around_the_world_today_May_08

AROUND THE WORLD: MAY 21 - 31, 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - MARCH 2008

AROUND THE WORLD - APRIL 2008

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

Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 31st May

USA: Two people are dead after a crane collapsed on Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York. The Fire Department said it pulled people out of the wreckage. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7423749.stm

CHINA: China rushed Friday to remove radioactive and chemical materials sitting downstream from a "quake lake" that threatens to burst and send torrents of water into heavily populated areas. Nearly 100 unidentified radioactive sources were ordered to be removed by Friday evening from the path of the potential torrent of water, state press reported, citing the nation's environmental protection bureau. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=f66a590a-d977-4331-a334-7e6a5dcb00e2

CHINA: More than 1 million may have to evacuate China disaster zone. More than 1 million people may have to urgently evacuate a Chinese valley that is being threatened with flooding from an earthquake-spawned lake, an emergency official warned Friday. Authorities were preparing to run a drill starting Saturday to ensure 1.3 million people in dozens of villages in the Mianyang region could get out quickly if the lake breaks through a wall of debris that has clogged a river. http://www.welt.de/english-news/article2050541/More_than_1_million_may_have_to_evacuate_China_disaster_zone_.html

ETHIOPIA: Flash floods following torrential rain in Ethiopia's eastern town of Jijiga killed 25 people while they slept, a government official said on Friday. The underdeveloped area in the Somali region is usually battered by a succession of droughts and floods.

Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 29th May

CHINA: Forty half-starved earthquake survivors have been rescued from a remote area in southwestern China a full 16 days after the disaster, state press reported on Thursday. They were flown out by helicopter on Wednesday from the quake-shattered village of Yangjiagou in Sichuan province, the West China Metropolitan Daily said. The survivors had been prevented from escaping by landslides triggered by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12, which had blocked roads in the rugged region, it said. The village is 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the nearest town.

EYGPT: Four Egyptians were killed and nine others seriously wounded in an explosion from an old bomb in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Many shells and land mines still lie unexploded near Alexandria, remnants from World War II battlefields. The four killed Tuesday - three workers at a scrap yard and a bystander - were trying to dismantle the steel object when it exploded. They did not know it was a bomb. Those injured in the blast were taken to a hospital in Alexandria for treatment.

CHINA: At least 21 people were frozen to death in a heavy snowstorm which swept through seven provinces in Mongolia since Monday, said the Mongolian General Authority for Emergency Management (GAEM) Wednesday. Now the GAEM is still in search of 51 people who got lost in the snowstorm. In the eastern province of Suhbaatar, the wind speed had once reached 40 meters per second. The snowstorm has also caused damage to buildings and electronic infrastructure, according to the GAEM. Snowstorms usually occur in spring in Mongolia.

USA: Texas, all four school districts in Karnes County - Falls City, Karnes City, Kenedy, and Runge, received notice of an outbreak of Shigella, infectious bacteria (shigellosis) that is very contagious. A letter received from the Texas Department of State Health Services has either been or is being sent to parents in all four districts concerning this outbreak. Several cases have been confirmed in Karnes County since April. The disease is passed from person to person by the fecal-oral route. Shigella infections (shigellosis) cause fever, stomach cramps and diarrhea which is sometimes mixed with blood or mucous. The diarrhea can last up to one week and may range from mild to severe. In some cases, the diarrhea can be so severe that a person needs to be hospitalized.

PHILIPPINES: Typhoid Fever broke out killing at least three people and hospitalizing 13 villagers in a remote village in Rapu-Rapu, an island town in Albay.

GREECE: A radioactive waste shipment, rejected by Greece, has returned back to Macedonia. Greek Ethnos daily said the cargo entered Greece at Evzoni crossing point. The Greek Atomic Energy Commission has not yet confirmed the initial news reports indicated that the shipment contained radioactive waste from Kosovo. The Commission hinted at old iron - parts of kitchen appliances and industrial equipment. Macedonian truck that carried the cargo crossed the Macedonian-Greek border on 22 May. The vehicle was subjected to security checkup and later it was allowed to cross the border despite the high radiation levels. Five customs officers have been dismissed. The head of Greek customs office assumed the responsibility for the event and demanded replacement. Ethnos daily says Greek authorities remained tightlipped over the incident.

BOSNIA: Bosnia's meteorology institute said temperatures may hit a 100-year record, reaching over 35 degrees Celsius in central parts of the country and 38 degrees in the south. Temperatures had jumped by 15 degrees since Monday, it added. The Sarajevo University medical centre said it had seen over 200 patients with heat-induced complaints in the last few days.

MACEDONIA: The hottest May day is set to emerge in Macedonia, as forecasters are predicting tropical heat with temperature up to 38 degrees C. The extremely high temperatures, unusual for May, pose a serious threat to humans' health. The number of medical check-ups is on the rise. Doctors advised the citizens, especially those chronically ill, to stay at home and consume large quantities of water. In the past 15 years, a total of 12 consecutive hottest years have been registered at global level.

USA: Alabama - Flash Floods Cars, front yards, and dog houses - all underwater. Thunderstorms that swept through Lawrence County Tuesday morning are to blame.

CANADA: At least 1,000 people were evacuated from several communities in northern Manitoba on Wednesday due to forest fires. The Manitoba government said residents of Mission Island and Fort Island were evacuated to nearby Norway House, although the same release said that community was also at risk and that the Health Canada hospital had been evacuated and its patients taken to Cross Lake.

RUSSIA: An explosion at the Kirishi oil refinery, owned by Russia's No. 4 oil producer SurgutNefteGas (SNGS.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), killed one person on Thursday but production at the plant was not affected, the regional emergencies ministry said. A spokesman at the emergencies ministry in the Leningrad region, where the refinery is located, said refined products output would not be affected by the explosion, which occurred in the plant's compressor unit early in the morning. "A fire broke out at 0224 Moscow time (2224 on May 28 GMT) at the compressor unit," the spokesman said. "Five people were injured, one died."

INDIA: Floods triggered by heavy rain destroyed more than 100 villages and affected thousands of people in India's northeast over the last two days, officials said on Thursday. Surging rivers washed away homes and many villagers were being evacuated from low-lying areas in Assam state, officials said.

COLOMBIA: In Central Colombia, authorities have declared a state of emergency after heavy rains hit the area, destroying hundreds of acres of land. The Madgalena River, one of Colombia's main waterways, continued to rise, threatening the livelihood of thousands of residents.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Tropical Cyclone One-E-08 impacts upon Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. The weather spilling from it may account for report above.

BURKINO FASO: Heavy rains that hit Ouagadougou on 25 May left 542 people homeless, over half of them children. Up to 93 families lost their homes in two of Ouagadougou's districts. The families are currently sheltered in local schools and community centres.

Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 28th May

INDIA: Dust storms and heavy rains lashed huge swaths of northern India, killing at least 22 overnight, an official said Tuesday. An additional 89 people died in unseasonal rain and dust storms in Uttar Pradesh state last week, said a police spokesman Surendra Srivastava in the state capital Lucknow.

GREECE: An earthquake measuring 3.0 on the Richter Scale occurred in Crete Island ath 09:58:58 UTC. The depth of the quake was located at the depth of 10 km. There are no reports about any casualty or damage at this stage.

IRAN: An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale shook part of northern Iran near the city of Zanjan. No casualties had been reported so far but telephone communications with the affected area had been disrupted.

CHINA: The Chinese authorities have ordered the evacuations of 150,000 people threatened by possible flooding from a lake in southwest China formed by landslides following this month's earthquake, and military engineers struggled Tuesday to dig sluiceways to drain the water safely.. The landslides dammed a major river Tangjiashan, just north of Beichuan, one of the towns hardest hit by the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province. Relief officials have ordered the immediate evacuation those in the region whose towns would be swept away if the dam burst.

CHINA: Eight passengers were missing after a yacht collided with a cargo ship in a section of the Yangtse River in the eastern Jiangsu Province on Tuesday, the local maritime authority said. In total, there were 24 people on board the "Yuejiang" yacht, of which 16 were rescued.

SOUTH AFRICA: At least 20 people are believed to have died on Tuesday when their bus left the road and went over a cliff into a river in the Eastern Cape, near the town of Cedarville.

CHINA: Floods triggered by rain and hail storms in southern China have killed at least 20 people and left 16 missing, said an local authorities. Flash floods in Wangmo county in southwest Guizhou province had killed 18 people and left 12 missing, Xinhua said the province's Emergency Response Office. The floods had also destroyed bridges, dozens of houses and caused power outages in eight townships, affecting 26,000 residents, the agency said.

CHINA: MACCAU: Three new enterovirus cases were confirmed here on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases to 266 so far, according to the city's Health Bureau. These enterovirus cases comprise hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and herpangina (mouth blisters), but none of the patients was in serious condition, the bureau said in a press statement. Among the detected cases, 32 have been confirmed as EV71 (enterovirus 71) infections as of Tuesday. In addition, most of the enterovirus patients were children enrolled in local creches and primary schools.

INDIA: One Hundred people were hospitalised following a leakage of toxic gas from the filter plant of Tata Motors unit here on Tuesday, hospital sources said. Sources, however, said a large number of people were affected by the gas and 100 admitted to hospitals but there was no official confirmation of the number of the people affected. The people from the areas were being evacuated as a precautionary measure. According to the company's Assistant General Manager Capt P J Singh, chlorine gas leaked from the filter plant on Tuesday afternoon.

AUSTRALIA: The Department of Fisheries is investigating what caused the deaths of hundreds of fish in Perth's northern suburbs. Hundreds of fish and crabs were discovered floating in Ocean Reef Boat Harbour yesterday morning. Toxic algae has been ruled out as a possible cause, but a fish disease or lack of oxygen could be responsible for the die off.

ENGLAND: Hundreds of thousands of homes suffered power cuts after a fault caused an unplanned shutdown at the Sizewell B nuclear power plant in Suffolk. Homes and businesses in London, East Anglia, Cheshire and Merseyside were affected between 1100 BST and 1300 BST. The shutdown cut off supplies to the National Grid within minutes of another plant - the coal-fired Longannet power station in Fife - going offline.

CHINA: China said Tuesday it would provide mass emergency vaccinations in quake-hit areas to curb potential epidemics, but reported no major disease outbreaks so far. "By June 15, emergency inoculation of vulnerable people will be completed including vaccines against Hepatitis A and Encephalitis B".

RED SEA: The Royal Navy nuclear submarine HMS Superb hit a rock as it was diving to pass through the northern Red Sea on Monday, causing damage to her main sonar. None of the 112 crew was injured and all remained on board as the navy considered where the submarine would dock for repairs.

IRAQ: Iraq said on Tuesday it is opening talks with Turkey and Syria in a bid to increase the flow of Euphrates and Tigris rivers and end severe water shortages.

PERU: USS George Washington, damaged by fire at sea has docked in Peru. The damage is substantial, but hasn't affected the nuclear propulsion system.

AUSTRALIA: Australian Department of Defence is currently culling hundreds of kangaroos on the outskirts of the capital Canberra that have produced heated discussions and hit international headlines. Australia's iconic animal has multiplied so much over recent years that Canberra now has three times as many kangaroos as inhabitants. The situation is particularly critical at two enclosed military sites on the outskirts of the city, which form an ideal refuge for the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). The grasslands there are now completely overgrazed - with dramatic consequences for other species.

Subject: Around the World Today - Tuesday 27th May

GUINEA BISSAU: An outbreak of cholera in a remote fishing village in southeastern Guinea Bissau has killed two people and infected 53 the World Health Organization (WHO) warns. Guinea Bissau has some of the worst coverage of modern water and sanitation infrastructure in the world according to the UN. In rural areas less than half of people have access to clean water and less than 25 percent to modern toilets.

DR CONGO: Event happened on 05.23.2008: Dozens of people remain missing four days after an overloaded passenger boat sank during a storm over Lake Tanganyika in central Africa and rescuers do not expect to find any more survivors, the United Nations mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) reports.

CHINA: Severe storms and heavy rain impacted on recovery operations and raised the risk of dam breeches. Nine people are confirmed dead and 11 are missing after a flash flood triggered by torrential rains in southwest China's Guizhou Province. Nine townships in Wangmo, a county in Buyei-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Qianxinan, were struck by torrential rains at around11 p.m. Monday, leading to a flash flood, according to the Emergency Response Office of Guizhou provincial government.

VIETNAM: Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), known as "blue ear" disease, has hit 270,000 pigs in Vietnam, or one percent of the country's pig population, since late March.

CANADA: A thunderstorm produced lightning, hail and a deluge of rain in the Portland and Vancouver area Saturday night. In just 15 minutes, more than 30 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes hit Vancouver. Meanwhile, nearly one inch of rain fell in a one-hour span in parts of the area, leading to flooding in east Vancouver and in Molalla. The rainfall at Portland International Airport broke all-time weather records. At one point during the thunderstorm, the National Weather Service recommended residents in the storm's path seek shelter and stay away from windows. The service warned of damaging, golf-ball-size hail. By midnight, the storm had passed and damage was restricted to only parts of the Portland-Vancouver area.

ZIMBABWE: Nkayi district in Matabeleland North Province has been hit by an outbreak of anthrax. Veterinary Department Services sources in the area said cases of the disease have been detected mainly in areas adjacent to Gokwe where the disease is a perennial problem. The sources, however, said so far no cases of human beings affected have been reported.

PHILIPPINES: Key representatives from the government and private sectors gathered to tackle issues involving disaster management during the 3rd National Multi-stakeholder Dialog on Disaster Risk Reduction last Friday at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino. The event was hosted by the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) in coordination with the local government units and non-government organizations.

SOUTH KOREA: Disaster Prevention Drill Begins Nationwide
The government Monday launched its first nationwide "Safe Korea Exercise" with an aim to prepare citizens and community groups for large-scale natural and man-made disasters. A total of 35 groups affiliated with the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs are taking part in the three-day disaster preparedness drill that will put participants in mock situations in which a typhoon, an earthquake or a man-made oil slick hits the Korean peninsula. Through the exercise the ministry hopes to boost cooperative ties among the related organizations and reinforce Korea's capacity to cope with disasters.

MALAYSIA: Disaster management plan for Asean
ASEAN is in the process of realising a framework for disaster management in the region. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said the framework would be based on an agreement on disaster management and emergency response signed in Vientiane, Laos, in 2005. Dr Rais said the long-term recovery efforts and the rebuilding of areas affected by the Nargis cyclone in Myanmar would be a major exercise.

ENGLAND: Crews spend night at moor blaze
Dozens of firefighters have spent the night at the scene of a moorland fire on the Lancashire-Yorkshire border. It broke out on Monday near Baitings Reservoir in Ripponden, West Yorkshire, and high winds fanned the flames. The blaze spread at least two miles alongside the A58 towards Littleborough near Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Three fire engines remained at the scene overnight because of the winds. A fire service spokeswoman said it would be reassessed on Tuesday morning. Crews set up fire breaks to stop the blaze spreading but were hampered by blustery winds.

Subject: Around the World Today - Monday 26th May

CHINA: Hundreds of troops carrying explosives trekked through a quake-devastated area in southwest China on Sunday, attempting to reach a "quake lake" that threatens a secondary disaster. Concerned by a steep rise in the water level of a giant lake at Tangjiashan, authorities want to blast a hole in the barrier before it bursts and causes a flashflood. Thousands have been evacuated below the lake as a precaution. Also on Sunday, state television reported an 80-year-old partially paralysed man had been pulled alive from rubble, 266 hours after the 7.9 magnitude quake hit. The man was rescued on Friday in Mianzhu city, where he had been trapped under a collapsed pillar of his house. He had survived after being fed by his wife, the television report said. Premier Wen Jiabao, who believes the overall death toll from the May 12 earthquake could exceed 80,000, has said the main concerns are now secondary disasters like flooding and landslides, epidemics and providing shelter for nearly 5 million displaced. The biggest concern is the lake at Tangjiashan which rose 1.93 metres on Saturday to 723 metres, Xinhua said. State media reported that bad weather had prevented the airlift of personnel and equipment into the area, and that 1,800 soldiers were sent to the lake by foot. Each soldier was carrying 10 kg of explosives, Xinhua state news agency said.

CHINA: More than 70,000 houses toppled during and least one person was killed and 400 were hurt an aftershock which hit China's earthquake-ravaged Sichuan province on Sunday. At least one person was killed and 400 were hurt when the 5.8 magnitude tremor hit southwest China, according to the report. The aftershock also caused office towers to sway 800 miles away in Beijing. The government-run China News Service said that 24 of the injured were in serious condition. The latest aftershock is one of the strongest to hit Sichuan since the May 12 earthquake that battered large parts of the province. China's Cabinet also raised the official death toll from the natural disaster to 62,664. The government has said the final death toll could surpass 80,000. Meanwhile, officials warned that nearly 70 dams scarred by the force of China's most powerful earthquake in three decades were in danger of bursting. The government had earlier said some 391 dams had been affected by the quake, mostly small structures. Sichuan is home to the world's largest water project, the Three Gorges dam located about 350 miles east of the epicenter, which authorities have said was not damaged in the quake. This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

PAKISTAN: At least 10 people including six young children from the same family were killed as torrential rain lashed Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan, police said Sunday. The children, aged between eight and 12, died overnight when the roof of their mud house collapsed in Madyan town of the scenic valley, said a local police officer Jan Bahadur. He said rain which started late Saturday and continued into Sunday afternoon inundated several areas in the valley, the scene of a recent Islamist insurgency. Flash foods in Matta district killed two farm workers while two others were injured, Bahadur said, adding that a couple died when their car was swept away by rain water in Barikot area.

IRAN: Thirty people died in a fire that engulfed a pharmaceutical plant in central Iran on Sunday when a container of inflammable products exploded. Thirty-eight people were injured in the blaze at the factory near the city of Arak, 290 km (180 miles) southwest of the capital Tehran, many of them critically. A container holding 60,000 litres of inflammable products exploded during welding work nearby and the fire quickly spread to other parts of the plant, it said, citing eye witnesses. Some of the dead were burnt beyond recognition and 23 of the injured suffered burns of 70 percent or more, the witnesses said. Provincial officials said most of the factory had been destroyed but that the fire had been brought under control, Mehr said.

USA: A slow-moving storm packing tornadoes and hail battered rural Oklahoma, destroying several buildings, tearing up trees and tossing a mobile home onto a highway. The bodies of two storm victims were found in Kansas. A twister destroyed three barns at a hog farm in Kingfisher County, about 120km northwest of Oklahoma City, said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Emergency Management Department. No injuries were reported at the farm or elsewhere in the state. "It's all been out mostly in the countryside," Kingfisher County Sheriff's dispatcher Lonnie McDade said. "But that farm happened to be in the path and took a direct hit." About 100 people have died in US twisters this year, the worst toll in a decade, the weather service said, and the danger has not passed yet.

KENYA: A nationwide power outage hit Kenya on Sunday as a result of a transmission fault from its hydro-electric plants, officials said, sparking panic in the east African nation. The black-out started at 5:45 pm (1445 GMT) and affected operations in major hospitals, including the main Nairobi-based Kenyatta National Hospital and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Power began to be restored in phases after three hours. "A transmission system fault at Kamburu power station led to a shutdown of all power generators, resulting in power failure in many parts of the country," government spokesman Alfred Mutua said in a statement. The hydro-electric plants' owners, official power generator KenGen, produces about 80 percent of electricity consumed in the country, using hydro, geothermal, thermal and wind resources.

ECUADOR: Ecuador recorded 125 moderate explosions of the Tungurahua volcano in center of the Andes Sunday, according to the Geophysics Institute (GI) of the National Polytechnic School. "The volcanic activities continue with a high seismic level, mainly characterized by moderate explosions," the IG reported. There are also 32 earthquakes inside the mountain and continuous shocks for 17 times. The ash emissions have caused an ash rain in Pillate and Guadalupe near the volcano. At the same time, those emissions have formed 3-km-high clouds. Tungurahua volcano is 5,029 meters high and located about 135 km south from Quito. The volcano began its current eruptive process in November 1999 and since then has alternatively frequent activities or calmness.

NEW ZEALAND: One of the driest Mays on record in Buller has prompted a water crisis in the northern towns of Ngakawau and Hector. The reservoir supplying the towns is about a quarter full and Buller District Council has warned residents to conserve water. Some homes are already on low pressure and Hector backpackers, The Old Slaughterhouse, is considering closing because its power supply is running out. The backpackers relies on its own small hydro power scheme on Deans Creek, then returns the water to the creek which also feeds the local reservoir. Owner David Bridger said the power scheme was only supplying half its usual daily amount of 24 kilowatts. Mr Bridger said it was only the second time in 10 years his business had been short of power. At full capacity, his scheme used about a bucketful of water every two seconds. "At the moment, it's about half a bucket of water or less. It's sucking air and I'm scratching around up there trying to bring water in from wherever I can find it really.
"But I haven't got a big problem. It's the people who are going to run out of water who have got the problem." The local fire brigade had a tank to deliver water, but some residents had no storage, he said. He was trying to conserve power, and was enjoying the fine weather. Hector resident, Fran Harris, who has lived in the area for all her 75 years, said she could not remember ever having water shortages in May. Ngakawau Store owner Dennis Paxie said his water was now on lower pressure than normal. "But I'm not really affected because I don't use all that much." The Met Service said Westport had had only 64mm of rain this month, 10mm more than the driest May on record in 1997 and just over a third of Westport's May average of 185mm. The forecast is for fine weather tomorrow and Wednesday and a few showers Thursday and Friday. Westport's last recorded rainfall was 4.2mm on May 14.

IRAN: Twenty-three people died when a passenger bus and a truck collided in western Iran on Sunday, two days after a similar crash elsewhere in the country killed or injured 34 people, a news agency said on Monday. The latest collision took place in Hamedan province on a road to the capital Tehran, the semi-official Fars News Agency said. Friday's traffic accident also involved a bus and a truck colliding and happened on a road between the western city of Kermanshah and the southern Gulf port of Bandar Abbas, Fars said, without specifying the number of fatalities. Iran has one of the highest road accident rates in the world, blamed on inadequate police supervision, poor quality roads and reckless driving.

Subject: Around the World Today - Sunday 25th May

USA: At least a dozen tornadoes spun across western and central Kansas a day earlier, destroying numerous homes, downing trees and injuring several people. The National Weather Service in Dodge City said there were at least 10 twisters that touched down in central Kansas, while the Goodland office reported seven or eight in the western part of the state. At least four people were hurt in Stafford County, including one person who was taken to a Wichita hospital with serious injuries, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General's Department. Meanwhile in Colorado, where a large tornado devastated the northern farm town of Windsor, residents were expected to return to their homes in an area of town that officials had earlier deemed unsafe following Thursday's twister. Natural gas leaks and the threat of explosions had kept hundreds of residents from their homes on Friday. Officials were meeting with residents to plan their return, incident management team spokesman Dan Hatlestad said. "With no power, it may be an unpleasant place to live, but it's up to the homeowners," Hatlestad said. The tornado, with wind speeds between 111 mph to 165 mph, tore through a 35-mile stretch of northern Colorado, killing one person and injuring dozens. It tipped 15 rail cars off the tracks in Windsor, about 70 miles north of Denver.

CHINA: One person was dead and 36 others injured after a tornado and a hailstorm slashed Wuchang City in the northeastern Heilongjiang Province on Friday. The injured were receiving treatment at the Wuchang People's Hospital. Among them, 16 people were seriously hurt and two people were still in critical conditions, said a local government spokesman on Saturday. A tornado, measuring 2 on the Fujita scale, and a hailstorm hit seven towns at about 7:10 p.m. Friday, destroying croplands, damaging 443 houses and cutting off power supplies and telecommunications with the outside. In the worst-hit Xingsheng Town, 19 houses were leveled to the ground, affecting 628 people of 165 rural households. According to the government's initial statistics, the disaster has caused a direct economic loss of 31.1 million yuan (4.4 million U.S. dollars).

BANGLADESH: Three people, including two siblings, were killed and one was injured in lightning in Bangladesh's Chapainawabganj district, 245 northwest of capital Dhaka, during heavy rainfall Saturday. Local sources were quoted by private news agency UNB as saying the brothers were working in a paddy field when thunderbolt struck them at about 12:30 p.m. local time (06:30 GMT), killing them on the spot. Meanwhile, a man was killed and a woman injured when lightning hit their house at the same time in the same district.

COLUMBIA: Earthquake rocks central Colombia
A 5.7 earthquake has killed at least six people in central Colombia, causing landslides and shaking buildings. Its epicentre was located about 55km (34 miles) from the capital Bogota, near the town of Villavicencio, the US Geological Survey reports.

Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 24th May

NORWAY: More than 150 workers have been evacuated from a North Sea oil platform after a suspected leak. Rescue helicopters flew to the Statfjord A platform in Norwegian waters to assist with the evacuation. Some 60 workers were to remain on the platform to try to stop the leak, a spokesman for StatoilHydro, the rig's operators. Three rigs operate in the Statfjord field, which produces 150,000 barrels of oil a day.

CHINA: China's quake-formed lake in danger of bursting, emergency solution underway Workers are planning to dig channels to reduce the increasing water in a quake-formed lake which is in danger of bursting and poses threat to residents downstream in southwest China's Sichuan province. Construction workers and equipment will be airlifted to the lake site as continuous landslides had made the area inaccessible by road.

USA: A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says one of the reactors at the Millstone nuclear power complex in Waterford remains shut down after a lightning strike. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan says lightning struck the main transformer at Unit 2 of the plant Thursday afternoon. Sheehan says the plant's computerized safety system functioned properly and shut down Unit 2. The unit is in the process of cooling itself down and remains in stable condition. Rick Zuercher, a spokesman for Millstone's owner, Dominion, says Unit 2 will return to service soon after the cause of the shutdown is fully understood. Zuercher say there was no other damage caused to the site and Unit 3 is still functioning.

INDIA: Deputy commissioner M Maheshwar Rao has said that over 4000 people are said to be suffering from chikungunya in the district. Addressing health workers and administrative officers at a review meeting [in Mangalore] on Thursday (22 May 2008) he said: "More than 2100 cases have been confirmed. The number of chikungunya cases is estimated at more than 4000." The district administration believed that the disease had spread to Sullia, Puttur, Belthangady, and Bantwal taluks. No case had been reported from Mangalore taluk. Mr Rao, who conducted a ground survey on Wednesday [21 May 2008], found that areas under the Panja and Kadaba primary health centres (PHCs) in Sullia taluk were worst affected. Of the 2100 cases reported, 1300 are from Sullia taluk alone. Many private hospitals have bolstered the efforts of the district Health Department. Mr Rao said that an early monsoon could cut the breeding cycle of _Aedes aegypti_, a mosquito species that carries the chikungunya virus. "Continuous and heavy rainfall will wash away the larvae and eggs," said Mr Rao, quoting from a report presented to him by a team of entomologists in the district. The district administration was in the process of fixing a "dry day" to launch a drive to encourage people to empty the water logged at various places, starting from gram panchayat level. This was aimed at cutting the mosquito breeding cycle, Mr Rao said. In addition, the health workers have been instructed to undertake fogging. [Gram panchayats are local government units at the village level.

IRAN: At least 27 people were killed and 15 injured on Friday in southern Iran in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck, national media reported. The incident occurred on the Malayer-Arak highway. The circumstances surrounding the accident are being established. Some 30 people die in road accidents in Iran annually.

MOZAMBIC: The Mozambican authorities on Thursday ordered the evacuation of 23 villages along the banks of the Limpopo river in the southern province of Gaza, following a crack in one the flood-gates of the Massingir dam. The dam is located on the Elephants river, the major tributary of the Limpopo. According to a report in Friday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", the damaged flood-gate is releasing 1,000 cubic metres of water a second into the river.

CHILE: Heavy rains and flooding that killed five people and displaced thousands in south-central Chile have collapsed road and rail bridges, closed the world's largest copper mine and left many in the capital without drinking water, the government said on Friday. Many schools remained closed in Santiago and elsewhere on Friday after floodwaters churned up sediment at water treatment plants, while several rivers burst their banks farther south, deluging thousands of homes. "More than seven rivers have overflowed," said Juan Saldivia, undersecretary of public works. "We had a very complex situation overnight, and Route 5 (Chile's main north-south highway) has been cut in three places." Landslides caused by the rains also forced the shutdown of the El Teniente copper mine, owned by state miner Codelco, putting upward pressure on global copper prices.

CHINA: Emergency crews worked Friday to secure 15 sources of radiation buried in the rubble of China's devastating earthquake, the government said as it evacuated thousands of survivors downstream from rivers dammed by landslides. Officials precariously balanced their efforts to clean up and rebuild with attempts to house, feed and treat the displaced and injured and search for survivors. One senior official said China faces "a daunting challenge" to prevent environmental contamination from other sources.There has been no leak of radioactive substances into the environment, Wu Xiaoqing, China's vice minister for environmental protection, told reporters in Beijing. He said 50 sources of radiation were buried by debris from the May 12 earthquake in central China, 35 of which had been secured. The rest lay buried or located but unreachable under collapsed buildings. He gave no specifics about the radiation sources.

INDIA: A huge hailstorm hit north Kashmirs Baramulla district on Friday, uprooting fruit trees and damaging property, reports said. "The thunder squall with hailstorm hit the district for around 10 minutes in the afternoon," local news agency, NAK quoted an official as saying. He said the storm disrupted normal life, while property worth lakhs of rupees was destroyed. Fruit and vegetable growers were the worst sufferers as this was the second hailstorm in the region in the last three days.

RUSSIA: A fire ripped through a military depot in northwestern Russia on Friday, destroying hundreds of air-to-air missiles. The fire destroyed the depot at an air base housing Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets near the town of Lodeinoye Pole, some 240 km (150 miles) northeast of Russia's second city of St Petersburg.

AT SEA (USA): A nuclear powered US aircraft carrier caught fire while sailing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America that left 24 sailors in need of medical attention, the Navy said Friday. The large blaze erupted Thursday in the rear of the USS George Washington before quickly spreading through a cableway and causing extreme heat before it was extinguished, the Navy said.

INDIA: A woman died and around 400 huts were damaged in a cyclonic storm that lashed through areas in Itahar in North Dinajpur district last evening.

CHILE: A towering plume of ash from an erupting volcano in Chile's remote Patagonia could rain down on the surrounding area and cause devastating damage, a volcano expert warned on Friday. Luis Lara, a scientist with the government's geology and mining agency, said the column, which has soared 7.5 miles (12 km) into the air, was at a critical stage. An abrupt descent would blanket vast areas with deadly hot gas, ash and molten rock, he said. Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from the immediate vicinity of Chaiten volcano, 760 miles south of the capital Santiago, and are forcing people within a 30-mile (50-km) radius to leave. Chaiten began erupting eight days ago for the first time in thousands of years.

UKRAINE: Eleven people were killed in Ukraine late on Friday evening when a minibus crashed into a truck, the country's emergencies ministry said on Saturday. The accident occurred on the highway between Chop in western Ukraine and the capital, Kiev.

Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 23rd May

JAPAN: Fifty-four people were sickened by toxic fumes at a hospital in southern Japan Wednesday when a man vomited after drinking pesticide to commit suicide. An official with Red Cross Hospital in Kumamoto said the 34-year-old man later died while the people who were sickened were "progressing favorably." Eleven of the 54 people who were sickened were doctors; another 20 were staffers at the hospital in the city of Kumamoto. The liquid pesticide the man consumed was later identified as chloropicrin, which was used to produce tear gas during World War I and induces tears and vomiting. "It took a long time to determine the kind of chemical," said the doctor who treated the man in the emergency room. The hospital's emergency center was closed for about 12 hours after the incident. The man's death is the latest in a spate of toxic fume suicides that have hit Japan in the last month.

INDONESIA: A series of moderate quakes shook the western coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island yesterday, but there was no risk of a tsunami. Indonesia has raised the alert level of one of the most active volcanoes on Java. The alert was raised Semeru mountain near Malang in East Java late on Wednesday after it shot out some 500-800 degree Celsius clouds.

CHINA: It was reported that the death toll from China's devastating earthquake rose by 1,278 to 41,353 as of noon on Wednesday. (Other reports put it as high as 51,000) Another 274,683 people were injured and there were still 32,666 missing in the aftermath of the 8 magnitude quake that hit southwester Sichuan Province on May 12. Heavy rain in south-west China impeded relief efforts as aftershocks led to thousands of people sleeping in the open, despite the bad weather.

YAKUTIA REPUBLIC: Due to spring flooding 223 dwelling houses in four settlements of the Yakutia republic - Daya-Amga, Kharbalakh, Chimnai and Myryla in the Tattinsky and Churapchinsky districts remain inundated.

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh's Health Ministry says the nation's first human case of H5N1 strain of bird flu infection has been detected. A health ministry statement says a child was infected by the virus in January. The statement released by the Directorate General of Health Services on Thursday did not give the child's name, age, or other details about the case. The child is recovering after treatment. The statement said the case was diagnosed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Bangladesh in recent months have culled hundreds of thousands of birds after the virus was detected last year

ENGLAND: Peterborough - People have been warned to stay away from the water at a popular city beauty spot after a potentially toxic strain of algae was discovered. The relative risk to public health at the spot off Fulbridge Road, in Werrington, Peterborough is said to be minor as the water is not used for fishing or recreational water activities where contact is likely. However, people who swallow or swim through the algal scum could experience skin rashes, eye irritation, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever and pains in muscles and joints.

USA: At least 100 people were evacuated on Thursday from the path of a wind-swept fire spreading rapidly in a mountainous area south of San Jose and near the city of Gilroy, California, officials said. There were no reports of injuries. The blaze engulfed 2,000 acres (810 hectares) in a mountainous area about 20 miles (32 km) south of San Jose.

USA: A tornado caused heavy damage in the northern Colorado towns of Windsor and Greeley on Thursday, but no serious injuries were immediately reported. A large tornado plowed through a swath of northern Colorado on Thursday, killing at least one person and damaging buildings, homes and agricultural equipment in several towns. One person was confirmed dead in the storm that struck about 50 miles north of Denver

CHILE: Four people were killed and close to 5,000 forced out of their homes amid heavy rain and flooding in central and southern Chile, and the evacuation figure could rise further, the government said on Thursday. Of those killed, two died in landslides, one was struck by a boulder and another was hit by a falling tree. Television images showed streets turned into rivers in the port town of Valparaiso, where 93 mm (3.7 inches) of rain fell in 24 hours during two storm fronts.

RUSSIA: Panic gripped many in the city Wednesday after rumors spread that a serious accident had happened at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station (LAES) in Sosnovy Bor, a town 70 kilometers west of St. Petersburg. The power station operates four Chernobyl-type reactors and has a history of minor accidents. Hundreds of people stormed local pharmacies, emptying stocks of iodine, while teachers in kindergartens and nurses in some hospitals shut windows in fear. Internet forums overflowed with eye witness accounts of the first victims of radiation poisoning arriving at hospitals, and a radioactive cloud moving toward the city at speed. But in a rare case of agreement between environmental groups and officials, managers and independent ecologists said the rumors were false. The Emergency Situations Ministry distributed an official statement Wednesday saying that LAES is operating as usual and there were no abnormalities in the radiological environment. Dmitry Pulyayevsky, head of the Sosnovy Bor city administration, branded the propagation of rumors of the accident as information terrorism. The rumors were distributed with astounding skill: the plotters apparently called kindergartens and medical institutions with warnings, perhaps introducing themselves as representatives of security services he told reporters

CHINA: China orders million 'recyclable' homes in quake zone
China on Thursday ordered the immediate construction of one million small homes to provide shelter for up to five years to people left homeless by last week's massive earthquake. The housing ministry issued a directive ordering local authorities to build one million 20-square-metre (215 square-foot) homes by August 10. The buildings should be made of light steel, plywood and other materials so that they are less dangerous in quakes and "recyclable" once more permanent housing is completed, said the circular quoted by the state Xinhua news agency. It said that the houses would be used for three to five years. The ministry also ordered the construction of one primary school, one clinic and one store for every 1,000 temporary homes, Xinhua said.

USA: Quake scenario unveiled for S.California
If California were struck by an earthquake similar to the one that devastated China, 1,800 people would die, the U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday. Under the scenario, the injured would number 50,000, property damage would be in the $200 billion range, and effects on social and economic issues would be long-lasting, USGS scientists said in a news release issued from Reston, Va. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Quake_scenario_unveiled_for_SCalifornia_999.html

BELGIUM: Water contamination fears after farmer pierces NATO pipeline. Thousands of litres of aviation fuel could have contaminated ground water in Belgium, after a farmer pierced a NATO pipeline, authorities in southern Belgium said Thursday. Firefighters working overnight Wednesday siphoned up to 30-40 cubic metres of spilt fuel at Saint-Symphorien, near Mons. After staunching the flow, Belgian defence ministry specialists managing the NATO pipeline began excavation work to fully repair the pipe and clean up the ground. However Wallonia region environment minister Benoit Lutgen said the fuel leak may have contaminated ground water.

CHINA: China makes global tent appeal, as quake death toll passes 50,000. China made an urgent global appeal Thursday for millions of tents to shelter destitute survivors of its worst earthquake in a generation, as the confirmed death toll shot up past 50,000.
Ten days after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, China was focusing on staving off disease in its overflowing tent cities as it tried to lift the spirits of the homeless with plans to bring the Olympic flame through the disaster zone.

Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 22nd May

SENEGAL: The bodies of at least 20 whales have washed up on a Dakar beach and residents say as many as 100 swam right up to the shore. Villagers living nearby said the whales were spotted late Tuesday night, veering closer and closer to the shore. By Wednesday morning many of them were beached. An photographer counted at least 20 bodies, each the size of an adult man. It was not immediately known what type of whales they were. Children waded into the water, trying to shoo away other whales trying to swim ashore. Fishermen tied a cable to one of the beached whales and used a wooden boat to tow it out to sea. Some people placed a roller used to move boats under the body of another whale and tried to push it toward the water. But they gave up when they realized the whale was nearing death. When it was clear that many were dead, children began playing with the bodies, jumping up and down on the carcasses and using them as slides. Some villagers began cutting pieces off one of the dead whales, saying they planned to use the blubber for massage oil.

MAURITIUS: Mauritius Gets Computer Emergency Response Team
The Mauritian minister of IT and telecommunications, Etienne Sinatambou, launched the Computer Emergency Response Team of Mauritius (CERT-MU) last Friday. On its way to becoming a "cyber-island," the small island state off the east coast of Africa is becoming increasingly exposed to cyber-security threats. Mauritius wanted to have the CERT-MU set up this year because it's one of the priority programs in its Information & Communication Technologies Strategic Plan for 2007-2011, Sinatambou said. Its mission is to enhance the security of Mauritius' IT infrastructure through collaboration amongst all the stakeholders. And there's a real danger. On May 8, at 11 p.m. local time, Mauritius was the victim of an attempt to bring down the government portal, although timely work by technicians succeeded in keeping it up and running. "We are vulnerable. If the White House has been attacked, if so many places were brought down, we can only try our best," the minister said.

INDIA: 205 KEMU students trained in emergency management
The Punjab Emergency Services (Rescue 1122) has trained 205 students of King Edwards Medical University (KEMU) during a three-day workshop on Basic Life Support (BLS) at KEMU, stated a press release issued on Tuesday. The statement said that the participants of the workshop had learnt initial assessment of patients, rescue breathing, treatment of foreign body airway obstruction, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and management of patients with spinal injury. The training was organised at the KEMU auditorium by the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations, and was the third in the series of BLS courses for KEMU students. The training course was conducted by the Rescue 1122 Community Training Wing, in which students were imparted training through practical exercises for management of emergencies, along with theoretical lectures.

MYANMAR: Damage assessment by Satellite
This map presents a satellite-based damage assessment for the affected village of Seikkyi, Labutta Township (MMR017016), Ayeyarwady Division, Myanmar. Damaged buildings have been identified with WorldView-1 satellite imagery acquired on 6 May 2008 at a spatial resolution of 50cm. Pre-cyclone Quickbird imagery in Google Earth from 12 Nov. 2003 was also used. This is an initial damage assessment and has not yet been validated in the field. Damage assessment by UNOSAT in collaboration with GISCorps volunteers: http://unosat.web.cern.ch/unosat/freeproducts/Myanmar/CycloneNargis/Bld_Damage_Maps/UNOSAT_MMR_Damage_Seikkyi_East%20_WV1_6May08_Highres_v1.pdf

KENYA: At least 260 families in Tana delta have been displaced by floods after River Tana burst its banks. The villagers moved to higher ground before the river burst its banks last weekend, according to district commissioner Charles Monari. About 160 families were displaced in Garsen Division and another 100 rendered homeless in Kipini Division, the DC told the Nation Tuesday, adding that there were no deaths. The worst affected villages include Wema, Masiwa, Kau, Rasima, Marembo and Sailoni. The river got swollen following heavy rains upcountry. Mr Monari urged villagers in flood-prone areas to leave their homes as soon as possible and move to safer areas. "The Government is appealing to residents in flood-prone areas to leave with immediate effect to avoid being swept away by floods. Already we have 260 families on higher ground," he said. He said the situation had, however, not reached an emergency level, adding that the Government had donated relief food to the victims to avert starvation.

CHINA: The Beijing Olympics in August could be a target for terrorists using radioactive materials, the UN nuclear watchdog has told the BBC. The International Atomic Energy Agency says a group might try to release radioactivity at an Olympic venue, possibly using a "dirty bomb". However, the IAEA says there is no specific information suggesting an imminent attack on the Beijing games. The IAEA warning comes as it conducts a training exercise in China's capital.

SWEDEN: Arrests at Swedish nuclear plant
Two men suspected of attempting to sabotage a nuclear plant in southern Sweden have been arrested, police said. Both men were stopped at the entrance to the nuclear plant after traces of explosives were found on a bag. The Oskarshamn plant - owned by German energy giant E.On - has been sealed, the company said. The substance was believed to be TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, an extremely unstable material which can be made using household chemicals. TATP was used by the so-called British "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who planned to blow up an aeroplane in 2001. Police said they had initially been called by the plant early on Wednesday morning. "Two men who were taken in for questioning this morning have now been detained on suspicion of preparing for sabotage," Kalmar County Police spokesman Sven-Erik Karlsson told Reuters. The plant, located on the country's south-eastern coast, has three boiling water reactors which together produce some 10% of Sweden's electricity.

INDIA: Indian toxic alcohol toll soars
This woman mourns for her husband, who drank the alcohol . The number of people who have died after drinking poisonous illegal alcohol in two southern Indian states has risen to about 150, police say. A further 135 people who drank the illegally brewed liquor are in hospital, some in a critical condition.

Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 21st May

CHINA: China Earthquake Buried 32 Radiation SourcesAnita Chang in Beijing, China
More than 30 sources of radiation were buried by debris after the magnitude 8 earthquake struck central China last week, state media reported today, while the confirmed death toll rose to more than 40,000. A French nuclear expert said the radioactive sources likely came from materials used in hospitals, factories, or in research—not for weapons. The Chinese government had previously said all nuclear facilities affected by the May 12 earthquake were safe and under control, but officials did not give any details about which sites were affected or whether any were damaged

PHILIPPINES: An eight-year-old boy has died of typhoid fever in a string of cases that have so far affected 52 others in a Leyte town, the Department of Health (DoH) regional office reported. Regional sentinel nurse Boyd Cero said on Tuesday the lone fatality, who came from the village of Dolho, Bato town, died last May 16 after he was confined in a private hospital. Cero said the DoH-8 had yet to determine the cause of the typhoid fever that hit most of the 32 villages in Bato town. The first typhoid fever case was first reported on May 12, with the last one reported on Sunday, Cerro said.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: As of 15 May, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Central African Republic has reported 2 laboratory confirmed cases of Yellow fever from the Bozoum sub-prefecture, Ouham-Pend? Prefecture. The MoH has conducted an epidemiological investigation. In response to the outbreak the MoH has made a request for 64,391 doses of Yellow fever vaccine from the GAVI funded Global Emergency Stockpile for Yellow fever vaccine, managed by the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision for Yellow Fever Control (YF-ICG). The target population was estimated to be 55,035 people. The MoH plans to vaccinate the sub prefecture of Bozoum starting on 26 May 2008 for three days.

ROMANIA: Emergency teams rescued dozens of people after a flash flood swept through five villages in Romania Tuesday, inundating houses and damaging roads and bridges. Heavy rain caused the flooding in the western county of Cluj, authorities said. "Everybody was asleep. People took refuge wherever they could, some in the attics, and waited to be rescued," said Silviu Boldor, the mayor of one of the flooded villages. Authorities said the flooding cut off the villages, affecting at least 1,300 people and damaging more than 200 houses. In Arad county, also in western Romania, hundreds of acres of wheat and other crops were flooded, and dozens of roofs were damaged in a hail storm. No casualties were immediately reported.

UGANDA: Global price rises and floods last year have caused severe food shortages in northeast Uganda, where nearly 30 people have died and some have been reduced to eating rats, officials said on Tuesday. The deaths occurred in the remote Karamoja region, an impoverished semi-arid area bordering Kenya and Sudan that is notorious for fighting over livestock and scant resources. "From data we have collected, 28 people have died in the region as a result of an acute hunger situation, and the government seems less than bothered," said Peter Lakodo, a member of parliament from Karamoja.

CHINA: A heavy sandstorm hit Beijing Tuesday, shrouding the Chinese capital in a cloud of yellow dust and hampering visibility, the local environmental department said. Clouds of dust were being blown in from neighbouring Inner Mongolia and Shanxi province as a cold front moved in from the north, the Beijing environmental protection bureau said on its website. Air quality has become a key concern ahead of the August Beijing Olympic Games, with city officials vowing to limit the number of cars on city streets and halt construction projects during the Games.

USA: HAZMAT - Three people died after refrigerated gas leaked from a shipping container on a cargo ship at Florida's Port Everglades, authorities said Tuesday. Broward County sheriff's officials say the three Florida Transportation Services employees were found unresponsive early Tuesday after emergency workers received a call early Tuesday about the leak in an argon gas container. Argon is a colorless, odorless gas. Although it's not toxic, it can cause suffocation in a contained space. The shipping container is in a secured area of the Fort Lauderdale port.

CHILE: Heavy rains hit central-south Chile on Tuesday, destroying houses, cutting off electricity and blocking roads, the National Emergency Office said. Nearly 2,000 people in the region, specially in the Maule and Bio Bio provinces, were affected as regional authorities suspended classes in the cities of San Javier and Talca, where 52 mm of rainfall was registered Tuesday morning alone. "No city can endure so much water," said Luis Canales, the regional ministerial secretary, advising local residents to stay at home. To allay fears of possible flooding caused by the Andalien river, regional authorities assured that water is being pumped out. The country's meteorological authorities expect the rainfall to diminish on Thursday.

AROUND THE WORLD TODAY