Swine flu toll climbs by around 500: WHO
Fri Nov 20, 11:16 AM

GENEVA (AFP) - Around 6,750 people have died from the swine flu pandemic, World Health Organisation data showed Friday, about 500 more than a week ago.

Data posted a week ago showed that 6,250 people have died from the A(H1N1) virus since it was first uncovered in April.

The number of fatalities remains the highest in the Americas, where 4,806 deaths have been recorded.

The Asia-Pacific region posted 1,323 deaths, while in Europe, at least 350 people have succumbed to pandemic flu.

Since the previous update, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Slovenia have reported their first deaths from swine flu.

Evacuations underway as floods hit towns
Fri Nov 20, 10:08 AM



LONDON (AFP) - Rescuers were working on Friday to evacuate about 200 people by helicopter from a town after storms triggered flooding across parts of the country, police said.


Hundreds of homes were flooded after torrential rain battered parts of northern England, northwest Wales and western Scotland throughout Thursday, rescue officials said.


Dozens of people have fled their homes for emergency shelters set up across the hard hit shire of Cumbria, where main roads were blocked and 21 schools were closed earlier Thursday, rescue officials said.


Floodwaters have cut off the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, where evacuations by the Royal Air Force were underway.


"The fire service and RAF are in the process of evacuating around 200 people, via helicopter, from the main street and the square areas of Cockermouth," a spokesman for Cumbria police said.


"They are being moved to a reception centre at Cockermouth Secondary School," he said, adding some 1,145 homes in the area were without electricity.


John Carlin, owner of the Allerdale Court Hotel in the town centre, said the amount of rainfall to hit the area was "staggering".


"I have lived here for 15 years and have never seen anything like it."


"At two o'clock it was raining heavily but there was nothing here but now there is four feet of water outside my front door," he said.


"It's desperate. The town centre is completely flooded, the only people out there at the moment are the emergency services. The water is up to the waists of the firefighters.


"We are under six inches of water ourselves but we have still got electricity and the fire service have told us they are on standby if they need to evacuate us," he added.


Although waters in some areas were stable, police said river levels were still unstable in Cockermouth and nearby Keswick.


"In Keswick and Cockermouth we are anticipating the levels will rise further, we just do not know by how much," Chief Superintendent Steve Johnson told the BBC.


The Environment Agency has in place six severe flood warnings, where there is extreme danger to life and property, in Cumbria. Reports said another 10 were in place in Scotland

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Early snow storms in China kill 40, damage more than 9,000 buildings; $659 million in damage
Fri Nov 13, 10:48 AM

By The Associated Press

BEIJING - Unusually early snow storms in north-central China have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse and destroyed almost 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of winter crops, the Civil Affairs Ministry said Friday.

Nineteen of the deaths resulted from traffic accidents related to the storms that began Nov. 9, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site.

The snowfall is the heaviest in the northern and central provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and Henan since record keeping began after the establishment of the Communist state in 1949, the ministry said without giving detailed figures. It estimated economic losses from the storm at 4.5 billion yuan (US$659 million).

Chinese state media say some of the snow was induced through cloud seeding, although the precise amount of snowfall in all areas was not reported and it wasn't clear what the previous records were.

Hebei's provincial capital, Shijiazhuang, received the heaviest snowfall - 3.7 inches (9.4 centimetres) - on Nov. 10, the day of the heaviest flurries. Neighboring Beijing, which usually suffers through long, cold and extremely dry winters, reported about 1 inch (2.5 centimetres).

More than 7.5 million people have been stranded or otherwise affected by the storms, which caused the collapse of more than 9,000 buildings, damaged 470,000 acres (190,000 hectares) of crops, and forced the evacuation of 158,000 people, the ministry said.

State media have reported at least two deaths were caused by the collapse of buildings, including a school cafeteria.

Beijing has been hit by three successive waves of snow, causing havoc on roadways and forcing the cancellation or delay of scores of flights.

The capital and surrounding areas are little prepared to deal with such heavy snow, with few plows or road deicing supplies. Snow tires and chains are almost unknown and many drivers simply leave their cars at home and turn to public transport in such conditions.

The impact has been far greater in the surrounding provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and Henan, where highways have been closed, schools shuttered, and crews sent to rescue people in their snowbound homes.

Freak snow and ice storms last year hit parts of eastern and southern China unaccustomed to such weather. Those storms paralyzed key transport systems just as millions of migrant workers were heading home for the Lunar New Year holiday, leading to more than 80 deaths and billions of dollars in damage.