Prophecy, Drought, Earthquakes, Famine, Pestilence, War, and Strange Weather.

[Shammu]

Europe scrambles to stop bird flu spreading

By Thorsten Severin 2 hours, 29 minutes ago

BERLIN (Reuters) - New alarm bells over bird flu rang out in the heart of Europe on Wednesday, prompting governments to step up efforts to prevent a potentially devastating outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.

Germany became the fourth European Union country to detect H5N1, saying additional tests on two dead swans had confirmed its presence, first shown by preliminary results on Tuesday. Authorities later said they had also found the virus in a hawk.

"Unfortunately it has been confirmed that the swans were infected with H5N1 from Asia," Reinhard Kurth, head of the Robert Koch Institute, told German television. "We have no doubts whatsoever any more."

Other European countries, including Hungary, tested samples from wild birds for the virus that can kill humans in its highly pathogenic form. Bird flu is highly contagious among poultry.

Russia, which first reported H5N1 in poultry last year, and Italy, which found its first cases at the weekend, reported new incidents of the virus. Italy's were in wild swans, while Russia's were at a battery farm in the Caucasus.

The virus has already penetrated some industrial chicken farms in Russia, resulting in mass culling, and it is fear of a similar situation developing in the EU that has led governments to introduce tight controls over domestic poultry.

Preliminary tests showed no signs of bird flu in three dead swans found on a Baltic beach in the northern Polish city of Krynica Morska, local authorities said.

DEVASTATING VIRUS

Transmission of H5N1 to domestic flocks could be devastating for the EU's 20 billion euro ($24 billion) poultry and egg industry. The Netherlands had an outbreak of a different strain of bird flu in 2003 that led to the culling of 30 million birds, more than a third of the flock.

Measures being taken to stop the spread of the virus include bans on keeping poultry out of doors. Germany brought forward such a ban to February 17, while the Netherlands said it was considering a similar move.

"We must stress the message that bird flu has been found in wild birds only and not in farm animals," said Thomas Janning, a spokesman for German poultry industry association ZDG.

The EU banned all imports of untreated feathers until the end of July.

Experts have said the virus could spread further into Europe shortly in spring when migrating birds return after wintering in Africa.

In Africa, where experts say the risk of transmission to humans is higher than in other regions because millions of people live in close contact with domestic birds, Nigeria reported more suspected outbreaks in birds.

At present, humans can contract bird flu only through close contact with an infected bird, but experts fear H5N1 may mutate into a form that can spread between people and cause a pandemic that could kill millions.

Highly pathogenic H5N1 has killed at least 91 people in Asia and the Middle East, according to the
World Health Organization. There have been no human infections in Africa or Europe.

NIGERIAN QUARANTINE

Implementation of preventive measures in Nigeria has been slow in some places but a top veterinary expert said farmers were starting to abide by quarantine rules because the government had confirmed it would pay them compensation.

"Initially it was the panic selling that made it spread. Animals were being moved from farms so that farmers wouldn't lose everything," said Lami Lombin, director of the laboratory testing poultry samples.

Neighboring Niger sent health experts, vets and soldiers to help protect the 1,500 (900 mile) border as fears rose that the virus could spread. For farmers in one of the world's poorest nations, the consequences of an outbreak were frightening.

"I am very worried because the death of one chicken could destroy my entire capital," said chicken farm owner Hamani Labo.

Senegal said it would host a regional conference next week for trade and livestock ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), aimed at forging a concerted effort in combating the spread of the virus.

Europe scrambles to stop bird flu spreading

[Shammu]

Europe urges calm as bird flu spreads further

1 hour, 1 minute ago

BRUSSELS (AFP) - European leaders took urgent new action to counter fast-multiplying outbreaks of bird flu, ordering poultry indoors to avoid infection but urging consumers not to panic.

The European Union's executive arm also warned that it expects more cases as warm spring weather brings a seasonal migration of swans and other wild birds carrying the potentially lethal disease.

As Germany became the latest EU country to confirm the lethal H5N1 strain of the disease, EU health experts agreed to ban all imports of untreated feathers to further reduce the "high risk" of the disease spreading.

"Today's decision ... was taken in light of the rapid spread of avian influenza over the past months and the current high risk of the disease spreading further," said the European Commission.

So far, the presence of H5N1 virus -- which in its highly pathogenic form can be fatal to humans -- has been confirmed in recent days in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania and the European part of Russia.

Preliminary tests have proved positive in Austria, while Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and Ukraine are investigating suspected cases.

EU health commissioner Marko Kyprianou, attending the two days of talks with health experts from member states, underlined that there is unlikely to be an early end to the cases of bird flu.

"Given that the spring migration will begin soon we will review again the situation to see if there's need for additional methods... We shouldn't be surprised if we have more migratory wild birds with this virus," he said.

"There's no need to panic," he warned. "We have to advise the European public to stay calm... There's no reason not to consume chicken."

The potentially lethal H5N1 strain has killed at least 90 people -- almost half those who caught it -- mostly in Southeast Asia and China where it first erupted but also in Turkey and northern
Iraq.

The big fear in the EU, the world's third biggest exporter of poultry after the United States and Brazil, is that the virus passes from migratory swans to chickens, or other birds in the human food chain.

To head off that risk a number of countries, including Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Sweden, have ordered poultry and tame birds to be kept indoors to avoid contamination.

The avian influenza virus, first reported on Europe's southeastern flanks in early January, re-erupted with a vengeance last week, starting in Italy and Greece. But there are now almost daily reports of cases in a string of European countries.

In Germany, the authorities Wednesday set up the now-standard 10-kilometer (six-mile) surveillance zone around the site where two dead wild swans and one dead hawk were found on the island of Ruegen in the Baltic Sea.

Hours later Hungary confirmed that it had detected the H5-type virus in the bodies of three dead swans in the south of the country.

Further north, a number of dead birds, including swans, were found across Denmark on Tuesday and Wednesday.

As the EU scrambles, some underline that there is basically little it can do to prevent the disease arriving.

"We have absolutely no control over the introduction of the virus by migratory birds that are about to start returning from Africa to Siberia, Scandinavia and Greenland," said French food safety agency panelist Jean Hars. "It is unavoidable," he told AFP.

Until recently the 25-nation EU has said it is satisfied that the measures taken are sufficient.

But Brussels is closely monitoring the situation and if poultry should become infected, it may call for the culling of all birds and eggs on small holdings or farms.

In addition the European Commission has proposed speeding up the process of clamping down on new outbreaks, by making arrangements automatic rather than on a case-by-case basis.

In other bird flu developments Wednesday in Europe:

- in Greece, two elderly people who buried a dead chicken with their bare hands and are showing flu symptoms were admitted to hospital;

- Slovenia investigated a suspected case found near its border with Austria, as did Croatia;

- the Italian press reported that two more swans which died in southern Italy had tested positive for the H5N1 form.

Europe urges calm as bird flu spreads further

[Soldier4Christ]

Mudslide Buries Philippine Village

By PAUL ALEXANDER

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated into a torrent of mud in the eastern Philippines on Friday, swallowing hundreds of houses and an elementary school in sludge three stories high. At least 23 bodies were recovered, but 1,500 people remained missing.

The farming village of Guinsaugon on Leyte island, 420 miles southeast of Manila, was virtually wiped out, with only a few jumbles of corrugated steel sheeting left to show that the community of some 2,500 people ever existed.

"It sounded like the mountain exploded, and the whole thing crumbled," survivor Dario Libatan told Manila radio DZMM. "I could not see any house standing anymore."

Two other villages also were inundated, and about 3,000 evacuees were at a municipal hall.

"We did not find injured people," said Ricky Estela, a crewman on a helicopter that flew a politician to the scene. "Most of them are dead and beneath the mud."

The mud was so deep - up to 30 feet in some places - and unstable that rescue workers had difficulty approaching the school. Southern Leyte province Gov. Rosette Lerias told the British Broadcasting Corp. the school had 246 students and seven teachers. Only one child and one adult had been recovered.

Lerias said the Philippine army and air force, and the Red Cross, were on the scene, but search-and-rescue efforts were called off at nightfall. She asked for people to dig by hand, saying the mud was too soft for heavy equipment.

"All those who could have come today have come," she told BBC. "We hope to be able to rescue more people."

The U.S. Embassy said an American naval vessel was en route to the disaster area and Philippine disaster officials were being consulted on coordinating chopper deployment. The Red Cross also appealed for U.S. troops, who are in the country for joint military exercises, to send helicopters.

"Help is on the way," President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in televised remarks. "It will come from land, sea and air."

Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross, issued the casualty estimates and made an international appeal for aid.

There appeared to be little hope for finding many survivors, and only 53 were extricated from the brown morass before dark halted rescue efforts, officials said.

"It was like the whole village was wiped out," said air force spokesman Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla.

Aerial TV footage showed a wide swath of mud amid stretches of rice paddies at the foothills of the now-scarred mountain, where survivors blamed illegal logging for contributing to the disaster.

Rescue workers dug with shovels for signs of survivors, and put a child on a stretcher, with little more than the girl's eyes showing through a covering of mud. Other survivors were piled onto heavy construction equipment and driven to safety.

Volunteers from nearby provinces were quickly being joined by groups of troops being ferried in by helicopter, with more en route by sea.

Army Capt. Edmund Abella said he and about 30 soldiers from his unit were soaking wet from wading through waist-deep mud. Flash floods also were inundating the area, and the rumble of a secondary landslide sent rescuers scurrying for safety.

"The people said the ground suddenly shook, then a part of the mountain collapsed onto the village," Abella told AP by cell phone. "Some houses were carried by the mudflow, some were destroyed and other were buried.

"It's very difficult, we're digging by hand, the place is so vast and the mud is so thick. When we try to walk, we get stuck in the mud."

He said troops had just rescued a 43-year-old woman.

"She was crying and looking for her three nephews, but they were nowhere to be found," Abella said.

While the official death toll was only 23, Lerias told radio station DZBB that 500 houses in Guinsaugon were feared buried after nonstop rains for two weeks.

The elementary school was in session when the landslide struck between 9 and 10 a.m., and about 100 people were visiting the village for a women's group meeting.

"The ground has really been soaked because of the rain," Lerias said of downpours blamed on the La Nina weather phenomenon. "The trees were sliding down upright with the mud."

She said about half-a-square-mile was covered in thick mud that remained unstable.

"Our communication line was cut because our people had to flee because the landslide appeared to be crawling," Lerias said.

Rep. Roger Mercado, who represents Southern Leyte, said the mud covered coconut trees and damaged the national highway leading to the village.

Lerias said many residents evacuated the area last week due to the threat of landslides or flooding but started returning home during increasingly sunny days, with the rains limited to evening downpours.

In 1944, the waters off Leyte island became the scene of the biggest naval battle in history, when U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his famed vow "I shall return" and routed Japanese forces occupying the Philippines during World War II.

In November 1991, about 6,000 people were killed on Leyte in floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm. Another 133 people died in floods and mudslides there in December 2003.

Last weekend, seven road construction workers died in a landslide after falling into a 150-foot deep ravine in the mountain town of Sogod on Leyte.

[Soldier4Christ]

Philippine Mudslide May Have Killed 1,500 in Center (Update1)

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- As many as 1,500 people may be dead after a landslide buried a village in the central Philippines, the Red Cross said. Rescue work was called off due to ``dangerous'' conditions, Governor Rosette Lerias said.

All but four of the 375 houses in the barangay, or village, of Guinsaugon were covered in mud and water, Lerias, governor of Southern Leyte province, said in a telephone interview from Saint Bernard, within whose municipality the village falls. The village had a population of 1,867, and included a school at which 246 children were enrolled, she said.

``The village is in the center of the impact area, and 90 percent of people could be dead,'' Philippine Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon said in a telephone interview from Geneva, where he is attending a meeting. ``We're looking at 1,400 or 1,500 people killed. I hope I'm wrong.'' Gordon has been in contact with rescuers in the area.

Television footage showed a sea of mud pouring down a mountainside with little evidence a village stood there. While rescuers recovered 18 bodies and 53 survivors, work was called off because of continued rainfall and darkness, Lerias said, adding that two outlying villages were also affected.

``It's very dangerous for the rescuers -- they have to wade through chest-deep mud,'' Lerias said. ``At about 5:30 p.m. there was another mudslide which we saw from across the municipality.'' Lerias visited the submerged village at about 4:30 p.m. local time, and when she left, it was raining, she said.

`Doubly Difficult' Rescue

``It's made it more than doubly difficult to rescue people,'' Lerias said. Rescue operations will resume at ``first light'' tomorrow she said, adding that trained rescuers are on their way to the affected area.

President Gloria Arroyo ordered the Navy and Coast Guard to send ships and boats to the area to serve as hospitals. The government will hire a ship to transport more doctors, medicine and food, Arroyo said in a televised speech.

A U.S. Navy ship that was in the region is now en route to Leyte, U.S. Embassy Spokesman Matthew Lussenhop said in a telephone interview from the Philippine capital, Manila, adding that $50,000 of aid has been released to the Red Cross. The U.S. will also provide masks, body bags and plastic sheeting, he said.

``We're studying how we can help, and we'll help to the most of our ability,'' Lussenhop said. He didn't name the ship, saying only it has been involved in rescue operations before.

`Like Quicksand'

The La Nina weather phenomenon is causing three to four times more rain than normal in the Philippines, which will continue throughout the first half of the year, the weather bureau said this week. La Nina refers to the periodic cooling of surface temperatures of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which causes abnormal weather patterns.

At least 13 people drowned or were buried in landslides this week in the provinces of Surigao del Sur and Leyte, which is adjacent to Southern Leyte. As many as 5,000 people were killed by floods in 1991 in the town of Ormoc, which is on the same island as Saint Bernard.

The Guinsaugon landslide occurred at about 10:45 a.m. local time, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, said in an e-mailed situation report. OCHA released $50,000 to help fund the response, it said.

``The rule of thumb is that within 24 hours, you can usually find people alive,'' Lerias said.

Philippine Air Force helicopters have been sent to the village, Office of Civilian Defense Deputy Administrator Anthony Golez said in a phone interview. Gordon said the Red Cross has 14 people and hundreds of volunteers at the scene. Another two teams, totaling about 28 rescuers, are heading there, and sniffer dogs are also being sent ``if the planes can land,'' he said. The mudslide is likely to carry people and homes to the sea, he said.

``This is an active landslide, it's still moving and the rains are still pouring,'' Gordon said. ``When you step on it, it's very difficult to rescue people because you sink like quicksand.''

[Soldier4Christ]

Groups seek 'endangered' status for park's glaciers

Susan Gallagher
Associated Press
February 16, 2006

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Glacier National Park in Montana and adjacent Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada should be declared endangered by the United Nations because climate change is melting glaciers and threatening the parks’ environment, a dozen organizations argue in a petition.

The Rocky Mountain parks, together known as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, are covered by a 1995 treaty as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now they should be designated as a World Heritage Site in Danger, the groups say.

Mechtild Rossler, chief of the U.N. World Heritage Committee’s European and North American section in Paris, said the organization had received the petition, but has not yet reviewed it.

Glacier park has 27 glaciers, down from about 150 in 1850, said Dan Fagre, who coordinates global change research for the U.S. Geological Survey at West Glacier, Mont. The USGS says the mean summer temperature at Glacier park has risen by about 3 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century.

“We haven’t seen any warming to this degree as far back as we can go, and we can go back about 500 years,” Fagre said.

Erica Thorson, an Oregon law professor who wrote the petition submitted today to the World Heritage Committee, said the effects of the temperature increase “are well-documented and clearly visible in Glacier National Park, and yet the United States refuses to fulfill its obligations under the World Heritage Convention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Endangered status would require the committee to find ways to mitigate the effects of climate change, Thorson said. Better fuel efficiency for automobiles and stronger energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances would be among the ways to reduce pollution that contributes to global warming, the petition says.

The proposal was called “a ridiculous idea” by S. Fred Singer, a retired University of Virginia environmental sciences professor who established a research nonprofit called The Science and Environmental Policy Project.

Singer disputes that greenhouse gases are warming the environment and that governments can curb glacial erosion by stiffening pollution controls. Of 20 major world glaciers that began shrinking around 1850, he said, about half had stopped shrinking by the end of the 20th century and some were growing.

However, other scientists have projected that the glaciers at Glacier park will vanish entirely by 2030 if current trends continue.

“The United States and Canada must immediately reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to slow the damage,” said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The petition is one of four to be discussed next month at a Paris meeting on climate change and sites that hold World Heritage status through the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Other sites being considered for endangered status are Belize Barrier Reef in Central America; Huarascan National Park in Peru; Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal; and Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

[Soldier4Christ]

Alpine glaciers keep on shrinking

GENEVA, Feb. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Most of Switzerland's glaciers in the Alps have continued to melt away, according to measurements published on Wednesday by the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

    Researchers said the results showed that glaciers were suffering from the effects of warmer and drier weather over the past years.

    "The measurements show long-term trends," said Andreas Bauder of the Academy's glaciology commission. "Glaciers react to climate change, and warmer temperatures in the Alps are reflected in the results."

    Last year, 84 of the 91 glaciers studied got smaller, while the seven remaining ones did not change. These measurements confirm the results of previous studies, which clearly showed most Swiss glaciers shrinking.

    The Trift glacier in central Switzerland was once again top of the list, losing 216 meters in length, while the Aletsch glacier in canton Valais, the longest in Europe, was 66 meters shorter.

    The researchers who surveyed the Trift said the lake surrounding the glacier's snout had accelerated its meltdown.

    "The lake helps the glacier calve off chunks of ice," Bauder told reporters. "There is also the heat from the lake that speeds up meltdown."

    There are around 1,800 glaciers in Switzerland. The measurement project included the 91 biggest ones.

    Glaciers are large masses of snow, ice and rock debris that accumulate in great quantities and begin to flow outward and downward under the pressure of their own weight.

    They are formed when yearly snowfall in a region far exceeds the amount of snow and ice that melts in a given summer.

    In Switzerland, glaciers play an important role as water reservoirs for hydro-power production (generating 50 percent of the country's electricity).

    They are an important attraction for tourists.

[Soldier4Christ]

Flooding fears as glaciers melt faster

By Shankar Vedantam, Washington
February 18, 2006

GREENLAND'S glaciers are melting into the sea twice as fast as previously believed, the result of a warming trend that renders obsolete predictions of how quickly the Earth's oceans will rise over the next century.

The new information, from satellite imagery, gives fresh urgency to worries about the role of human activity in global warming. The Greenland data is mirrored by findings from Bolivia to the Himalayas, scientists said, noting that sea-level rise threatens widespread flooding and severe storm damage in low-lying areas worldwide.

The scientists warned that they did not yet understand the precise mechanism causing glaciers to flow and melt more rapidly, but they said the changes in Greenland were unambiguous - and accelerating. In 1996, the amount of water produced by melting ice in Greenland was about 90 times the amount consumed by Los Angeles in a year. Last year, the melted ice amounted to 225 times the volume of water that Los Angeles uses annually.

"We are witnessing enormous changes, and it will take some time before we understand how it happened, although it is clearly a result of warming around the glaciers," said Eric Rignot, a scientist at the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Greenland study is the latest of several in recent months that have found evidence that rising temperatures are affecting not only Earth's ice sheets but such things as plant and animal habitats, the health of coral reefs, hurricane severity and droughts, and globe-girdling currents that drive regional climates.

The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are among the largest reservoirs of fresh water on Earth, and their fate is expected to determine how far oceans will rise. Dr Rignot and University of Kansas scientist Pannir Kanagaratnam, who published their findings on Thursday in the journal Science, declined to guess how much the faster melting would raise sea levels but said current estimates of about 50 centimetres over the next century were probably too low.

While that may not sound like much, it could have profound consequences for flood-prone countries such as Bangladesh and trigger severe weather around the world.

"The implications are global," said Julian Dowdeswell, a glacier expert at the University of Cambridge in Britain who reviewed the new paper for Science. "We are talking of the worst storm settings . . . you are upping the probability major storms will take place."

The study shows that small changes in temperature can have massive effects. Where glaciers in Greenland were once travelling around six kilometres a year, they now move twice as fast.

The scientists said increased temperatures may loosen the grip that glaciers have on underlying bedrock, or melt floating shelves along the shore that can hold ice in place.

Whatever the mechanism, the phenomenon seems widespread. At a news conference held by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, glacier scientists Vladimir Aizen from the University of Idaho and Gino Casassa, of Chile's Centro de Estudios Cientificos, said they were seeing the same thing happen to glaciers in the Himalayas and South America.

"Glaciers have retreated systematically and in an accelerated fashion in the last few decades," Dr Casassa said. One glacier that provided Bolivia with its only ski slope five years ago has splintered into three and cannot be used for skiing, he said. Rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers also raises concerns for the millions of people who get fresh water from glacier-fed rivers in South Asia, Dr Aizen said.

Most climate scientists believe global warming is caused, in large part, by increased emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, largely in wealthy, industrialised nations such as the United States.

The study shows that small changes in temperature can have massive effects. Where glaciers in Greenland were once travelling around six kilometres a year, they now move twice as fast.

The scientists said increased temperatures may loosen the grip that glaciers have on underlying bedrock, or melt floating shelves along the shore that can hold ice in place.

Whatever the mechanism, the phenomenon seems widespread. At a news conference held by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, glacier scientists Vladimir Aizen from the University of Idaho and Gino Casassa, of Chile's Centro de Estudios Cientificos, said they were seeing the same thing happen to glaciers in the Himalayas and South America.

"Glaciers have retreated systematically and in an accelerated fashion in the last few decades," Dr Casassa said. One glacier that provided Bolivia with its only ski slope five years ago has splintered into three and cannot be used for skiing, he said. Rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers also raises concerns for the millions of people who get fresh water from glacier-fed rivers in South Asia, Dr Aizen said.

Most climate scientists believe global warming is caused, in large part, by increased emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, largely in wealthy, industrialised nations such as the United States.

[Shammu]

High Winds Move Into Northeast; Two Killed

By BEN DOBBIN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - A fierce storm swept across the Midwest and into the Northeast on Friday, causing temperatures to plummet and generating winds up to 77 mph. Two people were killed by falling trees.

The storm sent temperatures in some parts of western New York plunging from 60 degrees to below freezing within a few hours. High winds knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and offices and closed schools.

A falling tree crushed a passing car in suburban Rochester, killing a 52-year-old woman.

At Saratoga Spa State Park, 40 miles north of Albany, a state Department of Transportation worker was killed when a tree crashed onto his pickup truck.

Gov. George Pataki, recuperating from surgery to remove his appendix, activated an emergency command center to coordinate state agencies that help reroute traffic, clear debris and restore power. "The prayers of all New Yorkers go out to the families of the two individuals who died," he said.

In rural Gorham, 25 miles southeast of Rochester, a dozen youngsters narrowly escaped injury when a tree fell and heavily damaged their school bus.

The high winds also knocked out a 12th-floor window in a high-rise office building in Syracuse, and falling debris barely missed passers-by, police said. Two sanitation workers were trapped in their garbage truck for more than a half-hour when it became entangled in downed power lines.

The blustery conditions forced five planes to temporarily circle Albany International Airport, which was briefly shrouded in low clouds before the sky turned blue again.

"As soon as we came through the clouds, we had a couple big dips like a roller-coaster," said passenger Jason Dilwith, 25, an engineer from Argyle, after arriving on a flight from Buffalo.

The winter blast moved east after pummeling the Midwest a day earlier.

In Michigan, about 100,000 customers were still without power Friday after 60-mph winds blew through the Lower Peninsula. Some homes and businesses were expected to remain blacked out until Monday.

Wind of more than 60 mph buffeted the Rochester area and a 77-mph gust was recorded at the city's airport, the
National Weather Service said.

Scores of schools were shuttered for the day across western and central New York. As the treacherous conditions moved across upstate New York, schools as far east as the Albany area closed early.

In Binghamton, wind gusts above 50 mph damaged windows on the upper floors of an eight-story building, sending shards of glass crashing down onto a sidewalk and street. No one was hurt.

High Winds Move Into Northeast; Two Killed

My note; I know here, we had wind gusts up to 55 MPH, yesterday.

[Shammu]

Philippines Landslide Death Toll at 1,800

By HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer 36 minutes ago

GUINSAUGON, Philippines - Rescue workers held little hope Saturday of finding survivors from a devastating landslide, saying this farming village was swallowed whole by a wall of mud and boulders.

Lt. Col. Raul Farnacio, the highest-ranking military officer at the scene of Friday's disaster, estimated the death toll at about 1,800 — nearly every man, woman and child who lived in Guinsaugon.

"Out of a population of 1,857, we have 57 survivors and 19 bodies," a grim Farnacio said as search efforts resumed Saturday in a drenching rain and high winds that made the task even more miserable. "We presume that more or less that 1,800 are feared dead."

Soldiers were being shuttled to the disaster zone in the shovels of bulldozers that carried them across a shallow stream. With the mud estimated to be 30 feet deep at some points, they were given sketches of the village so they could figure out approximately where the houses used to be.

Farnacio said the troops were digging only where they saw clear evidence of bodies because of the danger that the soft, unstable mud could shift and claim new victims.

"We can only focus on the surface," he said. "We cannot go too deep."

Low clouds hung over the area, obscuring the mountain that disintegrated Friday morning after two weeks of heavy rains, covering the village's 375 homes and elementary school. Rescue workers trudged slowly through the sludge, stretchers and ambulances waiting for survivors or the bodies of victims.

Philippines Landslide Death Toll at 1,800

[Shammu]

Bird flu reaches France for first time

By Sybille de La Hamaide Fri Feb 17, 3:11 PM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - Bird flu spread to France for the first time with the discovery on Friday that a dead duck found in eastern France almost certainly had the deadly H5N1 strain which is transmissible to humans.

Amid reports the disease was spreading in fowl in Europe and the Middle East, the World Health Organization confirmed that an Iraqi who died in January was the country's second human bird flu victim.

Officials said the disease had infected chickens in Egypt for the first time, while Azerbaijan and Slovenia reported more cases of H5N1.

Speaking after an emergency meeting at the prime minister's office, French Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau said several ducks had been found dead in a swampy area.

"One of them was analysed and the tests showed the presence of bird flu, the H5 virus, and it's 90 percent sure it is the H5N1 virus, the most dangerous," he told journalists.

Scientists would need a further 30 hours "to be 100 percent sure that it is this virus," he added. "What has been found already shows this is a dangerous virus."

There were fears of further outbreaks in birds in Germany and Hungary, and tests were being carried out on suspect birds from Greece.

Bosnia reported its first suspected case of avian influenza in two swans on Friday and further tests will show whether it is the deadly H5N1 strain.

The H5N1 virus remains mainly a disease of poultry, but it has infected 169 people, killing at least 91 in Asia and the Middle East since 2003.

The WHO has warned that the virus could spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people around the world if it mutates into a form that spreads easily between humans.

An Iraqi man who died last month was confirmed as the country's second human case of H5N1 infection, the WHO said, but tests on 14 other people proved negative.

In Bucharest, WHO and local experts warned that Romania, where nearly half the population live in rural areas with poor water and sewerage, faced a definite risk that the disease could claim its first human victims in Europe.

Romania has found bird flu in 31 villages since first detecting the virus in October, but the domestic birds were culled swiftly and no human cases have been reported so far.

"SITUATION CRITICAL"

"The situation is critical. So far we can say we have been lucky that we had no cases of bird flu in humans," said Adrian Streinu-Cercel, head of Romania's main virus laboratory.

"It's not enough to force people to wash their hands, you have to give them the means to do it," he added.

"The likelihood that some kids in Romania come in contact and play with sick or dead birds is not zero," said WHO expert Guenael Rodier.

As fears of the disease's spread to humans grew, a top WHO official said that while the world had spent more than $3 billion to stockpile anti-virals against bird flu, it was not investing enough to develop a vaccine.

Klaus Stohr, WHO special adviser on influenza pandemic vaccine development, said that while preliminary results from several clinical trials looked "promising," much more work was needed.

But an Australian company, CSL Ltd., reported that small doses of a vaccine against H5N1 had achieved "encouraging" preliminary results in a trial involving healthy adults.

The findings were released as Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said the number of bird flu cases among humans in his country had risen this year.

"Bird flu cases in humans (in Indonesia) are increasing in 2006, but the outbreak in poultry is decreasing. It indicates that the virus is spreading fast," he said.

Indonesia has had 18 confirmed deaths from bird flu and eight other confirmed sufferers have survived.

As a senior WHO official in Egypt confirmed that H5N1 had been found in birds in three areas of the country, Germany said it was likely to report more cases in the coming days.

Bird flu arrived in Germany on Tuesday when two wild swans were found to be infected with H5N1.

"It is to be expected that more positive finds will be made," Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer said.

New cases of H5N1 in Russia have forced authorities to cull more than half a million chickens in the south of the country, the World Animal Health Organization said.

In Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo opened his chicken farm for bird flu testing to encourage farmers to be transparent about any suspected outbreak of the disease.

Bird flu reaches France for first time

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Frigid weather grips northern U.S.

By BEN DOBBIN

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A deep freeze stretched from the Rockies to New England today as workers tried to restore power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses left dark by fierce wind that also was blamed for four deaths.

Rochester had a low of 10 degrees this morning, and wind of up to 17 mph made it feel like almost 10 below zero, the National Weather Service said. In the Upper Midwest, the 8 a.m. reading of 2 below zero at Duluth, Minn., combined with 17 mph wind for a wind chill of 23 below.

As far south as Arkansas, Little Rock had a morning low of just 18 toay. Farther west, Alliance, Neb., bottomed out at 8 below, the weather service said.

The frigid temperatures forced officials in Madison, Wis., which had a high of just 3 degrees on Saturday, to cancel the "Polar Plunge" into a lake, a fundraiser for the Special Olympics. Hayward had a low of 26 below zero on Saturday.

"We first really realized it was a problem when we cut the hole this morning and it immediately skimmed over with ice," Cheryl Balazs of the Special Olympics told WKOW-TV.

Utility officials in New York said crews would work through the weekend to restore power. Utilities reported at least 53,000 homes and business still without electricity Sunday, down from a peak of 328,000 customers blacked out Friday when wind gusted to 77 mph at Rochester.

Thousands of customers also lost power in Michigan, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, where the National Weather Service reported a wind gust of 143 mph on Stratton Mountain.

Several states opened shelters, providing havens with light and heat for those without power.

"Most people tough it out the first night and then come in the second night," said Mark Bosma, spokesman for Vermont Emergency Management.

Trees toppled by the wind killed two motorists in New York and one in Massachusetts. Another was killed near Rochester when his vehicle slammed into a truck rig whose driver had stopped to clear storm debris from his windshield.

[Shammu]

Japanese Volcano Has Minor Eruption

Sun Feb 19, 7:47 AM ET

TOKYO - A volcano on a small island off eastern Japan had a minor eruption, and residents were warned of volcanic gases and possible mudslides.
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The eruption triggered a minor temblor and released a small amount of ash, the Meteorological Agency said. But there was no immediate threat of a larger eruption, the agency said.

The eruption Friday was the volcano's first since May. White smoke billowed from the crater Sunday, but there was no other major activity, the agency said.

The volcano dominates Miyake Island, about 110 miles east of Tokyo. An eruption in July 2000 forced all 4,000 islanders to evacuate the island. More than half of them returned a year ago after the evacuation order was lifted.

The volcano continues to belch smoke and poisonous gas that officials say pose a potentially serious risk to residents.

Japan, which has 108 active volcanos, is among the most seismically active countries in the world.

Japanese Volcano Has Minor Eruption

[Shammu]

Growing Number of Diseases Jump to Humans

By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 19, 6:05 PM ET

ST. LOUIS - Humans risk being overrun by diseases from the animal world, according to researchers who have documented 38 illnesses that have made that jump over the past 25 years.

That's not good news for the spread of bird flu, which experts fear could mutate and be transmitted easily among people.

There are 1,407 pathogens — viruses, bacteria, parasites, protozoa and fungi — that can infect humans, said Mark Woolhouse of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Of those, 58 percent come from animals. Scientists consider 177 of the pathogens to be "emerging" or "re-emerging." Most will never cause pandemics.

Experts fear bird flu could prove an exception. Recent advances in the worldwide march of the H5N1 strain have rekindled fears of a pandemic. The virus has spread across Asia into Europe and Africa.

Controlling bird flu will require renewed focus on the animal world, including the chickens, ducks and other poultry that have been sacrificed by the tens of millions to stem the progress of the virus, experts said at a news conference late Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"The strategy has to be looking at how to contain it in the animal world, because once you get into the human side, you're dealing with vaccines and antiretrovirals, which is a whole new realm," said Nina Marano, a veterinarian and public health expert with the National Center for Infectious Diseases.

Bird flu has killed at least 91 people — most of them in Asia — since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. It appears to kill about half the people it infects. However, should it mutate so it can pass from human to human, it likely will grow far less deadly, said Dr. Stanley Lemon, of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

"It is very unlikely that it would maintain that kind of case mortality rate if it made the jump," Lemon said.

Each year, one or two new pathogens and multiple variations of existing threats infect humans for the first time. That pace appears to be unsustainable in the long run because it would imply that people run the risk of being overrun, Woolhouse told reporters.

"Humans have always been attacked by novel pathogens. This process has been going on for millennia. But it does seem to be happening very fast in these modern times," Woolhouse said.

Woolhouse argues that either many of those diseases and other afflictions will not persist in humans or that there is something peculiar today allowing so many of them to take root in humans.

One explanation may be the recent and wide-scale changes in how people interact with the environment in a more densely populated world that is growing warmer and in which travel is faster and move extensive, Marano said. Those changes can ensure that pathogens no longer stay restricted to animals, she added. Examples from recent human history include HIV, Marburg, SARS and other viruses.

That prospect leaves open the question of what future threats await humans.

"It always surprises us. We think that avian flu will be the next emerging disease. My guess is something else might come out before that," said Alan Barrett, of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. "It's very hard to anticipate what comes next."

Growing Number of Diseases Jump to Humans

[Shammu]

Bitter Cold Spreads Across Much of U.S.

48 minutes ago

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Utility crews worked Sunday to restore power to thousands of homes and businesses from Michigan to Maine following a weekend winter storm, while slick roads and heavy winds were blamed for several deadly accidents.

As far south as Texas, ice and freezing rain canceled dozens of flights over the weekend at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, including 85 American Airlines flights, according to a company spokesman.

Little Rock, Ark., had a Sunday morning low of 18. Farther west, Alliance, Neb., bottomed out at 8 below, the
National Weather Service said.

In the Upper Midwest, the 8 a.m. reading of 2 below zero at Duluth, Minn., combined with 17 mph wind for a wind chill of 23 below.

A reading of 18 below was recorded in Allagash, Maine, while temperatures dipped to a low of 10 degrees in Rochester and wind of up to 17 mph made it feel like almost 10 below zero, weather service said.

The fierce wind, including a 143 mph gust recorded on Vermont's Stratton Mountain on Friday, knocked out power and toppled trees, which were blamed for four deaths in the Northeast.

Utility officials in New York expected to have crews working through the week to restore power to the 31,500 customers still without electricity Sunday. That's down from a peak of 328,000 customers three days earlier.

Several states were operating shelters, providing havens with light and heat for those without power.

Bitter Cold Spreads Across Much of U.S.

[Shammu]

Philippine landslide village buries bodies and hope

By Bobby Ranoco and Pedro Uchi 1 hour, 51 minutes ago

GUINSAUGON, Philippines (Reuters) - Hunting for bodies and burying the dead resumed in the central Philippines on Monday, with rescuers holding out little hope for survivors in a village of 1,800 entombed by a collapsed mountainside.

Battling deep, shifting mud and steady rain, search teams continued to focus on a school packed with more than 250 children and staff when Friday's landslide engulfed Guinsaugon, a farming community in Southern Leyte province.

"They can see the roof but so far there is no sign of life," Congressman Roger Mercado told Reuters on Monday.

Unconfirmed reports that some pupils sent desperate mobile phone text messages on Friday had spurred on rescuers. But now hope has all but disappeared.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said 72 bodies had been pulled from the mud, with 913 villagers still missing.

Bloated and decomposing, 50 recovered bodies were buried on Sunday in mass graves sprinkled with holy water and lime powder -- a measure Health Secretary Francisco Duque said was necessary to prevent disease from spreading in the hot, fetid conditions.

"They are being buried in such a way that they can be exhumed later," Duque told Reuters.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo viewed relief goods and dog teams being flown from a military airbase in Manila on Monday. She plans to visit the scene of the disaster, about 675 km (420 miles) southeast of Manila, on Wednesday or Thursday.

International agencies have also sent supplies, but many of the emergency goods must be trucked to the area on bad roads and around washed-out bridges.

Although the president had pledged to recover all of the bodies for burial, Mercado said a decision was likely within days about closing off the devastated area.

"We will put up a memorial symbol and we will say holy mass for the bereaved victims of the landslide," he said.

In hospital, survivors told of jumping from roofs to escape the torrent of mud, which was set off by two weeks of heavy rain. One six-year-old girl survived by clinging to a coconut tree.

MORE LANDSLIDES

The Philippines is usually hit by about 20 typhoons each year, with residents and environmental groups often blaming illegal logging or mining for compounding the damage.

But in a country where most of the 86 million people are Roman Catholic, commentators, officials and even survivors said the landslide was God's will.

Leyte island itself is no stranger to disaster. In 1991, more than 5,000 people died in floods triggered by a typhoon.

Around 2,000 people from villages near Guinsaugon were evacuated over the weekend as Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz warned of more potential catastrophes because rains triggered by the La Nina weather pattern were expected to last until June.

A warning was issued to people living near mountain slopes on the southerly tip of Mindanao, another island where a landslide killed five people on Saturday night. A small landslide hit the eastern island of Negros Oriental but no deaths were reported.

In Guinsaugon, hundreds of rescuers, backed by U.S. marines sent from annual exercises with Philippine troops, were warned to tread gingerly or risk sinking to their deaths.

With little evidence of where the village once stood, search teams relied on sketches from survivors to pinpoint the school and other buildings.

"It's a total disaster, just horrendous," said Lieutenant Joel Coots, a medical officer with the U.S. Marines. "It's very difficult to get to the site because there are just acres and acres of mud and debris."

Philippine landslide village buries bodies and hope