around_the_world_today_July_08

AROUND THE WORLD: JULY 20th - 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

Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 31st July

CHINA: More than 200,000 people lack potable water in China's northwest province of Gansu, hit by a severe drought over the past month, a provincial disaster relief official said Wednesday. Most local water sources have dried up, leaving 220,000 residents and more than 680,000 livestock without water. The local administration has allocated 23 million yuan ($3.3 million) to deliver drinking water to the disaster-hit areas. China has seen a string of deadly natural disasters this year.

WALES: More than 200 passengers on an Irish Ferries ship were put on standby to evacuate the ferry after a fire broke out on board earlier Wednesday. The alert was issued after a blaze started in the engine room on deck level two of the Isle of Innishmore at Pembroke Dock, West Wales, shortly after 2.30am. The 227 passengers and 89 crew on board the 34,000-tonne vessel were told to prepare to leave the ship before firefighters brought the blaze under control. A spokesman for Mid and West Wales Fire Service said eight appliances were dispatched to the ferry along with a boat, control unit, a foam pod and foam tender. The blaze was brought under control by 6.45am. The ferry was expected to leave Pembroke Dock later this afternoon.

THAILAND: Province of Phichit, Sam Ngam District Public Health authority of Pijit province, Doctor Prajak Wattanakul alongside the Contagious Disease Control Unit reported from the Sam Ngam district hospital yesterday that the team were called on to inspect 4 new patients who are suspected of having Avian Flu. The patients comprise of 2 young children ages 6 and 10 and two elderly women ages 62 and 70. Despite the patients being from different Tambon in the district, physicians found that all had come into contact with poultry before falling ill and all exhibited symptoms of coughing, fatigue, shortness of breath and other bird flu related conditions. Doctors have sent off samples of the patients to be analyzed, and are expecting results in 1-2 days. All 4 have been quarantined, as the chickens that they had contacted all experienced unexplained deaths in the past days.

USA: Montana - State livestock officials say 25 domestic bison on Ted Turner's Flying D Ranch in Gallatin County have been killed by naturally occurring anthrax. State Veterinarian Marty Zaluski says laboratory tests confirmed the anthrax Wednesday morning. He says the outbreak was contained to one pasture, which has been quarantined. Anthrax is caused by a naturally occurring bacteria, which can lie dormant in the soil for decades. It can become active when heavy rains follow drought. Animals are exposed to the disease by grazing or consuming forage or water contaminated with the spores.

NEW ZEALAND: Canterbury - Residents at Amberley Beach, about 50km north of Christchurch, are being evacuated ahead of a high tide which is expected to flood the settlement. Fire and police are beginning to evacuate residents ahead of the 3.20pm high tide, the Hurunui District Council said. People with their own transport are being advised to leave, while buses are being provided for others. Two welfare centres have been set up for people who require them at Leithfield School and Amberley Domain. Ship bombarded by heavy seas - Some 40 people have received medical treatment after their cruise ship rolled sharply in heavy seas caused by the storm sweeping New Zealand. P&O cruises said the ship Pacific Sun was experiencing 7 metre swells and 50 knot winds when it rolled 600km north of Auckland just before 8pm. A spokesperson said onboard medical staff treated about 40 passengers as a result of the sudden movement. The ship was due in Auckland this morning but the bad weather has delayed its arrival by 24 hours. The storm, which has left a trail of destruction along the country shifted its focus to Canterbury today, leaving many communities farther north to clear up. A state of emergency remained in place in Marlborough this morning, while emergency operations centres were opened around the Canterbury region. Flooding and slips have closed a number of roads and disrupted the rail network and rivers have reached dangerously high levels. MetService warned heavy rain falls were continuing on the Kaikoura Coast and in Canterbury and the prolonged period of rain would continue to raise river levels and surface flooding was possible. It said rain was expected to ease north of the Waimakariri River this afternoon but would remain heavy farther south, easing overnight. MetService said rain and winds were easing in the North Island where heavy seas, strong winds and slips caused by heavy rain wrecked houses and damaged infrastructure yesterday.

GERMANY: A remote-controlled crane struck an electric power cable outside a nuclear power plant in the southern city of Biblis, leading to the shutdown of one of two reactors, the press reported Wednesday. The operator of the Biblis nuclear power plant said the turbine linked to reactor B was automatically turned off after the crane clipped a high-voltage cable during construction work at a water treatment plant. The working capacity of the reactor has been lowered to 40 percent as a result of the incident at the Biblis atomic plant which is Germany's oldest nuclear reactor. The Environment Ministry in the state of Hesse which is in charge of the safety of the nuclear plant, had been immediately informed. The German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety reported over the weekend that 122 incidents were subject to reporting at the country's 17 nuclear power plants last year. Based on a seven-stage international evaluation scale (INES), 120 incidents were reported to be on the lowest notifiable category. They had either "no or very little" security and technical significance. In two cases, it was registered as the second lowest category, however it had no radiological relevance.

ROMANIA: Following the heavy rainfalls in the north-eastern part of Romania, and the huge amount of water coming from Ukraine, floods occurred in the following counties: Maramures, Suceava, Bacau, Botosani, Iasi, Neamt. So far, 4 people were killed and about 10,500 persons were evacuated. The natural disaster affected 26.349 hectares of land and more than 140 localities. It damaged 8,941 living houses, 1488 bridges and washed away 1074.5 km of road.

MOLDOVA: Water coming from flooded areas of Ukraine affected Moldova. The Dniester, Dubossary and Costesti dam lakes have six-seven times more water than usual. Ukrainian authorities have warned Moldova that all gates of the Novodniester dam lake were opened and the water would reach Moldovan dam lakes in the morning.

UKRAINE: Ukraine has declared a number of areas in its six flood-hit provinces as ecological emergency situation districts after the flooding of 23-27 July.

Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 30th July

FRANCE: More than 120 workers evacuated a nuclear power plant in southern France on Tuesday after an alarm was set off, the nuclear safety authority said. Plant owner EDF < said the alarm was triggered accidentally but the safety authority ASN said it would await an independent examination before making any conclusions. It was the latest scare to hit the Tricastin site after around 100 staff were contaminated with a low dose of radiation last week and a uranium spillage occured. ASN Deputy director in Lyon Marc Champion played down the incident. "There wasn't any radio-active leak," he told Reuters. "What we saw was an inopportune alarm." Precautionary tests were carried out on 45 employees and "very weak" traces of contamination were found on two of them. But the traces dated back to an incident at the Tricastin site last Wednesday when sensors detected a rise in radiation levels as maintenance work was in progress, the ASN said. The incidents at Tricastin have prompted calls by environmentalists for a national debate on the safety of nuclear energy.

USA: California - 5.4 magnitude earthquake shook Southern California on Tuesday, spooking millions from Los Angeles to San Diego in a juddering reminder of the region's vulnerability to seismic shocks. No major injuries or damage were reported following the quake, which struck at 11:42 am (1842 GMT) near the town of Chino Hills, 33 miles (50 kilometers) east of Los Angeles at a depth of 7.6 miles.

USA: California - Authorities shut down a major highway Tuesday, keeping travelers far from the west entrance to Yosemite National Park so crews could battle a huge wildfire raging close to thousands of nearby homes. Authorities said the blaze in a steep, dry river canyon had destroyed 25 homes and had forced the evacuation of 300 others in the Sierra Nevada foothill towns of Midpines and Coulterville. An area of more than 46 square miles of rugged terrain had burned since a target shooter sparked the wildfire on Friday. The fire was just 10 percent contained Tuesday morning. Flames were about 12 miles from Yosemite National Park, which remained open and teeming with visitors. Firefighters might get some help from a slight drop in temperatures, which were expected to remain in the high 80s Tuesday, but accompanied by lower humidity and northwesterly afternoon wind, National Weather Service meteorologist Cindy Bean said.

Subject: Around the World Today - Tuesday 29th July

TAIWAN / CHINA: More than 600,000 people were evacuated as tropical storm Fung-wong made landfall on China's southeastern coast, state media reported on Tuesday. A typhoon dumped up to 700 mm (28 ins) of rain on Taiwan on Monday, killing one person, injuring five, causing widespread flooding and closing businesses and financial markets. Typhoon Fung-Wong, Chinese for phoenix, was expected to weaken into a tropical storm over the next 24 hours after it makes landfall in China. In the Chinese provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, authorities evacuated more than 340,000 people and called back 12,875 fishing boats. Ferry services between China and Taiwan were suspended. At 0800 GMT, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau had the storm moving northwest at 20 kph in the Taiwan Strait, with sustained winds of 119 kph and gusts of up to 155 kph. The storm also prompted the issue of rough sea warnings and disrupted land and air traffic, leading to the suspension of most domestic rail service and cancellation of most domestic and some international flights into early Monday afternoon. Tropical Storm Risk said the typhoon would likely be downgraded to a tropical storm over the next day. Fung-Wong is the second typhoon to hit Taiwan in the last two weeks.

KYRGYSTAN: Anthrax has been confirmed in 21 patients in hospitals in southern Kyrgyzstan, a senior health official in the Central Asian state said Monday. More than 50 people have been hospitalized with symptoms of the potentially lethal disease in Kyrgyzstan's Osh and Jalal-Abad regions, said Jalalidin Gaubulin, chief doctor at the national center for infectious diseases.

BALTIC: A current heatwave in the Baltic Sea region has contributed to algae blooming in the sea, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute SMHI, said Monday. The institute and local radio reported sightings of large belts of blue-green algae, off the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea and also in outlying parts of the Stockholm archipelago. Experts said people should avoid swimming in waters with high concentrations of the algae, citing that it was poisonous. Dog owners were also advised to ensure that their pets did not drink such water. Algae blooming has been linked to the run-off of nutrients used in farming and also generated by industries and households.

NIGERIA: An outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in two Nigerian poultry markets, the first discovery in almost 10 months in Africa's most populous nation, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. Junaidu Maina, agriculture director for the livestock department, said the infected chickens and ducks were located last week in the northern cities of Kano and Katsina. "Immediate actions have already been taken to control the outbreak. The affected farms are being depopulated and disinfected," he said.

ROMANIA: Romanian President Traian Basescu warned the region faced an "ecological disaster" if lakes containing potentially lethal mining waste were allowed to overspill in the north of his country. North and north-eastern parts of Romania were severely hit during the past weekend (July 25-27) by storms and torrential rains (80-140 liters/square meter), causing massive flooding over vast areas. The major rivers (Prut, Tisa, Suceava, Moldova and the great Siret) surged to their highest levels in more than a century, bursting their banks in many areas including the historical regions of Maramures and Bukovina situated on the border with Ukraine. Local officials have predicted that the water levels will remain high until Wednesday and Thursday, but with more water flowing in from Ukraine, experts are warning of further flooding. The hardest hit regions with the highest number of evacuees and flooded villages are the counties of Suceava and Botosani. In total, 174 localities in seven counties (Maramures, Bistrita, Suceava, Botosani, Iasi, Bacau, Neamt) have been affected. In these areas, 9,260 households are flooded, 2,217 homes seriously are damaged, and 6,299 fresh water wells are contaminated. Other damages include the flooding of 20,000 hectares of farmland and the destruction of 5 km of national main roads, 66 km of county roads, 507 km of village roads, 45 km of dykes and embankments, and 162 important bridges and overpasses. Massive landslides have occurred in two locations in Suceava County and more are expected in the Carpathian mountain regions.

CHINA: Hong Kong - wo dead birds were discovered at the Olympic equestrian venue in Hong Kong, and authorities were testing whether the animals were infected with the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus. The birds were found last week, said Mark Pinkstone, head of equestrian preparation operations and media services, on Monday. Bird flu doesn't pose a threat to horses, but it can sicken humans.

NEW ZEALAND: Civil Defence is warning people to be well prepared for a new storm due to hit the North Island on Tuesday afternoon and overnight. Sustained heavy rain is likely to cause extensive flooding and slips. Northland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, and Hawke's Bay are expected to be hardest hit by the latest storm, with up to 20 millimetres of rain an hour. Auckland is also set for heavy rain in the next 24 hours, along with gale force winds. Auckland Civil Defence executive director Ben Stallworthy is pleased people are taking note of conditions. He is also encouraging people to be prepared by cleaning out gutters and having torches and battery powered radios available. MetService warns people to watch out for rapidly rising streams and rivers. They say driving conditions will be hazardous so have warned people to avoid unnecessary travel. People have been advised to take the severe warnings seriously and stay on top of weather forecasts. Most of the areas facing rain are already saturated from the weekend storm.

SOUTH KOREA: The first bird flu infection of a mammal in Korea was confirmed on Monday. The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced that the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service confirmed that the cause of death of a cat found dead in marshland along the Mangyeong River in Gimje, North Jeolla Province, in late April was a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu virus, H5N1. The College of Veterinary Medicine at Chungnam National University asked the national quarantine service to verify the exact cause of death. The Ministry said unlike poultry, cats do not transfer the highly pathogenic strain to humans. The virus found in the cat was the same strain that killed thousands of poultry in April. "The virus discovered in poultry in April can infect mammals, but the kind has never been found to infect humans," said Joo Yi-Seok, head of the Department of Animal Disease Control at the NVRQS. "Because cats do not have a strong enough system to reproduce the bird flu virus in their bodies, there is no risk of cats spreading the virus. There is no known case around the world of humans being infected with the virus by cats."

MONSERRAT: There has been a partial dome collapse on the west side of the Soufriere Hills Volcano. The collapse started at 11:27 pm local time on Monday 28th July 2008 without any precursory activity. Part of the western side of the lava dome collapsed generating pyroclastic flows that reached Plymouth and the sea. There were also a few explosions from the dome during the collapse, with the largest at approximately 11:32 pm. The height of the ash column was estimated at 12 kilometres (40,000 feet) above sea level.

RUSSIA: Siberia - At least 16 workers have been injured in a methane explosion at a southwest Siberian coal mine owned by Russian mining giant Mechel, a senior official in the local branch of the industrial safety regulator said on Tuesday. The miners were hospitalized with burns and other injuries after the explosion at the Lenin mine in Mezhdurechensk, in the south of the Kemerovo Region, at 11:10 local time (03:30 GMT). Two miners are in a serious condition, an emergencies official in region said. "Preliminary reports indicated that a methane explosion had occurred at the mine," the emergencies official said, adding that all the 347 miners in the mine at the moment of the blast had been evacuated. The accident occurred as Mechel's share price plummeted dramatically in New York and Moscow after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday that the company was selling raw materials at twice the price domestically as it was abroad. This was coupled with fresh accusations of tax evasion against the company by Putin on Monday.

Subject: Around the World Today - Monday 28th July

AUSTRALIA: MORE than 1000 staff and students have been evacuated from Sydney University after an acid spill that threatens to explode.NSW Fire Brigade Hazmat crews and the NSW Police Bomb Squad were called to the pharmacy building on the university campus at 10.41am after 500 millilitres of perchloric acid were spilled.A 200-metre exclusion zone has been established around the spill, which is feared could be explosive. Perchloric acid is extremely hazardous, very corrosive to the skin and eyes and can ignite or explode upon contact with organic material such as cloth or wood.t is a colourless liquid and is comparable in strength to sulphuric acid or nitric acid and is often used in explosives.University spokesman Andrew Potter said the evacuation was a precautionary measure taken after a leaking bottle of the acid was discovered. "It is an old bottle discovered over the weekend they feel is unstable," he said."It is just a precaution to get people out while Hazmat deal with it."

HUNGARY: Heavy rains over the past week have triggered flooding on 15 Hungarian rivers and creeks covering some 468.5 kilometres, including 71.5 kilometres where stage-three alerts are in place, meaning that active defences are required, said Tamas Galambos, of the Water and Environment Management Centre on Sunday night. So far, they have used 100,000 sandbags to keep the wayward waters within their banks. No one has had to be evacuated from a home but several holiday facilities located on flood plains have been closed. The Tisza, Hungary's second largest river, is still rising, fed by rainfall in tributaries in Ukraine and Romania. While level three alerts are expected, experts trust that it will not overflow, Galambos said. Nonetheless, dikes are in place on 200 kilometres of riverbank.

ROMANIA: Romanian officials reported that sludge containing heavy metals had spilled into a Tisza tributary at Baia Borsa after a container overflowed. While Romanian Environment Minister Attila Korodi said the contaminant had been strongly diluted by the rainwater, Hungarian officials are sampling the river for signs of pollution.

UKRAINE, ROMANIA, MOLDOVA: Strong wind and pouring rain had caused panic in Ukraine, Romania and Moldova. The victims are at about 20. Millions of people been evacuated. Thirteen people had died due to the flood in West Ukraine. Five people had died and two had gone missing due to the floods in Romania, which had been caused by the pouring rain. Four people had been covered up from a slump and one had drowned. There have been 300 people in the isolated area and 9000 had been evacuated from the most dangerous one. 166 towns and villages had been damaged. There has been no electricity in 45 of them. There has been no electricity in 46 towns and villages in Moldova, where 500 people have lived, due to the rain, Civil Protection and Emergency Situation press center reports. The authorities in Moldova had evacuated 2500 children from the Vadul-lui- Vode resort.

JAPAN: Heavy rain caused floods and mudslides in central Japan Monday, prompting orders to evacuate more than 50,000 people, officials said. The downpour overflowed the banks of the Asano River. Brown water gushed into the city of Kanazawa, flooding houses and leading authorities to issue an evacuation order across the town, said Hiroyuki Tatsuda, spokesman of the city of Kanazawa, about 180 miles northwest of Tokyo.

SOUTH KOREA: Seven people were killed and five are thought to be missing after heavy rains hit the Korean Peninsula last week. The hardest-hit area was North Gyeongsang where four people were killed on Saturday and four are still missing after 200 millimeters of rain fell in a day. The torrential downpour swept down the central region of the peninsula from last Wednesday, soaking Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces.

UKRAINE: Ukraine's Emergency Ministry says storms and floods have killed 13 people, including five children, and at least two more are missing. It says four days of storms have flooded more than 20,000 houses and cut electricity in four western regions. More than 8,000 people have been evacuated, and thousands are in serious danger as the water keeps rising Sunday. "Ukraine has not seen anything like that in 100 years," First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchinov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko have rushed to the area.

USA: New Mexico - The New Mexico town of Ruidoso is put under flood emergency Sunday and nearly 300 people was evacuated from a local recreational park.The flood, caused by remnants of Hurricane Dolly, has destroyed as many as 100 homes and at least 150 people are currently in shelters, local authorities told reporters. Tom Schaefer, emergency management coordinator, Lincoln County that includes Ruidoso, said people who need rescuing from their home should get on the rooftop and try to call the fire department for rescue. Former city manager Frank Potter said this maybe the worst area flood in 100 years. More than 15 centimeters of rain has fallen in the area, and flash flood watches were in effect for Ruidoso and other areas in central and eastern New Mexico.

PHILLIPINES: Typhoon "Igme" (international codename: Fung Wong) brought heavy rains to northern Luzon, triggering floods that left three people missing and affected some 6,000 others, and causing landslides and power outages. Now a Cat 2 Typhoon and approaching China mainland.

Subject: Around the World Today - Subday 27th July

NEW ZEALAND: What weather forecasters warned would be "no ordinary storm" hit New Zealand on Saturday, bringing down power lines, toppling trees and ripping roofs from houses as torrential rains flooded the Northland region. Winds gusting to 165 kilometres an hour were recorded at Cape Brett in the Bay of Islands and officials warned people to leave the centre of Whangarei, the region's biggest city with a population of about 50,000, as floodwaters swollen by high tides threatened. As the storm moved south towards New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, the MetService warned it was a "potentially destructive and dangerous storm" which could be the worst to hit the country for a decade. Civil defence staff were on watch as power was cut to more than 1,000 homes and roads were blocked by floods and landslides, according to news reports. MetService forecaster Andy Downs advised people in the North Island, especially from the Waikato province northwards, to avoid unnecessary travel. But further south, the storm had already hit skifields on Mount Ruapheu, at 2,797-metres the island's biggest mountain, and Radio New Zealand reported that up to 10,000 skiers were being evacuated from the slopes. The MetService predicted the storm would last about 24 hours and affect most of the North Island down to the capital Wellington, 1,100 kilometres south of the northernmost point, Cape Reinga.

ROMANIA: Twenty three persons were injured on Saturday in the explosion of a sawdust drier at a wood processing factory in the city of Gheorgheni, central Romania, police said. The explosion took place at SC Transilvania Industry in Gheorgheni and 23 workers, who were at that time in the section, were injured.The explosion occurred in a silo where wood dust and sawdust were stored and a team of investigators are trying to find out the cause.Twenty-one workers were hospitalized with burns of various degrees on their bodies, said Geza Jeszensky, manager of the Municipal Hospital in Gheorgheni. Four of the injured have second and third degree burns on about 50 percent of their bodies and the remaining ones have second degree burns on their hands and faces, he added. According to Jeszensky, the condition of the injured workers is stable and their lives are not in danger.

TAIWAN: A Typhoon in the Pacific Ocean with wind gusts of 162 kmh churned towards Taiwan on Sunday, prompting the issue of rough sea warnings as it moved on course to hit the island on Monday, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said. The storm, called Fung-Wong, Chinese for phoenix, was located south-east of Taiwan on Sunday morning and moving northwest at 12 kph. It was forecast to reach Taiwan around midday on Monday, the CWB said on its website (http: www.cwb.gov.tw).

BANGLADESH: At least 20 people were injured after a 5.6 earthquake rocked Dhaka and other parts of the country early Sunday. The earthquake that lasted a few seconds was felt shortly before 1:00am. Mominul Islam, a meteorologist of the Storm Warning Centre, told bdnews24.com that the quake measured 5.6 on the Richter scale. Several callers phoned the bdnews24.com newsroom and wanted to know details. Dhaka University students rushed out of their dormitories into the open and waited through the light rain, witnesses said.

USA: Texas - State health officials have issued a rabies warning for a section of southern Arlington. A 13-year-old boy this week tested positive for the disease after he found an infected bat near his home in the city's 76001 zip code. This is Tarrant County's first confirmed case of a bat infected with rabies since August 2007. Left untreated, rabies is always fatal, according to Arlington animal services manager Chris Huff. All dogs and cats over the age of four months are required by law to be vaccinated against rabies.

CHINA: In mid-July, sources in mainland China reported that approximately 20 days ago, a man suddenly died from an unidentified disease in Wanjiakou Village, Xiaoguan Town, Wendeng City, Shandong Province. His entire body turned dark purple, and he bled from his mouth, nostrils, ears, and eyes just as he died. Shortly after the man died, two other men who been in contact with him, died showing the same symptoms. Villagers who had left the village to work said "Three people died 10 days ago. Six or seven more are being treated in the Wendeng Central Hospital. People have been to the area to investigate, but they are unable to classify the disease." It is possible that the Chinese regime is not allowing news about the situation to be known. Most people outside of the village do not know about the illness. Their families do not want people who have left the village to return. Reporters from Sound of Hope Radio Network (SOH) interviewed local residents and staff from a health clinic. What follows are transcripts from the recorded interviews. A male villager verified that the disease broke out in the northern section of Wanjiakou Village, and spread rather quickly. The SOH reporter then phoned the Department of Health and Prevention of Contagious Diseases in Wendeng City and Yantai City, Shandong Province using numbers published on the official web sites. However, he was unable to talk with anyone, as the line was either filled with static or the call was routed to a wrong number announcement.

Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 26th July

UKRAINE: Emergency officials say a warning alarm triggered the automatic shut down of a nuclear reactor in western Ukraine.Officials at the Emergency Situations Ministry said a fall in water levels at a steam generator in the third reactor of the Rivne nuclear power plant caused Thursday's shutdown.The ministry said Friday that radiation levels remained normal at the station. Officials declined to give more details.Ukraine was the site of the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster. The Rivne nuclear plant is of a different design that the Chernobyl reactor.

GLOBAL / AUSTRALIA: Approximately 250 000 pilgrims from Australia and 120 000 pilgrims from other countries from across the globe attended World Youth Day 2008. Initially, Pilgrims participated in gatherings across Australia and New Zealand, then converged in Sydney for official World Youth day events, culminating in approximately 400 000 people attending a Papal Mass on 20 Jul 2008. New South Wales Health detected a number of outbreaks of infectious disease amongst pilgrims, including 30 outbreaks of influenza A and B in pilgrim groups from Western and Eastern Europe, North America, Southern Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific region, and 3 outbreaks of gastroenteritis in groups from France and New Zealand. There is a risk of pilgrims returning to their home countries causing outbreaks of influenza in those countries and we suggest that disease control authorities and laboratories keep a high index of suspicion for influenza, especially those countries in the northern hemisphere where influenza activity would currently be low. We would be interested in hearing from these countries if such outbreaks occur.

GREECE: Rhodes - Firefighters are trying to extinguish a big forest fire raging on the Greek holiday island of Rhodes, while a blaze north of Athens has been contained. Water-bombing aircraft are tackling the blaze on Rhodes, which has burnt at least 1,000 hectares of forest. It has not reached any tourist resorts. France and Italy have sent planes to central Rhodes to help fight the fire. Dozens of villagers fled the fire in the Kryoneri area near Athens. It spread earlier in the week from Varibombi, 20km (12.5 miles) from the capital. Hundreds of British tourists have had to leave their hotel as forest fires sweep the Greek island of Rhodes. More than 2,000 holidaymakers from across Europe have been moved to avoid smoke from the fires in the south east of the island.

DR CONCO: At least 42 passengers drowned and more than 100 are missing after their boat sank on the river Oubangui in the Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials and radio reports say. Rescue workers had saved 22 passengers, but recovered 42 bodies from the river, which runs along DRCongo's northern border with the Central African Republic, Felix Ibula, of the authorities in nearby Gbadolite, said. The barge was carrying 182 passengers from both countries when it sank, according to a report from the UN-sponsored Radio Okapi, citing investigators from both countries who had gone to the scene.

ROMANIA: More than 300 people were evacuated in northeastern Romania after heavy rains caused massive flooding that swept away homes, cut off electricity and damaged roads, officials said on Friday. More than 100 people were still cut off, waiting for rescue boats, deputy Interior Minister Victor Dobre told reporters. Local television stations reported villagers in Suceava county, the worst hit area, were climbing on to rooftops and up trees to save themselves from the swollen rivers. Two days of heavy rains have hit towns and villages in six counties, causing power outages, damage to roads and bridges and the flooding of around 600 hectares of farmland. Romanian authorities issued flood warnings on Friday for 11 counties in the north and east of the country, saying river levels were at risk of rising to abnormally high levels, particularly in Iasi, Neamt and Suceava at the border with Ukraine.

TURKEY: A nurse who was diagnosed with Crimean-Congo fever (CCHF) without being bitten by a tick died at the Ankara Numune Hospital yesterday, and could possibly be the 1st instance of human-to-human passing of the infection in Turkey. Reports said it is not yet known how the 27-year-old nurse contracted the disease and officials are investigating the matter. The nurse who worked at the orthopedics department in a state hospital in the western province of Bolu was diagnosed with the disease 6 days ago and was later transferred to the Ankara hospital. It was reported that the nurse also worked at the infectious diseases department at one time. The chief surgeon of Bolu hospital, Dr Hseyin Ika, said they were looking into how the infection could have occurred. The deadly disease [CCHF] is usually associated with tick bites and the nurse's case may be the 1st case of human-to-human infection in Turkey. A total of 41 people have died in Turkey from the disease this year [2008] alone.

GUATAMALA: At least three people have died and at least 10 others are missing after a mountain of rubbish near the Guatemalan capital collapsed on them, emergency workers have said. The rubbish pile, which contained broken glass, tyres and human remains, disintegrated on Friday while people were foraging at the dump, the emergency services said. Hundreds of police and bystanders are searching for those missing after the incident near Guatemala City, Jose Victor Chavez, one of the rescue workers, said. Dozens of people search the rubbish tip every day to take jewellery from bodies dumped there when their relatives cannot afford to pay for the upkeep of their graves, Chavez said. At least six children searching for valuables in the dump are among the missing, he said. A police spokesman put the death toll at four and said 14 people had disappeared. Scores of poor people forage for scrap metal and other recyclables despite dangers of landslides during seasonal rainfall.

NIGERIA: Animal health officials in Nigeria today reported finding the H5N1 avian influenza virus at two live bird markets, as officials in Hong Kong announced they would go ahead with a buyout of poultry farmers and merchants to reduce the risk of H5N1 outbreaks in the city. The H5N1 findings in Nigeria came during routine surveillance, according to an epidemiology report submitted by Nigeria today to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). On Jun 27, veterinary officials detected the virus in a chicken at a live bird market in Kebbi state, in northwestern Nigeria. On Jul 19, animal health workers found the virus in a duck at a live bird market in Gombe state in the east-central part of the country. The reports did not say if bird deaths were reported in the area or if the birds that were sampled appeared sick. A detailed investigation was under way to determine the source of the virus, which might be contact between poultry and wild birds, the OIE report said. Officials said they have restricted the movement of birds inside the country and have disinfected the areas where the birds were kept. No birds were culled. Nigeria's last H5N1 outbreak occurred in October 2007, according to an overview from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

CANADA: Seven bison on one farm in the northern Saskatchewan municipality of Paddockwood, near Prince Albert, were confirmed Thursday to have died of anthrax, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday. The dead animals make up the second separate case of anthrax poisoning in the province this week, the CFIA said, noting one death in a cattle herd in the R.M. of Ponass Lake, confirmed Tuesday.

CHINA: Masses of green algae are again threatening to disrupt Olympic sailing at its base in the Chinese city of Qingdao. Charlotte Glennie reports from Beijing the latest disruption comes just when Olympic sailing organisers thought they had their algae problem under control. Tonnes of the green carpet-like weed have returned to within the confines of the fifty kilometre sailing course. Troops had already removed well over a million tonnes of the algae from the competition venue and built barriers to keep it out. But strong winds have blown it back in again. Locals including hundreds of fishermen are continuing to battle against the weed, which is easily thick enough to clog a keel. It's not known what causes the algae - China maintains it's a natural phenomenon, some environmentalists say it's the result of pollution.

MEXICO: Tropical Storm Genevieve strengthened into a hurricane far off Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday, and forecasters say it is expected to stay out at sea.

Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 25th July

PHILIPPINES: Qantas 747-400 with 340+ passengers makes emergency landing in Manila after dropping from 40K to 25K following decompression as result of a breach of a forward cargo hold.

MEDITERRANEAN: As thousands of tourists head to the Mediterranean, the spectre of jellyfish ruining holidays looms large after French emergency services received more than 500 calls for help in a single day along a 10-mile stretch of coast from Nice to Cannes. Paddlers suffered painful stings and wanted something to treat the pain while swimmers reported that they had found themselves totally surrounded by a species commonly known as the mauve stinger. It is a pattern being repeated along the shores of Mediterranean. As well as the Cote d'Azur, the coast of Liguria on the west coast of Italy, the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, parts of the Adriatic on Italy's east coast, and much of the southern; and even northern coastlines of Spain have been hit.

SLOVAKIA: Two people in Slovakia were swept away and drowned by a water surge in a stream. In eastern Slovakia, 40 villages have been inundated and at least 200 people have been forced to leave their homes. Fallen trees caused power cuts and disruption to the train network.

CHINA: Three aftershocks that jolted southwest China's Sichuan Province on Thursday had left one dead, 17 injured and about 1,200 houses destroyed as of 5 p.m.. According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, three tremors measuring 5.6, 4.9 and 6.0, respectively, on the Richter Scale hit the juncture of Ningqiang County, Shaanxi Province and Qingchuan County, Sichuan Province early Thursday morning and in the afternoon. They were felt in the cities of Guangyuan, Chengdu, Mianyang, Deyang and Leshan of Sichuan Province. The center also monitored several aftershocks below magnitude 4.0, but no specific number was made available.

ASIA-PACIFIC: Asia-Pacific powers announced an ambitious plan Thursday to pool international assets, including military support, to tackle natural disasters in a region beset by cyclones, earthquakes and floods. At the end of their meeting, foreign ministers of 26 countries and the European Union also disclosed plans for a joint relief exercise in 2009 to prepare. MORE AT: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-07/24/content_6874589.htm

USA: New Hampshire - Severe thunderstorms cut a swath of destruction through central and eastern New Hampshire on Thursday, prompting reports of collapsed buildings and at least two possible funnel clouds or tornadoes. State Emergency Management spokesman Jim Van Dongen said a house reportedly collapsed in Epsom, where the fire chief said preliminary reports indicated that 50 to 100 homes were damaged.

GREECE: Athens - Four people were injured and one is still missing following a blast in a dockyard near Athens on Thursday, a spokesperson for the country's Merchant Marine and Island Policy said. The blast occurred on a tanker docked in the port of Perama, some 20 km (12 miles) away from Athens, during welding work. An assistant to the captain is missing. "We can confirm that four people were injured and hospitalized with burns," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson failed to confirm media reports that several welders were also missing. A fire that broke out after the blast has been extinguished.

CHILE: Southern Chile's Chaiten Volcano, which erupted in early May for the first time in recorded history (PT, May 2), is once again making its presence felt. Local news agencies reported Thursday that the now two-month-long, on and off again eruption has intensified significantly in the past 24 hours with the volcano once again began belching massive amounts of ash. The new eruption has also been accompanied by notable seismic activity.

Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 24th July

USA: Texas - Hurricane Dolly gathered strength and slammed into the South Texas coast Wednesday with punishing rain and winds of 100 mph, blowing down signs, damaging an apartment complex and knocking out power to thousands. But local officials' greatest fear - that the levees holding back the Rio Grande would fail and cause massive flooding - eased when Dolly meandered 35 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border just before coming ashore on South Padre Island as a Category 2 storm.

SOUTH AFRICA: Durban - Residents of the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Clare Estate, Durban, are battling a rat infestation. The rats bit a two-month-old baby, Wandile Cikwayo, last Thursday. The residents said the rats were also destroying their clothing and food. Phumza Grangxa said the rats had become a nightmare for the residents.

COLOMBIA: At least 18 people were injured after a bull ring collapsed in Planadas, department Casanare, 300 kilometers east of Bogot?. Two children were among those hurt when seating terraces gave way at the temporary ring in Planadas. A bull calf had to be restrained to stop it from running into the crowd as victims tried to free themselves from the wreckage. There were no reports of deaths but doctors treated casualties for fractures, cuts and bruises. The authorities have launched an investiagtion into how the ring collapsed.

GUINEA BISSAU: The number of people infected by a cholera outbreak in Guinea Bissau doubled in July to more than 600 and infections have spread to areas of the country previously considered low risk, health experts warn. Of 611 people in Guinea Bissau who have contracted the disease this year, 344 of them were infected in July, according to the government's statistics. So far 14 people have died. The outbreak has reached Gabu and Bafata, two areas normally immune from infection, and six other regions.

NIGERIA: No fewer than 12 people have been killed following a cholera outbreak in Kubau local government area of Kaduna State recently. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) investigation showed that both adults and children were affected by the outbreak in Anchau and other villages in the area.

SPAIN: A heatwave led Spain's national weather office on Wednesday to put seven provinces in the centre and south of the country on orange alert, the second-highest level of its four-alert scale. Ciudad Real, Cordoba, Granada, Jaen, Madrid, Seville and Toledo will see temperatures soar to up to 40 degrees Celsius, national weather office Aemet said on its web site. Despite the alert, the weather office stressed that temperatures were not unusual for this time of the year and were expected to drop slightly at the weekend. An orange alert warns that weather conditions pose an "important risk" to human health. Wildfires ravaged large amounts of forest and scrubland in Spain in 2005 and 2006 amid scorching temperatures but the country has so far this year escaped major fire damage due to a relatively wet spring which eased the effects of a drought in many parts of the country.

CANADA: Quebec - More than 80 people were forced to flee their homes in central Quebec after a downpour drenched the region early Wednesday. Authorities say about 65 millimetres fell in about six hours in Quebec's Upper-Mauricie region, causing flooding in the towns of La Bostonnais and La Tuque. About 35 homes in La Bostonnais reported some flooding. In La Tuque, 12 homes were flooded. Evacuated residents found shelter with friends, family and neighbours. Water levels in nearby rivers are still high and may rise throughout the day if there is more rain, said Jacques Raymond, regional director of civil security.

JAPAN: A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck off the northern Japanese coast on Thursday morning, Japan's weather agency said. The Meteorological Agency says there was no danger of a tsunami, or seismic waves, from the 12:26 a.m. quake, which occurred about 120 kilometers below the ocean's surface off the coast of Iwate. Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. Koji Yoshida, an official for the nearby Morioka Fire Department, said the tremor was strong "but nothing fell off shelves." "So far we have not received any reports of damage or casualties," he said.

USA: A collision between a chemical tanker and a fuel barge on the Mississippi River spilled over 400,000 gallons of fuel oil and prompted the U.S. Coast Guard to close a 29-mile stretch of the waterway around New Orleans, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The river remained closed between Mile Marker 99, near the Harvey Canal, and Mile Marker 70, downstream from New Orleans, as of 11 a.m. CDT. Vessel traffic was halted after the 1:30 a.m. CDT collision in which the MV Tintomara cut in half an American Commercial Lines barge loaded with No. 6 fuel oil. About 420,000 gallons of thick, slow-to-evaporate fuel spilled from the barge, but nothing leaked from the Tintomara, officials said. A sheen at least 12 miles long spread down river, and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality said efforts were being made to minimize the impact on air and water quality and wildlife. Drinking water intakes were diverted or closed in the area and citizens were asked to conserve water use to maximize supplies on hand pending resumption of water treatment operations, the New Orleans water department said. Cleanup crews spread booms, which are floating barriers, to try to contain the oil and keep it out of sensitive areas, said Jean Kelly, spokeswoman for the state environmental agency. State staff were at the scene and still gathering details of the environmental impact, she said. "We have a lot of wildlife in the southern delta," Kelly said. The river closure stalled at least 10 vessels northbound and 15 southbound on the river, as well as six on the Harvey Canal, as of 11 a.m. When traffic would resume was unclear, a Coast Guard spokesman said. Three refineries with 560,000 barrels per day of capacity were in the affected area, although there were no immediate reports of effects on refinery operations. A Coast Guard environmental strike team also was on scene, along with helicopters and a Coast Guard vessel, the Coast Guard said. Tugboats were holding the pieces of the barge near the Crescent City Connection bridge, downstream from Harvey Canal, officials said.

BANGLADESH: About 50,000 people remain marooned in four upazilas in Netrakona due to flash floods caused by heavy rain for the last three days. Besides, road communications in several parts of the district are also disrupted due to heavy downpour. The affected four upazilas are Durgapur, Kalmakanda, Mohanganj and Khaliajuri, Netrakona Water Development Board (WDB) sources said. If it continues to rain, vast areas in Madan and Atpara upazilas might also go under water.

FRANCE: Inspectors found that 100 people have been 'slightly' contaminated near the French nuclear plant Tricastin, French media reported Wednesday. The incident is the second incident at the plant this month. Radioactive elements leaked from a hose. The nuclear regulatory authority (ASN) categorized the incident as level '0', and the director of the plant, Alain Peckre, described the incident as 'inconsequential.' On July 7, some 75 kilograms of radioactive uranium leaked out of the Tricastin nuclear power plant and into two small nearby rivers. That incident was only reported to the authorities a day later. Last Thursday, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo called for an inspection of all of France's reactors and the surrounding groundwater. France is one of the world's most nuclear-dependent countries, with 59 nuclear power plants supplying about 78 per cent of the country's electricity.

PHILIPPINES: Global warming may have contributed to a 43 percent rise in the number of dengue cases in the Philippines for the first half of the year, the health secretary said Wednesday. The biggest increase in the country was seen in Metropolitan Manila, where there was an almost 200 percent increase.

RUSSIA: An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 has struck the unpopulated region of Russia in Russia.

Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 23rd July

USA & MEXICO: Tropical Storm Dolly upgraded to Cat 1 Hurricane. Winds up to 75 mph, landfall expected today.

VIETNAM: Bird flu has stricken Vietnam's central Nghe An province, raising the total number of affected localities in the country to three, according to a local veterinary agency on Tuesday. Bird flu has, since July 18, killed 30 chickens and 160 ducks raised by a household in Nghi Loc district, the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said, adding that Nghe An and the two southern provinces of Dong Thap and Tra Vinh are being hit by the disease.

USA: Minnesota - The Department of Natural Resources is reporting bird die-offs on two Minnesota lakes. Officials say dead and dying double-crested cormorants, pelicans, ring-billed gulls and a great blue heron were found last week at Minnesota Lake in Faribault County and Pigeon Lake in Meeker County. DNR biologists say the dead birds included 687 cormorants and 37 pelicans. DNR workers discovered the dead and dying birds while banding pelicans. Initial tests for avian influenza were negative, but officials say the cause of the bird illness hasn't been determined yet. The DNR, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are cleaning up the sites and collecting more samples for lab analysis.

USA: New Jersey - Thirty-one people were hospitalized today after suffering reactions to an unknown allergen in two Newark apartment buildings, authorities said. The victims were treated with Benadryl, steroids and will likely be treated and released sometime today. In addition to city fire and hazardous materials officials, the city health, engineering, sewer management and emergency management departments were on the scene along with state Department of Environment Protection, Brown said. Public Service Electric & Gas and the local office of the federal Food and Drug Administration were also present, he said. Thus far there is no known cause for the allergic reactions, officials said. In addition to testing the buildings and a local community center, the sewers have also been checked, Brown said. Emergency responders were called around 11:30 a.m. to the building at 521 S. 17th St. after residents complained of light-headedness, sore throats and itchy eyes. The victims were taken to four area hospitals.

USA: Utah - About 80 units at a Taylorsville townhouse complex were evacuated Tuesday afternoon when water and mud crashed into buildings and a playground full of children. No injuries were reported, but residents from 14 buildings were evacuated about 3 p.m. when a wall of water and mud roared into the Mulberry Park complex at 5287 S. 3675 West. The mudslide was about 40 feet wide by 20 feet long and up to seven feet deep in some areas.

AUSTRALIA: Queensland - Heads-up on new developments on a new disease. Australia's biggest outbreak yet of the highly virulent Hendra virus is underway. The disease is transmitted from fruit bats to horses and from horses to humans. It was identified in 1994�the last year there was a major outbreak. One human trainer and 14 horses died then, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. A second infected person recovered. Now changes in symptoms in Queensland horses are suggesting a new strain. Perhaps one capable of human-to-human transmission. New Scientist reports that two veterinary workers became infected roughly four weeks ago and remain hospitalized. Fifty more people who may have had contact with horses will undergo a second set of tests. So far this year at least seven horses are infected. Five have died. Thirty-six more will be tested for a second time tomorrow.

LEBANON: Firemen battled a forest fire in Lebanon on Tuesday, amid exploding cluster bombs and the danger of mines left over from the country's 1975-1990 civil war, said a civil defence official. Flames swept near the summer resort town of Aley, east of Beirut, after breaking out overnight in the mountainous region of Bmikin, between Souk el-Gharb and Aley.

USA: New Hampshire - Police and residents alike are on the alert after a rabid fox attacked and injured four people in a 24-hour period.

CHINA: Rainstorms have left six people dead and affected 584,000 in China's Hubei Province. Rain began to hit the central province on Sunday. The worst-hit Xiangfan City reported precipitation of 271 mm over 12 hours on Tuesday. Three people were swept away by rainstorm-triggered floods, two were killed by lightning strikes and one died in a house collapse, according to the provincial flood control authorities. About 12,000 people had been evacuated. Local meteorologists said the rain would continue on Wednesday

Subject: Around the World Today - Tuesday 22nd July

SPAIN: Human error is said to be to blame for a toxic spill in Alicante port yesterday. A tanker which was supplying diesel to a fishing boat caused the spill which led to the port�s emergency plan being put into action. No more than 100 litres was thought to have been spilt, but even so an area of 100 square metres was affected. A perimeter was set up by the emergency services and work continued overnight to control the spill.

FRANCE: Electricite de France says 15 workers were exposed to radioactive contamination while carrying out maintenance at a nuclear plant in the French Alps. France's nuclear industry is under increased scrutiny following uranium leaks earlier this month. France depends on nuclear power for the majority of its electricity. In the latest incident, the electricity giant says "traces of radioactive elements" were found during standard monitoring of workers at the Saint-Alban plant in the Isere region. Electricite de France says doctors examined the workers after the contamination was found and ruled that it had "no consequences" for their health. The utility is searching for the cause of the contamination. The incident occurred Friday. It was announced Monday.

CANADA: Transformer prblems persist - structural and building engineers were expected to spend today assessing the damage after a huge explosion yesterday made a 22-storey building "uninhabitable" and left 900 people homeless. The calm of a lazy Sunday morning was shattered when a fire in an underground hydro vault yesterday morning caused a huge explosion that could be heard blocks away. The explosion was so severe it lifted pavement at the front of the building, caused extensive damage to cars parked nearby, shattered the glass in the lobby, and even lifted a fire truck, said Shamim Naheed, who was standing with her 1-year-old son just metres from the spot where the explosion surfaced.

MEXICAN: Over 1,000 people were evacuated early Monday from the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico as Tropical Storm Dolly entered the Gulf of Mexico. The storm was moving north-west over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said. A hurricane watch has been issued for part of the coast of the US state of Texas and for the Mexican coast north of San Fernando to the US border.

AUSTRALIA: Personnel from nine countries are taking part in a military exercise off the coast of Darwin, training for disaster response in the Asia-Pacific region. More than 2,000 sailors and airmen will use war ships, aircraft and submarines over the next few weeks to simulate an emergency situation in the Timor Sea. Australian Navy captain Phillip Spedding says Exercise Kakadu allows naval personnel from countries including Australia, Singapore and Japan the chance to work together and set up emergency response procedures. "We'll work through such things like how would we go about a collective response to a humanitarian assistance, or some form of disaster relief," he said. "And we'll also look at how we do protection of the force alongside or at anchor. "Then we'll go to sea and we'll start of doing fairly basic manoevering exercises to make sure we're safe and get used to working with each other."

NORWAY: Two people have died in what appears to be an outbreak of the respiratory illness Legionnaire's disease in southeastern Norway, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health cautioned on Monday. "Much indicates that there is an outbreak of Legionnaires disease in the Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad area (east of Oslo)," the agency said in a statement. Five people have been infected with the Legionella bacteria since mid-June, and one of them died at the beginning of this month with the second succumbing last Friday, it added.

AUSTRALIA: Up to a million people in Australia could face a shortage of drinking water if the country's drought continues, a report on the state of the nation's largest river system revealed Sunday. The report said the situation was critical in the Murray-Darling system, which provides water to Australia's "food bowl", a vast expanse of land almost twice as big as France that runs down the continent's east coast. "We are in real trouble in the Murray-Darling basin," Climate Change Minister Penny Wong told Channel Nine television.

USA: Tennessee - Severe thunderstorms have rolled through the Knoxville area, leaving more than 37,000 customers without power. No injuries were reported early Monday evening after the heavy rain, lightning and strong winds. The storm blew over the transmitter building for WLNT-FM in Loudon, knocking the radio station off the air. Radar estimates showed some 3 inches of rain fell in Maryville and Rockwood. Much of East Tennessee was under a severe thunderstorm watch Monday night.

SRI LANKA: The heavy rainfall during the past few days have affected at least 33,222 people from 7,848 families while three persons died in Kegalle, Gampaha and Matale as a result of floods in districts including Rathnapura, Gampaha, Kegalle, Colombo, Matale and Kandy. According to the Director of the National Disaster Relief Services Centre (NDRSC) N.D.Hettiarachchi the Government has already provided sufficient relief assistance including an allocation of Rs.500,000 from the Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services.

CHINA: A flood in a south China coal mine has trapped 56 people underground, state-run media said Tuesday. Rescuers have yet to make contact with the miners at the Nadu mine in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Xinhua news agency said, citing the Guangxi Work Safety Administration. It is not clear what caused the flood, which occurred Monday afternoon.

JAPAN: A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 jolted northern Japan on Monday, the US Geological Survey said, but there was no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The undersea quake struck at 8:30 pm (1130 GMT) off the east coast of Japan's main island of Honshu, at a depth of 33 kilometres (20 miles).

MONROVIA: Intense and heavy rainfall in the Liberian capital Monrovia on 20 July caused the worst floods on record in Monrovia and forced nearly 1,000 people out of their houses, Liberian authorities told IRIN. All day Sunday, residents in eastern areas of the city including in Paynesville, Townhalk, King Gray, Fish Market and other communities were seen removing personal belongings like mattresses, clothes and pots from their homes. By the end of the day, flood water had blocked roads to the area, and government rescue workers were using canoes to evacuate the remaining people from the flood areas.

NORWAY: Salmonella has been found in food samples taken from a canteen where Norwegian students were taken ill last week, said a health official on Monday. Thirty-one students out of the 33 staying in a dormitory in the capital's 13th district were hospitalised last Thursday, suffering dehydration, nausea and diarrhea. One of the students is still in St Laszlo hospital and another two are in the Peterfy Sandor Street Hospital under supervision. The rest have been released, said Erzsebet Kelemen, head of the National Public Health and Medical Officers' Service's (ANTSZ) epidemic department.

SOUTH AFRICA: State of Western Cape, Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant, - Eskom carried out a "controlled shutdown" of Unit 2 at the Koeberg on Monday night because of a technical fault in the electricity generating side of the power station. Because of the fault, unplanned maintenance work had to begin immediately on Monday night.

Subject: Around the World Today - Monday 21st July

TAMIL NADU: Huge tidal waves, nearly 20 feet in height, hit this coastal town of Tamil Nadu for the second consecutive day triggering tsunami fears among the residents. Heavy seasonal rains affected tourist trade of the town on the confluence of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, witnesses said Sunday. Following sudden movement of water away from the shore, waves slammed ashore damaging at least six canoes and a motorised fishing craft, fishermen said. The ferry service linking the mainland to Vivekanand Memorial remained disrupted for several hours much to the discomfort of the tourists. Seawater also entered some villages before ebbing. The incidents, however, were not unusual, official sources said.

GUATEMALA: Twenty-one people were confirmed killed Sunday in landslides triggered by heavy rains in a rural community in eastern Guatemala, local media reported. According to information reaching here from Guatemala City, landslides brought down tons of mud and rocks on a village near LaUnion city in Zacapa province, burying at least 21 people. Among the dead were 12 from the same family who were trapped inside their house by the landslide, said La Union Mayor Francisco Salguero. Rescue teams had not been able to reach the accident site till midday on Sunday, Salguero told a local radio station. Downpours in the previous weeks have led to many landslides, destroying houses, bridges and highways, including one leading to the La Union village, he said. Several families have been evacuated to safe places including provisional shelters set up by the government. The city of La Union, which borders Honduras and is located some 220 km northeast of Guatemala City, has a population of 25,000 and is one of the poorest areas in the central American country. Persistent rains since June across large swathes of Guatemala have caused a 'yellow' alert in the country, where 78 people have died in various disasters triggered by heavy rains since the beginning of the year.

UK: An aggressive new fungus-like plant disease spreading across Britain could destroy millions of garden shrubs, including historic ornamental plants, and transform the rural landscape. Phytophthora kernoviae, a new plant pathogen from the same family as the mould which caused the Irish potato famine, was discovered in Cornwall in 2003 and is now spreading across the United Kingdom, with 52 cases identified in formal gardens and the countryside in England, Wales and Scotland. The speed of the spread and the ability of Phytophthora kernoviae to rapidly kill or damage species has alarmed scientists, who say it is showing the capacity to target and destroy specific plants and trees, in particular wild rhododendrons and the European beech. The organism is a close relative to Phytophthora ramorum, which is also a growing threat to plant life in the United Kingdom and is responsible for Sudden Oak Death; the disease which has devastated the population of American tan oaks in California and Oregon.

USA: North Carolina - Tropical Storm Cristobal dumped rain and brought rough seas to the North Carolina coast Sunday, and forecasters predicted the system was headed for the open Atlantic.

MEXICO: Tropical Storm Fausto became a hurricane Friday far off Mexico's Pacific coast, while Bertha strengthened back into a hurricane in the open Atlantic but are currently headed out to sea.

CARIBBEAN: Tropical Storm Dolly headed for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday bearing heavy rains and winds, but it posed no immediate threat to Gulf oil installations slightly south of its projected path. Dolly was churning in the western Caribbean about 165 miles southeast of Cozumel.

Subject: Around the World Today - Sunday 20th July

SLOVAKIA: In Slovakia a new outbreak of classical swine fever (CSF) has been reported. The outbreak was reported in an area where also professional production sites were struck by classical swine fever earlier this year. LTO [Dutch Agri- and Horticultural Organisation] warns anyone to be very careful when trading with Slovakia and Hungary as CSF is still not completely under control there.

ARGENTINA: Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday. More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio. While it is common here to find some penguins � both dead and alive � swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory. Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes. Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents." Niteroi, the state's biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil's oil lies offshore. Muniz said he hadn't seen penguins suffering from the effects of other pollutants, but he pointed out that already dead penguins aren't brought in for treatment. Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame. "Aside from the oil in the Campos basin, the pollution is lowering the animals' immunity, leaving them vulnerable to funguses and bacteria that attack their lungs," Pimenta said, quoting biologists who work with him. But biologist Erli Costa of Rio de Janeiro's Federal University suggested weather patterns could be involved. "I don't think the levels of pollution are high enough to affect the birds so quickly. I think instead we're seeing more young and sick penguins because of global warming, which affects ocean currents and creates more cyclones, making the seas rougher," Costa said. Costa said the vast majority of penguins turning up are baby birds that have just left the nest and are unable to out-swim the strong ocean currents they encounter while searching for food. Every year, Brazil airlifts dozens of penguins back to Antarctica or Patagonia.

TAIWAN: Typhoon Kalmaegi has left at least 15 dead, 10 missing and eight injured in Taiwan, a government report said Saturday. The typhoon has also created 310 million Taiwan dollars (10.2 million US dollars) in agricultural damage, the National Disasters Prevention and Protection Commission said in a report on its website. At least five low-lying areas in central and southern Taiwan were still inundated by floods brought by torrential rains brought by the typhoon, the commission said. Authorities Saturday sent thousands of workers and military in action for the typhoon's aftermath, including helping clear thick mud that covered roads and filled residences. Those killed were either drowned by rising floods or buried alive by mud- and rock-slides, in casualties surprising the government as the typhoon was considered a relatively small one. President Ma Ying-jeou questioned the Central Weather Bureau for not doing enough to alert the public before Kalmaegi made landfall in Taiwan Friday. Moving at 19 kilometres per hour, the typhoon packed winds of 83 kilometres per hour and gusts of 108 kilometres per hour when it hit Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said. Kalmaegi began to approach south-east Taiwan Wednesday and moved up north along the east coast, dumping some 900 millimetres of rain on southern and central Taiwan. The downpour, said to be the worst in a decade, caused landslides and flooding in mountainous regions in central and south Taiwan and left some city streets flooded knee-deep. The eye of the storm crossed the northern tip of Taiwan Friday morning, and moved to southern China, moving along the Chinese coast.

CHINA: Two months after an earthquake ravaged much of Sichuan province, workers are diligently salvaging bricks to restore a 6th century Taoist temple damaged in the disaster. As China begins to look beyond emergency response toward long-term reconstruction, experts on post-disaster planning warn that expectations should be realistic since rebuilding will take years. MORE AT: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gBr_dOzJ9Pnc_U9gSgtTgE-cR-KwD920E7MO0

PERU: Peru's government has declared a state of emergency at a mine east of Lima, fearing toxic materials there could spill into the capital city's main water source. President Alan Garcia's government decreed a 60-day state of emergency in the mountainous district of San Mateo after soil began to loosen around a waste pit at the Coricancha mine, threatening to spill into the Rimac River, the capital's main source of water. The mine is owned and operated by Canadian miner Gold Hawk Resources Inc. In a statement late Friday, the company said the government has asked it to relocate its facilities.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 has struck off Solomon Islands. There have been no immediate reports of damage and a tsunami alert was not issued. The undersea quake struck at 8:27pm Saturday local time, east of Kira Kira.

FIJI: On 7/19/2008 10:39:05 PM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 has struck the unpopulated region of Fiji in Fiji.

AROUND THE WORLD TODAY