around_the_world_today_August_08

AROUND THE WORLD: AUGUST 23rd - 31st, 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

AROUND THE WORLD - AUGUST 13th - 22nd, 2008

Subject: Around the World Today - Sunday 31st August

GUSTAV: Cyamans - Hurricane Gustav downed power lines and trees on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, leaving both islands without electricity as the storm passed over the Sister Islands early Friday evening. Officials said they had received no reports of injuries as of early Friday evening. Just under 400 residents were in shelters on the Brac while only 13 people were at the hurricane shelter on Little Cayman. Two British Warships have arrived on Cayman Brac to help the Sister Islands rebuild after Hurricane Gustav brought widespread damage to the islands overnight.

GUSTAV: New Orleans - Mayor Nagin has ordered the mandatory evacuation of NOLA beginning 08h00 Sunday.

COLOMBIA: Colombia's disaster prevention unit issued an alert for the possible spilling of cyanide after a ship sank in the Magdalena river. People are urged not to drink water from the river. The ship, carrying 96 barrels of cyanide sank in between the towns of Puerto Mosquito and Boqueron in the department of Cesar. The Navy is trying to recover the ship and its content. Fishermen are not allowed to fish and people are not allowed to drink water coming frmo the river in the departments Atlanta, Cesar, Bolivar and Magdalena.

CHINA: An earthquake that hit southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, killing 22 people, has damaged or destroyed more than 100,000 homes and affected at least 440,000 residents, state media said on Sunday. The epicentre of Saturday's quake, which struck around 4:30 p.m. (0730 GMT), was about 20 miles (30 km) southeast of Panzhihua, near Sichuan's border with Yunnan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

ARGENTINA: Codoba - The worst drought in 20 years is wracking Argentina, stalling the country's conflict-ridden farm economy just as the government needs agricultural export income to protect its budget surplus at a politically troubled time. The National Meteorological Service says nearly every part of Argentina is experiencing drought conditions _ ranked as "extreme" or "absolute" in most areas _ that already have killed thousands of cattle and withered crops. The damage is worst in the country's northern farm belt, which for decades has produced the bulk of Argentine agriculture, fueling the nation's growth.

CHINA: Mongolia - Local authorities in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Sunday confirmed 15 people died and six were injured in an explosion at a fireworks plant on Saturday. The blast happened at about 10:13 a.m. on Saturday at the Xinxin Fireworks Plant in Sijiazi Township of Aohan Banner, killing 13 workers and injuring six others, two seriously. It also destroyed about 50 workshops, a regional work safety bureau spokesman said.

USA: Missouri - Two St. Louis-area hospital emergency rooms are on lockdown after the arrival of patients who appeared to be exposed to chemicals. Authorities say three people arrived by car at St. Anthony's Hospital with health problems caused by chemical exposure, apparently at an industrial area in East St. Louis, Ill. Meanwhile, three other victims reportedly went to SSM DePaul Health
Center. Details of their conditions were not immediately known. Authorities say the victims were exposed to a white powdery substance.

IRAN: A top Health Ministry official says that four people have died of cholera and another 100 people have been infected by an outbreak raging through the country. The daily Hambastegi quotes Deputy Health Minister Mohammad Mahdi Gooya as saying that the cholera outbreak has been reported in the capital Tehran and five other provinces in central, western and southern Iran. Health Minister Kamran Bagheri Lankarani says two of the dead were Afghan nationals.

INDONESIA: East Java - A top Health Ministry official says that four people have died of cholera and another 100 people have been infected by an outbreak raging through the country. The daily Hambastegi quotes Deputy Health Minister Mohammad Mahdi Gooya as saying that the cholera outbreak has been reported in the capital Tehran and five other provinces in central, western and southern Iran. Health Minister Kamran Bagheri Lankarani says two of the dead were Afghan nationals.

Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 30th August

RUSSIA: Quarantine has been declared in a village in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan in the southwest Urals after several humans were infected with anthrax, a spokesman for the consumer rights regulator said on Friday. Rospotrebnadzor said the measures were announced after 10 residents of the village, Ural, located in the Yanaulsky district, were hospitalized on Wednesday.

USA: Arizona - A series of fast-moving thunderstorms packing winds of up to 100 mph plowed through the Phoenix area, leaving tens of thousands without power, briefly shutting down the airport and ripping the roof off a brand-new college football facility. There were no immediate reports of injuries from Thursday's storms. Arizona Public Service Company said Friday morning it still had 50,000 customers without electricity, while Salt River Project estimated 11,000 of its customers were without power. The storm swept into the city at about 9 p.m., dumping up to a 1 1/2 inches of rain and three-quarter-inch hail in some areas.

CHINA: Guangxi - Thousands of people living on a south China island fear rising sea levels may soon take their homes and their livelihoods. The sea is eating into the 25-square-kilometer Weizhou Island, submerging beaches, coastlines and buffer forests. The 15,000 residents of the island, 20 nautical miles south of Beihai City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, have seen the seawater creeping inland for the past decade.

INDIA: Bihar - Over 20 people were killed when two army boats ferrying people stranded by the flooded Kosi river capsized in the turbulent waters Friday in Bihar's Madhepura district, an official said.

CAYMAN ISLANDS / GUSTAV: The late-night hours brought reports of flooding and storm damage in Grand Cayman, even as residents of the Sister Islands took the brunt of Hurricane Gustav. On the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastating landfall in New Orleans, residents all along the U.S. coastline today cast a wary eye out to Tropical Storms Gustav and Hanna, both predicted to ramp up to hurricane strength and possibly strike the United States early next week.

CANADA: Quebec - One person has died and 87 others sick in a salmonella outbreak in Canada's Quebec province, health officials said Friday. The outbreak has been linked to three brands of contaminated cheese, which have now been recalled, Dr. Horacio Arruda, the province's director of public health, told a news conference in Montreal. The disease was found in three regions of the province, south of Quebec City, the Eastern Townships and central Quebec. The announcement came only days after provincial Food and Agriculture Ministry recalled Quebec-made cheese that tested positive for Listeria.

FRANCE: Two wildfires in Narbonne area in France have already burnt 600 hectares. Weather conditions are said to be helpful for the aerial forces and firefighters efforts are currently on site.

BELGIUM: The amount of radioactive iodine that leaked out from the Institut des Radioéléments (IRE) in Fleurus last week end may have been underestimated according to the latest environnemental analysis. The Belgium Agence fédérale de contrôle nucléaire (AFCN) advises residents living within a 10 km radius not to eat home-grown vegetables and drink milk from cows.

SCOTLAND: Flood alert has been issued last night across Scotland after torrential rain and thunderstorms left the country underwater damaging numerous houses. Environmental experts were monitoring rising waters in 13 rivers and forecasters predict more heavy showers today and tomorrow across Scotland.

Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 29th August

CYPRUS: A heatwave is plaguing Cyprus with temperatures hitting 40.3C in Nicosia. 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 have predicted the possibility of isolated dust in the atmosphere arriving tomorrow.

INDIA: Bihar - India on Friday carried out one of the biggest evacuation operations in its history, rescuing nearly 1 million people marooned in the flood-hit eastern state of Bihar, officials said. The floods came when heavy monsoon rains caused the Kosi River to breach its banks as it entered the state from Nepal in the north and change its course. At least 57 people have died in the floods. More than 3.5 million people have been displaced by the floods, nearly 2 million of them in the five worst-affected districts of Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul, Araria and Katihar.

BRAZIL: Some 2,000 penguins have been found dead since Sunday in the southern Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, victims of an oil spill from an unidentified ship, Brazilian media reported Thursday citing the authorities. Hundreds of other animals survived the catastrophe and were being taken care of by experts in Santa Catarina state capital Florianopolis, after being found with their bodies covered in oil.

JAMAICA: Tropical Storm Gustav is pounding Jamaica with torrential rains, but its winds have not reached hurricane strength. The 2 p.m. advisory indicates that Gustav's top sustained winds are 70 mph with higher gusts. Gustav is currently at 17.9 N and 76.2 W, and is moving west at about 5 mph. Its barometric pressure is at 988 mb, or 29.03 inches. Although Gustav is still a tropical storm, the Jamaican government has issued a hurricane warning for the island nation. The storm could strengthen into a hurricane later Thursday or Friday.

USA: Texas - The Austin/Travis County Heath and Human Services Department says there are now 16 confirmed cases of murine typhus in the county. Additionally, another 12 suspected cases are being looked into. The first cases were reported in March of 2008. The results of tests conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) came back positive for the flea-borne disease last week. Those infected include both males and females, ranging from 7 to 62 years of age. Health officials stress keeping rodents and other wildlife under control near living and working areas in order to lessen the chances of getting the disease.

VIETNAM: A flash flood and a landslide in Vietnam's northern Ha Giang province have killed five local people, and left five others missing since Wednesday, reported Friday.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The National Disaster Management Office has revealed that a Tornado ripped through Muki village, East Are Are on Malaita, leaving more than two hundred people homeless, yesterday morning.

JAPAN: Japan's disaster agency urged hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes as heavy rain drenched the country, leaving one woman dead and rescue workers battling flooded streets to help people to safety. Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency urged all 140,000 households in Okazaki city to evacuate as well as those in areas in western Tokyo and around the capital, according to a bulletin posted on the agency's Web Site at 9:30 a.m.

BELGIUM: Wallonia - Fresh tests carried out near a Belgian medical laboratory showed that a leak of radioactive iodine last weekend was worse than had initially been thought, authorities said late Thursday. Samples of grass taken next to the National Institute for Radioactive Elements near the southern city of Charleroi had shown higher levels of radioactive iodine than the first tests, an interior ministry crisis group said here. The Belgian federal nuclear watchdog gave the incident a three on an international scale of nuclear events that runs to seven, making it the most serious ever in Belgium. Late Thursday it warned people living near the laboratory not to eat lettuce from their gardens and told farmers not to feed their cattle with grass from the fields there. Production of radioisotopes was stopped on Monday after an abnormally high level of iodine was detected over the weekend in a ventilation chimney. Hospitals in several countries could face a shortage of medical radioisotopes used for imaging and treating cancer after the laboratory halted production following the iodine leak, the institute said Wednesday.

USA: West Virginia - Thousands of residents near Charleston, West Virginia huddled inside their homes for several hours early Friday after a chemical plant explosion. The explosion occurred Thursday at the Bayer CropScience plant in the unincorporated Institution community of Kanawha County, West Virginia. The blast raised fears about the air quality in the area. The plant produces crop-protection chemicals.

TURKEY: A gunpowder factory in the central Turkish province of Kerkkale was rocked by an explosion that triggered a fire on Friday. Two people died and 12 injured in the blast, but it was not clear what caused the blast, which shattered nearby windows. The blast occurred at 11:50 GMT at the factory belonging to Turkish defence company MKE, the main supplier of Turkey's armed forces. Many ambulances and fire engines were sent to the scene.

Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 28th August

USA: Louisiana - Fears of a hurricane have prompted the US state of Louisiana to declare a state of emergency and New Orleans to prepare plans for evacuation. Tropical storm Gustav, downgraded from a hurricane, has resulted in more than 20 deaths in Haiti, and is now heading for Cuba and the Cayman Islands. Residents have boarded up homes as weather forecasters warn that the storm could return to hurricane strength.

PANAMA: Torrential rains in Panama have left about 800 homeless over the last 24 hours, director of the National System of Civil Protection (Sinaproc) Luis Francisco Sucre said Tuesday. Sucre said that 170 houses were damaged in the towns of San Miguelito, Las Cumbres, Chilibre and Juan Diaz, in the east part of Panama City.

UAE: Dubai - In Dubai, 7 people have been killed and many more injured in a blaze that consumed a labour accommodation near the new Naif Souq in Deira. According to Deputy Director of the General Department of Preventive Security, Brigadier Abdul Jaleel Mahdi seven people died in the incident and more are feared missing. The incident occurred at 5.30am. Police suspect a gas cylinder blast to be the reason behind the fire. A rescue operation is in full swing. Survivors are being pulled out of the charred debris. Sniffer dogs are being used to help the search operations at the accident site. Reports say that there were approximately 500 people housed in approximately 30 rooms inside the accommodation.

SOUTH AFRICA: The mystery of odd tides and mini- tsunami conditions along the coast at the weekend has been solved. The NSRI says conditions along the southern, eastern and western coasts were caused by off-shore weather and a mid-ocean mudslide. NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said yesterday that with the assistance of Prof Geoff Brundrit, chairman of the Global Ocean Observing System, they could now confirm the mini-tsunami last week, which caused damage to some factories in St Helena Bay, was most likely caused by an underwater mudslide.

INDIA: Bihar Supaul - Food riots erupted on Wednesday in eastern India, where more than two million people have been forced from their homes and about 250,000 houses destroyed in what officials say are the worst floods in 50 years. One person was killed in Madhepura district when angry villagers fought among themselves over limited supplies of food and medicines at overcrowded relief centres.

ENGLAND: Investigations are underway after bluetongue was found in imported rams on two farms in the south of England. The rams, imported from central France, were discovered on premises near Lewes in East Sussex and Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire and are the first cases to appear in the UK this summer.

INDIA: Uttar Pradesh - A mysterious fever has claimed over 120 lives in northern Indian state Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur division in the last three weeks, official sources said Wednesday. A group of scientists, including experts from India's National Institute of Virology (NIV) have been formed to contain the disease. Besides NIV experts, scientists and doctors from medical colleges and hospitals are also the members of the group. The mysterious disease, which is infecting about 8-10 people daily, is marked by high fever. Symptoms of the mystery disease are similar to that of malaria and jaundice, sources said. The unofficial count of the deaths due to the mysterious disease in six districts of Kanpur division is 160.

HAITI / HURRICANE GUSTAV: Floodwaters surged across southern Haiti today and forced hundreds of people from their homes in the wake of Hurricane Gustav, which killed at least three people before weakening to a tropical storm and creeping toward Cuba. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm could regain hurricane strength soon and forecasts suggested it could head toward the U.S. Gulf Coast as a dangerous Category 3 hurricane next week.

AFGHANISTAN: Herat Provibnce - An outbreak of Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) has killed at least three people in Herat Province, western Afghanistan, over the past three days, the Ministry of Public Health has said. The highly contagious disease was first reported on 26 August in Herat city where health officials confirmed 10 VHF suspected cases.

COLOMBIA: Cordoba - Volcanic eruption of the Corregimiento (The Guinea) yesterday morning. A stream of mud mixed with sulphur, magnesium and manganese, began to run through the streets of the village and invaded the pastures where the villagers grow bananas, rice and cassava.

MALTA: As many as 71 illegal migrants drowned after their boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea, eight of their companions have told Maltese police. The survivors were rescued by a fishing vessel from a semi-submerged dinghy about 70km (40 miles) off Malta, then handed over to a Maltese military boat.

USA: Oaklahoma - An explosion and fire on an oil rig near Bristow, Oklahoma has left at least one person dead and several more injured. Early reports indicate that the incident occurred in an oil field about 1.5 miles north of the Creek County town shortly after 11:00 a.m. Wednesday morning.

BENIN: Mono - Agriculture officials in Benin recently reported that two chickens at a live poultry market tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus, the country's first outbreak since the virus was detected there at the end of 2007. Authorities found the virus during routine surveillance at a market in Lokossa, the capital of Mono department, located in the southern part of the country near the coast, according to an Aug 25 report from the World Organization for Animal Health.

TRINIDAD & TABAGO: Medical Officer of Health in Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Anton Cumberbatch, has made some startling revelations when he confirmed that two persons have died from dengue fever and later in a release stated that there are 120 confirmed cases in the twin island republic from a total of 968 suspected cases. This is contrary to what Health Minister Jerry Narrace said earlier this month, when he denied that persons were affected by the disease in the twin island Republic.

IRAN / IRAQ: On 8/27/2008 9:52:41 PM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 5.4 struck an area on the Iraq / Iran border.

Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 27th August

CHINA: A series of explosions at a chemical plant in southern China killed at least five people on Tuesday and injured 55. Another 14 people were missing after the blast in the factory in Guangxi which produced chemicals used for making paints and adhesives. Firefighters had struggled to control a raging blaze at the plant in Yizou city but by late afternoon the fire was under control. About 11,500 residents within three kilometres (two miles) of the plant were forced to evacuate the area. Ongoing explosions at the plant had hampered efforts by firefighters to extinguish the blaze, which eventually spread over more than 10,000 square metres (110,000 sq ft).

USA: Idaho - A wildfire that started in a field of sagebrush and cheatgrass spread quickly up a ridge Monday night, destroying 10 homes and damaging another nine, the Boise fire chief said. Within two hours, firefighters had managed to build two containment lines and were dousing remaining flames on the exterior of homes.

INDIA: Bihar - More than one million people have been trapped by floodwaters in eastern India after heavy monsoon showers caused a major river to shift its course, a minister said Tuesday. Massive rains in Bihar state caused the Kosi river to swell, breach its banks and flow through a channel it had previously abandoned.

GREECE: A large pleasure boat or an underwater rock slide were yesterday blamed for waves up to two meters high hitting beaches in the Gulf of Corinth, injuring four bathers and startling dozens of others. The waves hit the beaches of Kiato, Derveni, Selianitika and Loggos last week, prompting fears there had been an earthquake. Officials were yesterday considering two different possibilities. The head of the Civil Protection Authority in Achaia, Dimitris Filippatos, said yesterday the sea was up to 980 meters deep in some areas of the gulf and that it was possible there had been an underwater rock slide. Giorgos Ferentinos, a geology professor at the University of Patras, discounted this explanation. �It could not have been an underwater rock slide as no waves were recorded on the opposite shores.� He said that it was more likely a large vessel had caused the waves.

MONTENEGRO: 700 children and 130 adults have been taken ill in the Montenegrin capital. The Montenegrin Institute for Public Health announced that the number of people registered with stomach problems during the weekend and on Aug. 25 exceeded 800. It was stated that the Department for Infectious Diseases of the Montenegrin Clinical Center in the past two days hospitalized 15 persons, and the Institute for Childhood Illnesses 17 children with stomach problems.

USA: Arizona - Officials say a flash flood has swamped vehicles in a low area of western Arizona's La Paz County and one woman has died. Sheriff's Lt. Glenn Gilbert says a storm filled a normally dry wash with rushing water 40 to 50 yards across and as much as six feet deep.

MEXICO: Heavy rain flooded an equestrian club in the Mexican capital, drowning at least 50 trapped horses and killing a night watchman, Mexican media said on Tuesday. A storm pounded the capital on Monday night, causing massive traffic jams and flooding key intersections across the city. The rain flooded a gorge close to the club in a wealthy neighborhood and the water rose more than 7 feet high (2.5 meters), drowning the animals inside the stables. The watchman was buried by a mudslide as he tried to free the animals.

HAITI: Forecasters say Hurricane Gustav has made landfall on Haiti's southwest peninsula. The Category 1 hurricane roared over Haiti at about 1 p.m. EDT Tuesday with top sustained winds of near 90 mph. The storm is moving northwest at about 10 mph, and the center is located about 40 miles from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Gustav buffeted impoverished Haiti on Tuesday and sent global oil prices soaring on fears it could become "extremely dangerous" in the Gulf of Mexico.

CANADA: Saskatchewan - Even though anthrax bacteria was likely responsible for the death of 13 bison in Saskatchewan, Parks Canada officials said there is no reason for alarm. The plains bison died in Prince Albert National Park from naturally occurring anthrax, according to a release issued Monday by Parks Canada officials. The release, which didn't state when the animals died, said the dead bison were found in a remote area of Prince Albert National Park, the province's largest national park, about 40 kilometres from Waskesiu.

IRAN: Wracked by drought, Iran has turned to the United States for wheat for the first time in 27 years, marking a setback for Tehran's search for agricultural self-sufficiency.

PERU: A strong earthquake shook Peru's central, eastern jungle region Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The 6.3-magnitude quake struck at 4:00 pm local time (2100 GMT), at a depth of 152 kilometers (94 miles), with its epicenter located at 93 kilometers (58 miles) north of the jungle town of Pucallpa.

RUSSIA: Irkutsk - A strong 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the southern part of Russia's Lake Baikal Wednesday, causing brief power and phone outages in the nearby city of Irkutsk,

USA: Air traffic at some three dozen airports across the US has been disrupted by a computer glitch, the Federal Aviation Administration says. The network problem hit an FAA flight plan processing facility near Atlanta, Georgia, leaving a hub in Salt Lake City to handle data for the entire US. The FAA said air safety was not affected and systems were returning to normal by late on Tuesday

FRANCE: A Ryanair flight carrying British holidaymakers has been forced to make an unscheduled landing due to a loss of cabin pressure, the company has said. Flight FR9336 from Bristol to Barcelona Girona airport was diverted to Limoges, central France, on Monday night.

IRELAND: A water boil notice has been issued in the Lyrecrompane area of Co Kerry because of contamination fears. Large volumes of liquefied peat entered the main water supply possibly affecting between 3,000 and 5,000 people. The mudslide could also have devastating consequences for fish stocks.

TURKEY: Forest fires started yesterday in the Aegean province of Muğla, shortly after a fire that burnt 150 hectares of land Saturday had been brought under control. A total of seven helicopters, 84 sprinklers and 850 forest workers worked to extinguish the fire.

Subject: Around the World Today - Tuesday 26th August

CHINA: A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 magnitude struck Tibet on Monday, but no loss of life was immediately reported, the Tibet Earthquake Bureau said on Monday. The quake struck at 9.22pm (9.22pm Singapore time) and was centred in Zhongba county, a remote region near the China-Nepal border.

USA: Oaklahoma - One person died and 11 others are suffering from illnesses possibly related to E. coli, a St. Francis Hospital spokeswoman confirmed late Sunday. The 11 people with illnesses remained as St. Francis patients late Sunday. Between 12 to 20 more people in Beggs, Pryor and Bixby were treated at various Northeast Oklahoma hospitals with similar symptoms this past week. There have been discussions the illnesses are related to E. coli, but it hasn't been confirmed.

ETHIOPIA: Flooding in Ethiopia's western Gambella region has killed three people, displaced thousands and destroyed crops, an official said on Monday.

IRAQ: Baghdad - Ninety-four people were poisoned when gas leaked from a chlorine bottle used to sterilize water in a purification plant in the Tariq quarter of Baghdad. Meanwhile, citizens said that they had heard warnings via mosque loudspeakers urging them to refrain from drinking water.

USA: Tennessee - A fire 3 miles southeast of Del Rio has grown to 1600 acres and is 35 percent contained. The U.S. Forest Service is calling it the Old Fifteenth Fire, as it is situated along Old 15th Road in Cocke County. The Forest Service reports the cause as a lightning strike on private land.

NEW ZEALAND: Residents in the Hawke's Bay received a sharp jolt on Monday evening as a large earthquake rocked the region. People in the area described a jolt, followed by a rumble and 30 seconds of rolling. The quake on the east coast of the North Island, which occurred at 11.25pm, measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, with a depth of 30km and was centred 10 km south-west of Hastings. It was felt across the lower North Island as far away as Wellington. Hastings residents have reported broken windows and minor damage, and items falling from shelves, while there are a number of fallen trees. The suburbs of Maraenui and Taradale temporarily lost power. Hastings and Gisborne Police say there has been no major damage or injuries, but the Ministry of Civil Defence says the National Crisis Management Centre is monitoring the situation.

USA: Wyoming - Wyoming Department of Health officials said Monday, Aug. 25 they are investigating a case of bubonic plague in an out-of-state resident who recently visited Teton County and Yellowstone National Park. The individual traveled to multiple sites in the area with a group of Boy Scouts from July 26 to Aug. 3.

CANADA: Twelve people have now died out of 26 confirmed cases of food poisoning linked to deli meats produced at a plant owned by Maple Leaf Foods Inc, Canadian health officials said Monday. There are another 29 suspected cases of listeriosis, officials told reporters, and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the government expected more cases in coming days.

FRANCE: Beneath the waters of the Rhone, which flows through some of France's key tourists spots - from Lyon, to Avignon and on to the Camargue nature reserve - lurks an environmental disaster so grave that it has been described as "the French Chernobyl". Last year, a dredge of the Rhone showed contaminated sediment in its bed and a local fisherman, concerned that birds seemed to be dying around the Grand Large area, just outside Lyon, sent some of his catch to a laboratory to be tested. The fish contained 12 times the legal safety limit of the toxic chemicals polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. FULL STORY: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7575458.stm

Subject: Around the World Today - Monday 25th August

KYRGYZSTAN: A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a Kyrgyzstani high-school sports team, crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday near the capital, killing 68, government officials said. The Boeing 737 was headed to Iran when it crashed near Bishkek's Manas International Airport, said government spokeswoman Roza Daudova. Twenty-two people, including two crew members, survived the accident. Earlier, Ms. Daudova had said there were at least 71 dead and 25 survivors, but she later gave lower figures. An airport official said the crew reported a technical problem about 10 minutes into the flight and that the plane was returning to the airport when it crashed.

AFGHANISTAN: As many as 10 people have died in western Afghanistan from a rare liver disease believed to be caused by contaminated wheat, officials said Saturday. At least 161 people were also hospitalized with Gulran disease although estimates were as high as 200 affected in Herat province, on the Iranian border, said Peter Graaff, resident representative of the U.N. World Health Organization. A toxic weed called charmak, which grows in the area, contains alkalines [alkaloids] that affect the liver causing Gulran disease, which is named after the affected district in Herat.

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia's official news agency says four Pakistanis have been killed in an accidental explosion at an airport in the country's western resort city of Taif. It says the men were killed Saturday when a fuel tank exploded on an old plane they were dismantling. Another man was also injured. Sunday's report quotes a statement from the government's civil aviation branch.

FRANCE: An avalanche hit climbers on Mont Blanc on Sunday, injuring three and leaving nine missing, Italian police said. "The avalanche occurred at dawn on the French side, hitting a group of climbers who were roped together. Nine are missing and three are injured," a police official said. The French police and the Italian Civil Protection were on the scene, he added. The injured are being treated at a hospital in the French town of Chamonix.

SPAIN: A fire broke out at a nuclear power station in the northeastern province of Tarragona on Sunday, forcing the plant to close temporarily but posing no threat of a nuclear leak or environmental danger, nuclear regulators said. The fire broke out at 08:49 (0649 GMT) Sunday at one of the Vandellos II power station's electricity generating units and triggered an emergency shutdown, the Nuclear Safety Council said in a statement. The fire was extinguished two hours later, and there were no injuries or environmental damage. Vandellos II is situated on the Mediterranean coast 140 kilometers (87 miles) southeast of Barcelona, and is one of seven Spanish nuclear plants. It is run by Spain-based energy companies Endesa and Iberdrola, S.A. The fire was the second incident at a Spanish nuclear plant in recent months. The Asco plant, located along the Ebro River 44 miles (28 kilometers) upstream from the Mediterranean, leaked in November 2007, but operators did not detect it until March. They then waited until April 4 to notify regulators, according to the Nuclear Safety Council.

INDIA: The death toll from monsoon-related accidents reached 800 and two million people have been displaced by flooding following heavy rains across India, officials said on Sunday. At least 26 people died in overnight accidents in northern Uttar Pradesh, taking the toll to 686 in the country's most populous state since the monsoon struck in June, Relief Commissioner G. K. Tandon said.

MEXICO: Tropical storm Julio honed in on the resort-heavy southern coastline of Mexico's Baja California Sunday, threatening to unleash torrents of rain and heavy winds on the popular tourist area. The US National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that the storm would dump up to 15 centimeters (six inches) of rain on the southern Baja peninsula.

INDIA: Rural Kanpur is fighting its most frightening scourge - a mystery disease that has left a long line of bodies in its trail and doesn't seem anywhere finished. What started from one village two weeks ago has now spread to 350 and has so far claimed 160 lives. Thousands more are bed-ridden. On an average, 15 to 20 people have been dying every day; Saturday saw the highest toll in a day: 24.

USA: California - Tropical Storm Julio sideswiped the coast of the Baja California peninsula on Sunday, prompting more than 2,500 families who live along riverbeds to evacuate. The center of the storm moved past the resorts of Cabo San Lucas, where many families had moved to shelters, and was hugging the Pacific coast. The possibility of 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 centimeters) of rain in the normally parched peninsula raised fears of flash flooding.

PHILIPPINES: An earthquake of magnitude 5.4 has struck the highly populated region of Philippines, no further details at this time.

Subject: Around the World Today - Sunday 24th August

CHAD / WEST AFRICA: Floods in southern Chad have forced 10,000 people from their homes and killed three, the United Nations said on Saturday, adding to the toll from seasonal rains spreading destruction and disease across Africa's Sahel region. The United Nations said last week floods had uprooted an estimated 200,000 people across West Africa. Kingsley Amaning, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Chad, said in a statement on Saturday that 10,000 had lost their homes due to flooding in and around the southern town of Sahr.

USA: Utah - A twin-engine plane crashed and burned near an airport not far from Arches National Park in southeastern Utah, killing all 10 people on board, an official said Saturday. The plane was fully engulfed in flames when emergency responders arrived late Friday at the site about 2 miles from the Canyonlands Field airport, and there were no survivors, Grand County Sheriff James Nyland said.

SOUTH AFRICA: A mini-tsunami has hit the Cape west coast without prior warning. Weather experts say unusual tidal patterns have been reported since Thursday and there has been some damage to buildings along the St Helena Bay coastline. Disaster management teams have been placed on high alert. Craig Lambinon of the National Sea Rescue Institute says their offices have been flooded with calls about unusual tidal activity. Former Cape Town University oceanography professor, Geoff Brundrit, says there has been concern that there could be a repeat of the devastating tsunami that hit southeastern Asia in 2004, killing more than 300 000 people. He says South Africa may be affected in the near future. Parts of Africa's east coast were affected during the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which killed thousands. At the time no tsunami warnings had been issued. The Hawaiian monitoring centre did not pick up this mini-tsunami perhaps due to its low measurement on the Richter scale. The South African Navy and the Council for Geosciences are investigating this phenomenon.

DR CONGO: A report issued by the Butumba health zone, approximately 500 kilometres (311 mi) from Lumbumbashi in Katanga, reported 5 cases of hemorrhagic fever in this jurisdiction, all from a single health area, Bulongo.

USA: Florida - Tropical Storm Fay, which has left a trail of death and destruction in its wake, has entered the record books by hitting Florida for a fourth time. The storm has not reached hurricane strength, but its erratic path, with winds of up to 95km/h (60mph) and heavy rain, has caused major problems.

MONTENEGRO: Responding to the request of assistance from Montenegro's authorities after a wildfire broke out yesterday in the community of Komoševina, the European community mechanism has been activated yesterday. Firefighters' efforts to put the fire under control have been hampered by the terrain and wind and several firefighters were hurt during on-site operations.

Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 23rd August

USA: Washington - The Columbia Generating Station nuclear power plant shut itself down automatically Thursday afternoon when monitors on the turbine generator sensed low oil pressure, Energy Northwest said. The team operating the reactor monitored the condition and confirmed the reactor's safe shutdown at about 4 p.m., the operator said in a statement. The power plant had been operating continuously for 383 days. "Our plant produces more than a million dollars worth of power every day," Plant Manager Tom Lynch said. "Obviously we are anxious to get the system repaired and bring the plant back on line as soon as possible." He added it wouldn't restart until crews "have fully identified and corrected the reasons" for the shutdown.

TURKEY: Report by DHA: An overnight storm hit this southeastern region of Turkey causing widespread damage. The damage included the toppling of massive high tension power lines. In one case the fallen power lines crossed the Nizip-Karkamis rail line halting service. Crews from TEDAS, the Turkish Power Distribution Company, are working to clear the line and to restore power.

CHINA: Hong Kong - One man was missing and 49 people were injured when tropical storm Nuri hit Hong Kong Friday. Nuri, which had left seven dead in the Philippines, had weakened and been downgraded into a severe tropical storm by the time it reached Hong Kong in the late afternoon. However, it still managed to bring Hong Kong to a standstill. The stock market, schools and government offices closed, workers stayed home and ferry and tram services were halted. A total of 49 people were injured - two when scaffolding collapsed -as winds reached 87 kilometres per hour in some parts of the former British colony.

CHINA: Chinese rescuers on Friday recovered the last four bodies of miners killed in a gas blast at a coal mine in northeast China, bringing the death toll to 26.Eighty-one miners were working underground when the accident happened at about 8:50 a.m. on Monday in Baijiagou colliery in Liaoning Province, said Sun Shikui, head of the general hospital affiliated to the Tiefa coal industry group.Eleven miners were injured in the accident, four of them were severely injured. Family members of the 20 dead miners, whose bodies were already cremated, signed their named on the compensation agreements with the coal mine. The mine promised that each family will receive a minimum of 200,000 yuan (about 28,600 U.S. dollars) as compensation.The mine was opened in 1976. It was fully-licensed and has 450 employees. The mine produces 100,000 tons of coal a year.

ETHIOPIA: Two rivers in the Gambella region of western Ethiopia have burst their banks following torrential rains that fell in the area for three consecutive days, government officials in the area said. "We have not yet finalised our assessment, however, an estimated 10,000 to 11,000 people have been displaced," Akway Abala, team leader for the Disaster Prevention and Food Security Department of Gambella region, told IRIN on 22 August.

USA: Florida - At least six people have been killed over the five days that Tropical Storm Fay has been pounding Florida with torrential rain and powerful winds, Governor Charlie Crist said Friday.

USA: Virginia & Maryland - NASA officials are warning Maryland and Virginia residents not to touch any rocket debris that washes ashore following a failed launch from Wallops Flight Facility early this morning. But the agency also has raised concern about debris from the ATK-built rocket landing on the ground. No immediate injuries or deaths have been reported.

SUDAN: At least 22 people died in Southern Sudan after an outbreak of measles, said Rueben Madit, a Health Ministry official. The worst-affected area is in Maiwut County in the northeastern Upper Nile state, Madit said in a telephone interview today [22 Aug 2008] from Malakal, the state capital. The deaths occurred in the last 4 days and those infected have been admitted to hospital.

FRANCE: A French uranium conversion plant said Friday that a minor uranium spill was found in one of its pipelines in a test Thursday. The Comurhex conversion plant, located in Pierrelatte of France's Drome department, is under the French industrial giant Areva. A spokesman from Areva said the breakdown of a valve on one of the underground pipelines transporting liquid uranium caused the spill. A statement from Comurhex said the amount of spill was limited, with an average of 250 gram of uranium seeping into earth per year. Statistics from the French nuclear security body shows the leak caused little damage on the environment, officials from the Drome department said. Officials from the French nuclear security body and local environmental organizations have headed for the scene for an investigation, and results of the proble will be released soon.

PORTUGAL: A train derailed in northern Portugal, killing one woman and injuring 47 people, the National Civil Protection Authority said. Five of the injured are in serious condition, it said on its Web site. The accident occurred about 11 a.m. local time near the northern town of Mirandela. All victims have been evacuated. Radio station TSF reported previously that some victims were still trapped inside the train.

UZBEKISTAN: On August 22, at 1:26 pm local time, an earthquake shook central Uzbekistan. According to the Uzbek Institute for Seismology, the epicentre was 17 km southwest of Tashkent in Nazarbek and on a 12 level scale, it measured around 5 to 5.6. We have received no reports of loss of life or serious injuries. However, there are reports of minor structural damages to homes and buildings.

AROUND THE WORLD TODAY