under pressure in refrigerated tanks. A crew from the owners of the methane, Fairbanks Natural Gas, a utility in Fairbanks, removed rock that jammed a vent acting as a safety valve on the trailer. "Because it's venting properly. It'll maintain a temperature that will reduce the risk of explosion," said Ken Barkley, an acting borough assistant fire chief and the on-scene official in charge. Responders were deciding the best way to empty the tanker of methane before attempting to lift it back onto its wheels. Patty Sullivan, spokeswoman for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, said the incident occurred just north of Hurricane Gulch Bridge, a 550-foot span that rises 260 feet above Hurricane Creek. A parking lot at the remote bridge is a frequent stop for road travelers with cameras. The bridge is about 80 miles north of Talkeetna and about 58 miles south of the entrance to Denali National Park and Preserve. The truck is owned by TG Services of Wasilla. The driver, Robert Adkins, 63, was able to escape from the cab. He was transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center with what Sullivan said were minor injuries. Borough emergency services director Dennis Brodigan said the first goal of emergency responders was to get the driver out and isolate the truck. Authorities closed the highway at Mile 171.5 on the southern end and Mile 184.5 on the northern end.

CHINA: A 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit southern China near the border with Myanmar early Wednesday, collapsing homes and forcing about 1,200 people to evacuate. No deaths were reported, Sha Zhengcheng, the chief of publicity with Yingjiang County's Communist Party committee. The quake's epicenter was about 140 miles (225 kilometers) west of the popular tourism city of Dali in China's Yunnan province, according to a report on the U.S. Geological Survey's Web site. Many homes near the epicenter, Sudian Township, collapsed, and other townships nearby reported damage.

SERBIA: A rabies alert was declared in a Serbian town after several infected cats bit and scratched seven people, including two pre-school children. All of the victims were treated with a vaccine against the deadly disease and released from hospital, the report said, without specifying when the incident occurred. Authorities in Raca Kragujevacka, in central Serbia some 110 kilometres south of Belgrade, raised the alert after the rabies virus was isolated and confirmed in one of the cats. Carried by saliva of infected mammals and invariably lethal if not urgently treated, rabies kill 50,000 people around the world. The rural central Serbia remains plagued by the disease, though no human fatalities were recently reported.

EUROPE: The salmonellosis outbreak possibly linked to a meat plant in County Kildare, Ireland, has now spread to Sweden and France, bringing to 5 the number of European Union countries affected. The latest figures for the outbreak of "Salmonella" Agona, released last night - 18 Aug 2008 -, show some 132 people have now been infected. Sweden has reported its 1st 2 cases, while France has confirmed 1 person has been infected by the relatively rare strain of the bacterium. The genetic fingerprint of the microbe has been linked to a particular production line at the Dawn Farm Foods plant in Naas. Of the 132 people, some 125 have had an isolate with the same genetic fingerprint as samples taken from the meat plant. Final test results are awaited on a further 7 cases. A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Surveillance Centre said a water specimen taken from a Scottish river contained the exact same strain of "Salmonella" Agona but it had subsequently been established that the microbe had originated in a sewage outlet and was therefore the result rather than the cause of the outbreak. Of the 132 people who have become sick as a result of the infection, some 76 cases have been identified in England with Scotland reporting 31 cases. 11 people in Ireland are now known to have been affected, with 4 of these requiring hospital treatment. Finland, France and Sweden are the other EU states where cases have been found. The European Centre for Disease Control has reported that the Finnish case arose after the person ate beef strips contained in a sandwich. As a result of the outbreak, beef strips, chicken, lamb and pork supplied to at least 8 European countries and to Kuwait have been withdrawn by Dawn Farm Foods.

ISRAEL: The 1st isolation of _Burkholderia pseudomallei_ in Israel. On 31 Jul 2008, a 32-year-old man was seen in the Emergency Room of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Hospital at Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, complaining of 2 to 3 weeks of fatigue, chills, night sweats and weight loss. The patient is a Thai agricultural worker employed at a rural settlement in an arid region in the southern Jordan Valley in Israel. He hails from a village in north-eastern Thailand where he worked in rice and sugar-cane farming.

INDIA: Kanpur - At least 12 people have lost their lives in the past one-week following an out-break of malaria, prompted by heavy rains, in the rural areas of the Kanpur district.

PHILIPPINES: Typhoon Nuri picked up strength Tuesday as it barrelled across the Philippine Sea toward northern Luzon island, the state weather bureau said. Nuri gathered more speed at sustained winds of 130 kilometres (80 miles) an hour at noon time, with gusts of up to 160 kilometres an hour, it said. It was spotted east of Tuguegarao city in northern Luzon, and was on track to make landfall over coming days.

Subject: Around the World Today - Tuesday 19th August

MYANMAR: Pegu - A landslide in the village of Bawbada in Mogok Township killed six people on Saturday, while flooding forced thousands of residents of Pegu Divison to flee their homes, as torrential downpours hit a wide swathe of Burma over the weekend.

USA: California - The Unit 2 reactor at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant has been shut down because of a transformer fire at the San Luis Obispo County coastal facility. Diablo Canyon spokeswoman Sharon Gavin says Sunday's 12:12 a.m. transformer fire was extinguished in about 14 minutes. She says there was no threat to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company plant's nuclear reactors. Investigators say the fire appears to have been caused by a transformer failure in an area east of the plant's turbine building. The Unit 2 reactor was shut down because of the blaze.

SUDAN: At least six people have died due to heavy rains in Sudan where the Nile was approaching record levels, but the head of the country's civil defence authority said officials were prepared for floods this year. Hamadallah Adam Ali said on Monday five people have died in Khartoum and one in the remote western Darfur region because of floods. He said he had no information yet on south Sudan where rainfall has been heaviest. Last year Sudan experienced the worst floods in living memory. At least 150 people died, hundreds of thousands were left homeless and damages in the mostly desert nation were estimated at $300 million.

MACEDONIA: Five wildfires were reported to be active across Macedonia and a new one has broken out, the Crisis Management Centre said on Monday. The new fire broke out on Sunday in the country�s central municipality of Plasnca, and so far has not been brought under control. But the largest one worrying most firefighters is the fire on the Belasica Mountain in the southeast of the country which has been raging since Saturday. So far it has engulfed around 100 hectares of forest the Crisis Management Centre said, adding that firefighting aircraft might be needed to extinguish the blaze due to the difficult terrain. In addition there are several other fires raging across the country, which have not been brought under control yet. They are spreading quickly due to the dry weather accompanied by weeks of scorching temperatures. The authorities fear of a repeat of last summer when one person was killed and the whole country put on alert due to the huge wildfires. At one point, some 25 fires were active at the same time. This year the Government says firefighting teams have been much more prepared despite criticism that some essential pieces of equipment as well as firefighting planes and vehicles will only be delivered to key services after this year�s summer fire season ends.

NORTHERN IRELAND: The Met Office has issued a further severe weather warning for Northern Ireland, parts of which are already under feet of water amid flood chaos. Pouring rain is set to drench the region yet again, with eastern parts being worst affected as up to 15mm of water are expected to fall in just three hours. The Met Office is advising people to take extra care after people had to be evacuated from their homes over the weekend - some of them by life boat. Fire crews were drafted in to help the rescue effort in counties Down, Armagh and Antrim and more than 1,000 emergency calls were made as rivers burst their banks and roads became impassable. Parts of the M1 and M2 motorways are still shut and a train derailed in the Irish Republic.

INDIA: Punjab - To rescue the people of the flood affect areas of Punjab, large number of army personnel were deployed, who initiated massive rescue operation and brought more than 500 families out of the flood to safer places. Due to unusually heavy rains in Punjab in the last few days the water level in River Sutluj and other rivers rose well above the danger level and there were number of breaches in the anti flood bunds astride River Sutluj in Jalandhar, Moga and Ferozepur Districts, an official release stated here on Monday.

CANADA: Alberta - A second infant has fallen ill and this time has died from a mysterious bacterial skin disease that results in skin and tissue being consumed by the disease, The baby boy that died is one of two infants that had been transferred to Alberta Children�s Hospital in Calgary from the medical facility Lethbridge Regional Hospital. The other infant is in critical condition in intensive care having undergone a number of surgeries to try and save his life. At first the disease was diagnosed incorrectly as a flesh eating disease, but has since been reclassified. The disease that has claim claimed one infant and has the other deathly ill does act destructively toward skin and flesh but it is not a flesh eating disease in the true sense. The medical professionals and hospital officials have confirmed that the two babies have contracted this bacterial disease but otherwise were not giving out very much information. Officials from both hospitals are investigating what kind of disease or condition that could strike so swiftly and affect the two children as fast as it did.

SPAIN: Spain is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years. Climate experts warn that the country is suffering badly from the impact of climate change and that the Sahara is slowly creeping north - into the Spanish mainland. Yet in Spain itself there is little consensus about what is to be done. Indeed, such is the disagreement that journalists and politicians alike are calling it "water wars". A farmer and politician, Angel Carcia Udon, said: "Water arouses passions because it can be used as a weapon, a political weapon, just as oil is a political weapon". And water in Spain has set region against region, north against south and government against opposition. When the city of Barcelona nearly ran out of water earlier this year, the fountains were switched off and severe restrictions were introduced. The government of Catalonia pleaded for water to be transferred from rivers like the Ebro, in neighbouring regions, but they refused. Instead, the city imported tonnes of litres of water from France and accelerated work on the giant desalination plant on the edge of Barcelona, which promises to provide 180,000 cubic metres of water a day.

RUSSIA: Buryatiya - A total of 16 people have suffered from eating fish from Lake Kotokel. 12 are in the hospital, 3 have been discharged, and one person has died as a result of foodborne toxic paroxysmal myoglobinuria. It is an acute disease that sporadically takes place among predator fish. The etiology of the disease is unknown, but the ill fish can be toxic for people. The 1st outbreak of the disease was registered in Gaff [Haff] bay. The cause of the disease in fish are plant toxins and can lead to mass deaths of fish. A state of emergency has been declared in this location.

FRANCE: Cases of anthrax have been found again in France. 38 cattle on 18 farms perished in the Doubs region in eastern France due to infection with the pathogen Bacillus anthracis. Since the 1st occurrence in early July 2008, the pathogen has spread further. The veterinary authorities have thus undertaken the vaccination of cattle and sheep in 25 districts, as reported by Agra Europe, London on 14 Aug 2008. It is estimated that 9000 animals must be vaccinated. In addition, the hunting season has been delayed, forestry work discontinued and access to old animal burial sites, which are suspected to be the source of infection, banned.

USA: Florida - Florida battened down Monday as Tropical Storm Fay packed on more power as it struck the Florida Keys, on its way to possibly becoming a full-blown hurricane after claiming as many as 40 lives in the Caribbean.
The storm, driving sustained winds of nearly 95 kilometers (60 miles) per hour, was at 2100 GMT centered near the vacation hub of Key West, or about 235 kilometers (145 miles) south of mainland Florida at Fort Myers.

INDIA: Uttar Pradesh - At least 87 people have died in northern India following heavy monsoon rains and flooding, officials said Monday. The bulk of the casualties were reported from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, with 73 people killed in the past 48 hours, state revenue secretary Balwainder Kumar told AFP. Most of the deaths happened when houses of the victims collapsed during the downpours.

CHINA: A gas explosion killed two miners and trapped 23 others at a coal mine in northeast China, state media said early Tuesday. The accident happened at Baijiagou Coal Mine in Faku County, Liaoning Province, at 8:50am (0050 GMT) Monday.

MONGOLIA: According to Mongolian news reports, over 200 Mongolian gazelles recently died of unknown causes near Nuoluobushan (transliteration) in Erdenetsagaan Sum [district, near the Sino-Mongolian border of] Sukhbaatar province. The Mongolian Emergency Situations Agency preliminarily suspects that the gazelles died due to anthrax infection. Experts from Mongolian infectious disease prevention and control agencies have run tests on samples taken from the dead gazelles, and buried and carried out disinfection of the carcasses. On orders of the Sukhbaatar provincial governor and the Emergency Situations Committee, the above-mentioned area has been quarantined and effective measures taken to prevent the spread of the unknown illness to neighboring Dornod and Khentii provinces.

NW PACIFIC: Typhoon Karen (international codename Nuri) continues to intensify and endangers Northern Luzon, weather bureau PAGASA said Tuesday.

USA: Texas - Torrential rains flooded an estimated 750 homes in Starr County on Monday, sending families scrambling for high ground before returning to salvage belongings from swamped homes. More than 13 inches of rain fell in some parts of the county, forcing emergency officials to use boats to pluck people from their flooded houses. The water was as much as 3 or 4 feet deep in neighborhoods east of Roma and north of U.S. Highway 83, the Rio Grande Valley's main artery, at dusk.

Subject: Around the World Today - Monday 18th August

USA: California - A seven-alarm fire rampaged through part of Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield Saturday afternoon, destroying 80 unoccupied homes and threatening 300 more buildings before fire crews managed to stop the flames' advance, officials said. It was the biggest fire in the 66-year history of Travis, base commander Mark Dillon said. The blaze, which began around 3:15 p.m. as a small grass fire, quickly spread throughout the northwest region of the base, near the main gate. About five hours later, firefighters said the blaze was about 80 percent contained, after having burned about 750 acres.

HONDURAS / NICARAGUA: Health authorities in Honduras have been placed on alert, because in recent days Nicaragua has suffered an outbreak of pneumonia, and it is possible that in the coming hours it will invade Honduras. There have already been some cases of pneumonia in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.

USA: Arizona - A rain-soaked earthen dam near the Grand Canyon broke on Sunday, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents from a flooded village in a downstream Indian reservation, a National Park Service spokeswoman said. Five helicopters from the Arizona National Guard and the state public safety department ferried some evacuees, including campers and river-runners, to higher ground after floodwaters cascaded into the remote Native American town of Supai at the bottom of a canyon, spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge said. As of Sunday evening, 75 people had been airlifted to safety and another 350 were waiting to be flown out as darkness approached.

GUINEA BISSAU: The United Nations gave 400,000 euros (600,000 dollars) in aid to the tiny west African nation of Guinea Bissau to fight a cholera epidemic that has claimed 40 lives to date, the UN said Saturday.

UGANDA: A hepatitis E epidemic in northern Uganda has killed 110 people since last October and continues to spread across the region, the health ministry said Thursday. The virus, concentrated in the Kitgum district which is home to numerous camps for civil-war displaced, has caused 6,762 infections, with 232 new cases reported last week alone.

BANGLADESH: At least four people were killed and dozens are feared trapped under debris following a landslide in Bangladesh's southeastern city of Chittagong, about 242 km southeast of capital Dhaka, early Monday. Police said rescuers so far recovered four bodies including a child and a woman and continued frantic efforts to recover missing people under the mud. The tragedy took place as the victims' hill-foot thatched houses were damaged by the landslide early in the morning.

ITALY: Some 200 fires swept across southern Italy, causing at least one death from smoke inhalation, according to the Italian civil protection service. The most serious blazes were concentrated in the region of Calabria.

Subject: Around the World Today - Sunday 17th August

USA: Utah - Between 600 and 700 employees were evacuated from an oil refinery in Woods Cross on Friday afternoon when hydrofluoric acid began leaking from a broken pipe. No injuries were reported and employees of Holly Corp. were able to suppress the acid vapor quickly, said South Davis Metro Fire Department Chief Jim Rampton. The leak occurred about 4:45 p.m. It was unknown how much acid leaked. Crews working near the area were evaluated by emergency personnel and released. The refinery, which processes approximately 26,000 barrels of crude oil a day, produces around 15 percent of the state's gasoline.

UKRAINE: An epidemic situation in the Donetsk Oblast is near to catastrophic because there have been 85 outbreaks of rabies in 29 regions; i.e., 80 percent of its territory is enzootic for rabies in bats. The latest incident happened in Konstantinovka, where bats bit 2 children during daylight hours. This was the 3rd incident this season. City residents are greatly alarmed; bats are roosting in the roofs of several multi-storey buildings. Experts advise blocking all apertures which may allow bats access to the roofspace of buildings. Bats carry [a] highly pathogenic strain of rabies virus and the carrier state is prolonged. Regional health protection agencies are conducting preventive campaigns.

CANADA: Newfoundland - A mysterious disease that has killed a number of moose on Newfoundland's northern peninsula has left provincial wildlife experts in that province scratching their heads. It's unclear how many moose have been lost due to the illness that causes the animals to literally waste away, become walking skeletons and then die. Wildlife officials haven't been able to find a cause for a mysterious disease that is killing moose on Newfoundland's northern peninsula. But wildlife officials in New Brunswick don't believe the mystery disease could threaten this province's 26 000 moose.

USA: Oklahoma - Severe thunderstorms knocked down power poles and dropped so much hail that it looked like winter had come early to part of the Panhandle, authorities said. There were no reports of structural damage or injuries with the storms, which pounded northern, western and central Oklahoma beginning Thursday evening. Nearly 8,900 customers were without electricity in central sections of the state. The storms unleashed torrential rain, vivid lightning and winds between 60 and 70 mph, the National Weather Service reported. It wasn't known how high the winds were when power poles were toppled along Oklahoma 23 south of Elmwood in Beaver County, authorities said. Video footage from the same area showed pea- to quarter-size hail piled 5 to 6 inches deep, making it look like snow had fallen on the roadway.

HAITI: Flooding from Tropical Storm Fay killed two people and left two children missing in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, authorities said Saturday as the cyclone spun toward Cuba. A man died Saturday in Haiti while trying to cross a river in Leogane, south of Port-au-Prince, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, head of Haiti's civil protection department. No further information was immediately available. Crops in the Artibonite Valley, Haiti's most fertile region, were flooded, according to reports from Radio Ginen. The extent of the damage was unclear, and agriculture officials could not be reached. Haiti has struggled to cope with a food crisis that sparked deadly riots in April. The capital's airport reopened Saturday afternoon, but heavy rains were still expected in the south.

USA: Florida - The US state of Florida has declared a state of emergency ahead of the arrival of tropical storm Fay, which has swept through the island of Hispaniola. At least four people have been killed in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. More than 2,000 people were evacuated in the Dominican Republic, hundreds of homes were damaged and a further 15,000 houses lost power. Fay could become a hurricane as it moves towards Cuba then on to Florida, arriving there possibly on Monday. Sustained winds of 75km/h (45mph) and rainfall of 20cm (eight inches) were recorded in the Dominican Republic.

INDONESIA: Volcano Mt Anak Krakatau (GAK) in the Sunda Strait is spewing red-hot and hazardous materials.

SEVERE STORMS, UNUSUAL FOR AUGUST, SWEEP THROUGH EUROPE

GERMANY: Severe thunderstorms knocked down power poles and dropped so much hail that it looked like winter had come early to part of the Panhandle, authorities said. There were no reports of structural damage or injuries with the storms, which pounded northern, western and central Oklahoma beginning Thursday evening. Nearly 8,900 customers were without electricity in central sections of the state. The storms unleashed torrential rain, vivid lightning and winds between 60 and 70 mph, the National Weather Service reported. It wasn't known how high the winds were when power poles were toppled along Oklahoma 23 south of Elmwood in Beaver County, authorities said. Video footage from the same area showed pea- to quarter-size hail piled 5 to 6 inches deep, making it look like snow had fallen on the roadway. Farther to the south, winds of an unknown speed blew down tree limbs 4 to 5 inches in diameter in Roger Mills.

POLAND: In Silesia in eastern Poland, a man died when high winds caused widespread damage in the village of Kalina while another was electrocuted in the central province of Lodz after the wind blew down an electrical line. Downed trees blocked roads and train tracks in Silesia and central Poland, and the Polska Agencja Prasowa press agency reported that about 100 houses were damaged in Silesia alone.

AUSTRIA: Severe storms were also reported in nearly all parts of Austria, especially the southern Austrian state of Carinthia and the neighbouring south-eastern state of Styria. A woman, 41, was killed near the Carinthian town of St Stefan when she was hit by a falling tree while hiking. The group of hikers she was with took cover under the tree when it began to hail. It fell on her in front of her husband and daughter.

ITALY: Two mountaineers froze to death after apparently getting lost during a storm in Italy's northern Alps region, officials said Saturday. Officials in the northern Alpine town of Aosta said the bodies of the two - a Dutch and an English national - were found at an altitude of some 4,000 metres and were brought back to the valley.

SLOVAKIA: Two people at an outdoor hard rock and punk festival in south- western Slovakia were killed overnight by trees blown over by raging storm, the organizers said Saturday. The organizers of the festival held in Jaslovske Bohunice cancelled Saturday's programme.

NORTHERN ISLAND: Torrential rain has caused widespread flooding across Northern Ireland. Police have warned drivers in south Belfast that manhole covers have been lifted out of place and carried along by flood water. There are reports of flooding on the A4 Ballygawley Road and in the Cookstown area of County Tyrone. Motorists are being warned to take alternative routes after severe flooding on the Belfast's West Link. Part of the Shore Road on the outskirts of north Belfast was closed after floods brought down a wall. Sporting fixtures, including several Carnegie Irish Premier Division soccer matches, have also been hit.

Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 16th August

NEW ZEALAND: Auckland - The mystery illness which sent three young south Auckland students to hospital on Tuesday has still not been identified. A girl and two boys from Jean Batten School in Mangere were admitted to Middlemore Hospital on Tuesday after developing swollen eyes and rashes. Health authorities seized a lei used during a cultural exchange at the school and took it for testing, but the school and health officials said there had been nothing identified which may have made the children sick. Further tests would be done. School principal Jeff Bruce said the children had all completely recovered and were back at school.

USA: Florida - Widespread reports of damage poured in to police after severe thunderstorms hit Miami-Dade and Broward counties Thursday afternoon. Hialeah, Fla. police reported the tornado in the area around 2:40 p.m. Thursday. The Red Cross is in Hialeah to provide relief for the occupants of the location. The National Weather Service in Miami had put the area was under a tornado warning at the time of the touchdown. Police in Hialeah also reported two cars were flipped over by high winds on Palm avenue and 17th street.

LAOS: Four people have been killed in flooding and landslides in Laos, where the Mekong river has hit its highest level in at least 100 years after several months of unusually heavy rain, officials said on Friday. The communist government and private citizens in the landlocked Southeast Asian country have been rushing to complete a 2.5 metre (8 ft) wall of sandbags to stop water inundating the capital, Vientiane. Police have closed roads leading to the riverbank to make it easier for trucks delivering sandbags. We've been fighting very hard day and night for four days, but after today the water level should recede," said a government spokesman Yong Chanhthalansy in Bangkok. The Mekong, which starts in the glaciers of Tibet and ends 4,350 km (2,700 miles) away in the rice-rich delta of southern Vietnam, hit 13.68 metres in Vientiane on Thursday, trouncing a high of 12.38 metres recorded in 1966, the worst floods in living memory. That depth - measured roughly from the river's lowest level in the dry season - could rise slightly on Friday before retreating, Yong said.

NETHERLANDS: The Dutch Agriculture Ministry urged farmers to vaccinate their goats, sheep and cattle against the bluetongue livestock disease after confirming five new cases in the north of the Netherlands on Friday. All five infected animals were sheep that had not been vaccinated against the virus, which causes fever and mouth ulcers and in some cases turns an animal's tongue blue. Agricultural minister Gerda Verburg urged farms that have not yet vaccinated their animals to do so, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

USA: New York - Health officials say six residents of an upstate New York housing complex for seniors have been stricken with Legionnaires' disease, and that one of them has died. The family of 75-year-old Anna Marie Tongate says she died Thursday at a hospital in Elmira about a week after falling ill. The state health department says Tongate lived at a complex where five others have been infected. Tongate's family says the residents began displaying flulike symptoms last week but Tongate wasn't brought to the hospital until Sunday. A Chemung County health official says it could be a week or more before investigators determine the source of the contamination.

RUSSIA: Northern Ossetia - The spread of African swine fever [ASF] in Northern Ossetia can pose a worse threat than avian flu. More than 1500 animals have already died as a result of this disease. In spite of the state of emergency declared in Northern Ossetia, the spread continues. Experts predict that the disease will soon cover the whole country without effective means to control it. The 1st cases of this exotic disease have been recorded also in the Orenburg region, and there is danger of the disease, carried by swine, [mechanically] by humans, animal feed and transport [vehicles]. Astrakhan veterinarians are already preparing for the possible advance of the deadly disease, and local officials there have increased security measures. The authorities are applying a radical approach, appealing to the local population with the proposal, as a matter of urgency, to slaughter their pigs and immediately consume their meat.

NEW ZEALAND: About 600 homes in the Nelson Lakes/Murchison area are still without power and may be without electricity for several days due to heavy snowfalls. Many roads were also closed as contractors waited until snow stopped falling to begin clearing it. An operator at Network Tasman on Saturday morning said the organisation was too busy answering phone calls to talk to the Nelson Mail. But a press release from the electricity lines company said continuing snow falls and a lack of access were "significantly hampering" its attempts to restore power. Nelson weather forecaster John Mathieson said snow was expected to stop falling by Saturday afternoon, although another band of southerly wintry showers would arrive on Monday, with snow to 350m overnight. Mr Mathieson said Sunday 1should be mostly clear with a maximum temperature of 11, and severe frosts were predicted for Sunday night.

PHILIPPINES: 5.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the central Philippines, but no tsunami warning was issued, and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, seismologists said Friday.

CUBA: Severe weather over the Dominican Republic has strengthened into a tropical storm which is heading towards Cuba, US weather forecasters said. At 2100GMT on Friday Tropical Storm Fay was about 55km (35 miles) east of the Dominican Republic's capital, with winds of 65km/h (40mph). It is expected to travel across Haiti on Saturday, before veering north and hitting eastern Cuba later in the day.

Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 15th August

USA: Florida - Operation Argus, a maritime security exercise that emphasizes protecting ports and marine transportation systems, brought a swarm of federal, state and local agencies to Jacksonville on Tuesday. Agency and industry partners began conducting a two-day, full-scale maritime security exercise in the ports of Jacksonville and Port Canaveral, Fla., on Tuesday. Operation Argus is part of the Northeastern and Eastern Central Florida Area Maritime Security Plan, which is a required and critical step in protecting the port and marine transportation systems. The Northeast and Eastern Central Florida Maritime Security Committee developed the exercise plan and is facilitating the exercise. MORE AT: http://www.news4jax.com/news/17173547/detail.html

USA: Arizona - Heavy rain and wind overnight knocked out power to 35,000 homes and businesses, 12,000 of them remained without power by 9 a.m. Thursday and rain closed numerous streets around the metro area. The storm also knocked out traffic lights across the city and blew over numerous trees.

CHILE: Authorities say the Chaiten volcano in southern Chile has resumed strong activity, spewing a column of smoke 4 miles (6 kilometers) into the air and raining ash on a nearby village. Government emergency and geological agencies said Thursday in a statement that the volcano rumbled to life the previous evening with a series of medium-strength earthquakes. Chaiten has been active with varying intensity since a May 2 eruption that forced the evacuation of thousands of people around a town of the same name. Residents have yet to return.

SCOTLAND: Flooding has affected several areas in the west of Scotland after heavy rain fell across the area for a third day. Two feet of water covered streets in the Renfrewshire town of Johnstone. Parts of Greenock in Invercylde were closed off. In Lanarkshire, roads have been closed in the Bellshill area. The Galston roundabout in Newmilns, Ayrshire, also closed after a burn burst its banks. Police warned drivers to avoid these areas. Crews from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue were said to be severely stretched in response to calls from worried residents. Floodwater, up to two feet deep, covered a large area of Newmilns Main Street, in Ayrshire.

USA: Oregon - Heat Wave warning - the heat is on. Over the next three days, record-breaking temperatures are expected to hit the Northwest. Western Washington will be in the upper 80s to low 90s, and it's expected to be even hotter in Eastern Washington and Oregon.

CHINA: Lightning strikes on the famed Great Wall in Beijing injured a total of nine Chinese and foreign tourists on Thursday. The three Americans, two visitors from Hong Kong and four from other Chinese provinces were hurt at about 2:30pm (0630 GMT) when lightning hit a balefire tower on the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Quoting the emergency response office of the suburban Huairou District government, the report said the nine were receiving treatment in hospital but were not in danger. The heavy rain, lightning and thunder also caused havoc at the Beijing Olympic Games, forcing some events to be rescheduled.

USA: Alaska - An island smaller than Alaska's largest airport has frustrated thousands of people trying to get into or out of Alaska. Kasatochi volcano is one of three volcanoes rumbling in the central Aleutians in August 2008, along with Mount Cleveland and Okmok. Kasatochi, about 80 miles northeast of Adak island in the central Aleutian chain, has spewed an ash cloud that twisted eastward over the North Pacific, scattering planes and canceling flights because pilots know that flying a jet through an ash cloud can cause engines to seize.

CANADA: Quebec - A bloom of toxic algae, known as a red tide, has been present in the St. Lawrence Estuary for several days, with large algae concentrations being observed particularly at the mouth of the Saguenay Fjord and on the south shore of the Estuary between Riviere-du-Loup and Rimouski. Fisheries and Oceans Canada has closed all of the shellfish harvesting areas in the affected zone and reminded the public that shellfish harvesting is prohibited in all closed areas. Although many dead birds, fish and marine mammals have been sighted over the past several days, a link has not been established between the mortalities and the toxic algae bloom. Field and laboratory work is currently being carried out to determine the cause of the mortalities.

CHINA: Hong Kong - Another child has died hours after being admitted to a public hospital, feverish and vomiting, in the second such mysterious fatality this week. York Chow Yat-ngok, the secretary for food and health, said he was very concerned about the cases and had asked the Centre for Health Protection to heighten alerts and try to find the cause of the infections.

CHINA: Nearly 150 billion dollars are needed to rebuild areas in southwest China devastated by a massive earthquake in May, the government said on Thursday. The 51 worst-hit counties and cities will need about one trillion yuan (145.7 billion dollars), said the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency, in a statement on its website. (And of course they won't build in the worst hit areas again and the new buildings will high levels of earthquake survivability!)

VIETNAM: Soldiers and ordinary citizens in the Lao capital Vientiane on Thursday raced to build up barriers along the Mekong river as water levels rose past the flood danger level, authorities said.

GREECE: Civil Protection National Service Directorate General has warned that there has been very high risk of fires in many parts of Greece on Thursday. According to the map, which has been issued every day the highest risk of fires has been in Athens, the east and the west part of Attica, south part of Euboea Island. The local services had been informed to be at high alert to react if a fire burst out.

Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 14th August

INDIA: Mumbai - At least 20 people were killed and 21 others injured when part of a five-story building collapsed after heavy monsoon rains in downtown Mumbai, police said Wednesday. Torrential rains were hampering rescue efforts. Police said 11 people died in the wreckage while nine others who were critically injured died later in hospitals. The building was in a crowded residential neighborhood with narrow lanes, making it difficult for rescue workers to provide medical treatment at the site, Chauhan said. Firefighters struggled along with volunteers to sift through mounds of concrete beams and smashed wooden furniture. Police estimate the dilapidated building was around 65 years old. Heavy monsoon rainfall and shoddy building construction are often blamed for building collapses in Mumbai.

VIETNAM: Three people have been killed in fresh floods in northern Vietnam while the death toll in the wake of tropical storm Kammuri has risen to 119. Heavy rains since tuesday caused new floods in several districts of Quang Ninh province, east of Hanoi. Tropical storm Kammuri at the weekend destroyed some 800 homes and wiped out some 15 thousand hectares of crops in northern Vietnam.

UGANDA: Ten people have died following an outbreak of typhoid in the Hima region of Kasese district, a senior health ministry official said yesterday. "Our laboratory tests have revealed that the "strange disease" was typhoid. In about one month, we have registered 52 cases and 10 deaths but most of the cases have been treated," said the official on condition of anonymity. "The disease is not new in the area. The new cases flared up within a short time as we were still investigating. The cases are in one sub-county." The official called upon people in the area to wash hands after visiting toilets and boil drinking water. "The health officials in Kasese are doing everything to contain the outbreak by promoting hygiene. We are receiving regular updates from them and have also moved in to beef up their efforts," she said. Typhoid is contracted by eating contaminated food and drinking unboiled water. The signs are high fever of between 39C to 40C, body weakness, abdominal pains, headache and loss of appetite.

USA: Texas - Investigators from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in Austin now that the number of cases of typhus in Travis County has climbed to 14. Typhus is an infectious disease spread by lice or fleas on animals such as rats, cats, opossums, raccoons, and skunks. According to the National Institutes of Health, murine typhus is rarely deadly. Symptoms include headache, vomiting, an extremely high fever and a red rash that begins on middle of the body and spreads. The symptoms last for two to three weeks. Ten of the 14 patients in Travis County were hospitalized. The cases happened between March and July. The CDC personnel will be trapping and testing wildlife.

GREECE: Greece sends humanitarian aid to people affected by the hostilities in the Caucasus. In response to appeals for providing relief to people affected by the recent hostilities in the Caucasus, Greece dispatched a C-130 aircraft carrying a 14-tonne humanitarian aid shipment to Georgia comprising tents, blankets, medical and pharmaceutical supplies, serum, water purification tablets, etc. These provisions were collected by the Foreign Ministry in association with other co-competent state agencies (National Defense Ministry. Health and Human Solidarity Ministry, Secretariat General of Civil Protection) as well as NGOs (Greek Red Cross and World Pharmacists). Our country also made an extraordinary financial contribution worth € 100,000 through the UNHCR for providing relief to those who fled from South Ossetia to North.

GEORGIA: Responding to the request of assistance sent by Georgian authorities, several Member states offered assistance, i.e. bandages and other medical aid, tents and food, through the European community civil protection mechanism for thousands of civilians affected by the fighting in the region of South Ossetia. Experts from the Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) are in the region and are closely following the humanitarian situation.

Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 13th August

EIRE: Hundred of homes were flooded in the Dublin area last night. The Dublin Fire Brigade said the worst affected areas were Finglas, Clontarf and Blanchardstown. Houses in the Griffith Avenue Area, Ballygall Cresent, Finglas, the Seapark area of Clontarf and Blanchardstown hospital were flooded.

SOUTH AFRICA: Limpopo - With over 150 dead crocodiles in the last two weeks the cause of the large scale deaths amongst crocs in the Kruger Park is still a mystery. 7 of 11 capture crocs were found to be infected. Rangers have started removing dead crocs and burning them to prevent the disease spreading.

USA: Illinios - A case of West Nile virus has been reported in an Illinois resident. The Illinois Department of Public Health said the first human case of the notorious virus this year has been confirmed in lab testing by the Kane County Health Department. The woman, who is in her 20s and contracted the disease in late July, was traveling throughout Illinois and other states, and it is unknown where she was infected. Last year, almost 50 percent of Illinois' counties reported positive cases of the virus in either birds, mosquitoes, horses or humans. So far this year, only 11 of the state's 102 counties have reported positive finds. There have been no reported cases this year in Jo Daviess County.

SCOTLAND: Much of Scotland was on flood alert last night as torrential downpours swept across the UK. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) warned Scots to be prepared for the possibility of flooding today after forecasts of heavy rainfall. SEPA, which issued 10 flood watch alerts, advised that rainfall totals of up to 30mm were expected in some areas. The Borders, Fife, Edinburgh and the Lothians and west-central Scotland were expected to receive the highest rainfall.

USA: Colorado - In a hAZMAT incident in Denver with less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention a man has been found dead in a room with a container of what authorities initially suspect to be the deadly poison cyanide. Adding to the intrigue is that the dead man, Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, appears to be from outside the U.S. No passport was found on Dirie, who is believed to have entered the country from Canada.

HUNGARY: The National Weather Service issued a second-degree heat alert on Tuesday, warning that the weather in the coming days would be exceptionally hot. The expert said that temperatures exceeding 25 degrees Celsius were expected for the next three days, which meant that 40 degrees or more could be measured in the sun. The heat-wave was likely to be over by the weekend, when thunderstorms, hailstorms and strong winds were expected. The highest, third-degree alert is issued when the average temperature is expected to be over 27 degrees Celsius for three days.

GEORGIA: The European Community Civil protection mechanism has been activated at the request of the Georgian authorities for humanitarian assistance as a conflict triggered in South Ossetia. The UNHCR estimates between 10,000 and 20,000 people have been displaced within Georgia, including South Ossetia.

BURKINA FASO: The collapse of a mine after torrential rain killed 31 illegal miners while dozens more have been reported missing. The men were all swept away and drowned by muddy flood as they planted explosives to prospect for gold near the village of Boussoukoula, 500 kilometers southwest of Burkina Faso's capital.

VIETNAM: Some 2,700 troops and army helicopters have been mobilised on Tuesday to evacuate more than 5,000 residents to safer areas after the floods caused by the remnants of tropical storm Kammuri. Meteorologists warned that more rain storms would hit within one or two days.

AROUND THE WORLD TODAY