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Tunisian man dies of new coronavirus

  • News Item
  • May 22, 2013
A man has died of the novel coronavirus (NCoV) in Tunisia, in what is believed to be the first such case in Africa. Tunisia's health ministry said the 66-year-old had visited Saudi Arabia, which is badly affected by the virus. About 20 deaths and ...

Balloon crash kills tourists in Cappadocia, Turkey

  • News Item
  • May 20, 2013
Two tourists have been killed and more than 20 other people injured after two hot-air balloons collided in Turkey, a local official says. One ascending balloon was torn open as it hit the basket of another, and then plunged to Earth, witnesses sai...

Oklahoma ravaged by deadly tornadoes

  • News Item
  • May 20, 2013
At least one person has died and several others were injured in a series of tornadoes that have torn through the US state of Oklahoma. The worst damage was caused by a twister near the town of Shawnee, 35 miles (55km) from Oklahoma City, local med...

Car bomb attacks kill dozens in Iraqi cities

  • News Item
  • May 20, 2013
At least 54 people have been killed and many others injured in a series of car bomb attacks in central and southern Iraq, officials say. Baghdad was worst hit, with nine explosions at bus stations and markets in the mainly Shia Muslim districts. T...

Kabul blast: Suicide bomber targets foreign convoy

  • News Item
  • May 16, 2013
At least 15 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a suicide bomb attack on a military convoy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, officials say. Two US soldiers and four civilian contractors were among the dead, US and Nato officials said. Nine A...

Rwanda building collapse: Six dead and dozens injured

  • News Item
  • May 16, 2013
Six people have died after a four-storey building in north-eastern Rwanda collapsed, the government says. The search and rescue mission has ended with no more people found trapped in the rubble, Rwandan police said in a statement on Wednesday. Off...

Deadly tornado strikes Texas town of Granbury

  • News Item
  • May 16, 2013
A tornado has ripped through a town in the US state of Texas, resulting in six deaths, officials say. Homes were destroyed when the tornado hit Granbury, 70 miles (110km) west of Dallas, late on Wednesday, leaving "extensive" damage in its wake. H...

Syria conflict: BBC shown 'signs of chemical attack'

  • News Item
  • May 16, 2013
The BBC has been shown evidence apparently corroborating reports of a chemical attack in Syria last month. A BBC correspondent who visited the northern town of Saraqeb was told by eyewitnesses that government helicopters had dropped at least two d...

Wales weather: Minera mudslide clean-up begins

  • News Item
  • May 15, 2013
A clean-up operation has started in a village near Wrexham after a landslide blocked a road and affected homes. Residents say 3ft (90cm) of mud was swept down a hillside road at Minera on Wednesday morning after a night of heavy rain. Contractors ...

New Orleans Mother's Day parade hit by shooting

  • News Item
  • May 13, 2013
Nineteen people have been wounded in a shooting at a Mother's Day parade in the US city of New Orleans, police say. The victims included two children who were grazed by bullets. Police say most injuries are not life-threatening. It is unclear what...

China coal mine blast in Sichuan province kills 27

  • News Item
  • May 12, 2013
An explosion at a coal mine in China's south-west Sichuan province has killed at least 27 people, state media report. The blast happened in Taozigou coal mine in the city of Luzhou, Xinhua news agency said. More than 100 miners were working underg...

Deadly gas tanker explosion in Mexico City suburb

  • News Item
  • May 8, 2013
Rescue workers are searching the charred remains of houses and cars after a gas tanker exploded on a motorway in a suburb of Mexico City. Mexico state officials said at least 22 people had been killed and 36 injured in the blast. The explosion hap...

Italy deaths as Genoa ship hits control tower

  • News Item
  • May 8, 2013
Seven people have died and two are missing after a container ship crashed into a control tower in the Italian port of Genoa, officials say. The Jolly Nero smashed into the 50m (164ft) concrete and glass tower late on Tuesday, causing it to collaps...

Bus crash in northern India leaves 33 dead

  • News Item
  • May 8, 2013
At least 33 people have been killed in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh after a bus skidded off the road into a fast-flowing river. Fourteen others were hurt in the accident, which happened near Kullu, a summer resort 250km (155 miles...

Nepal floods change river course and threaten tourism

  • News Item
  • May 7, 2013
A major tourism destination in western Nepal faces increased risk of natural disasters following a devastating flood last year, experts have warned. They say the sudden flood on the Seti river, which killed more than 60 people, has brought changes...

California Springs fire eases due to damper air

  • News Item
  • May 5, 2013
A wildfire threatening thousands of homes in southern California is being contained because of cool air blowing in from the Pacific, firefighters say. They say hot, dry winds have now been replaced by the normal flow of damper air, reducing fire a...

Cornwall speedboat crash: Two dead, four injured off coast

  • News Item
  • May 5, 2013
Two people have died after a speedboat crashed off the north Cornish coast. Four others were seriously injured when they were thrown from the boat off Padstow harbour. They have been airlifted to hospital. Children and adults suffered leg injuries...

Flash floods in Saudi Arabia leave 13 dead

  • News Item
  • May 3, 2013
At least 13 people have died and four other are missing in flash floods in Saudi Arabia. Deaths were reported in the capital Riyadh, Baha in the south, Hail in the north and in the west of the country The Saudi Civil Defense Authority urged people...

Fate of crew unknown as US plane crashes in Kyrgyzstan

  • News Item
  • May 3, 2013
A US military refuelling plane has crashed in northern Kyrgyzstan. The US transit centre at Manas airport confirmed the KC-135 Stratotanker had come down. The status of its crew and cause of the crash were not known. The plane disappeared off the ...

Dhaka building collapse: Fire disrupts rescue efforts

  • News Item
  • April 29, 2013
A fire at a collapsed factory building in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka has hampered efforts to reach remaining survivors of a disaster that has killed at least 377 people. The fire was started by sparks from cutters being used in a failed attempt to...

'Many dead' in Russia psychiatric hospital fire

  • News Item
  • April 26, 2013
At least 38 people are feared dead after a fire swept through a psychiatric hospital in the Moscow region, officials say. The blaze started shortly after 02:00 local time (22:00 GMT Thursday) at the No 14 hospital in Ramenskiy village. Most of the...

Bangladesh Dhaka building collapse leaves 80 dead

  • News Item
  • April 24, 2013
At least 87 people have been killed and many more are feared trapped after an eight-storey building collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, government officials say. Firefighters and army personnel are leading the operation to...

Eight-storey building collapses in Bangladesh

  • News Item
  • April 24, 2013
An eight-storey building has collapsed in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, leaving at least three people dead, officials say.   A fire service official said more people were feared trapped inside the building.   A market and a garment factory were ...

French embassy in Libya hit by 'car bomb' in Tripoli

  • News Item
  • April 23, 2013
A car bomb has exploded outside the French embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli, officials are quoted as saying.   The blast is reported to have wounded two guards and badly damaged part of the embassy and surrounding buildings.   The BBC's Rana ...

Canada foils 'al-Qaeda linked' terror attack on train

  • News Item
  • April 23, 2013
Two foreign men living in Canada have been charged with plotting a terrorist attack on a passenger train, with support from al-Qaeda elements in Iran.   The authorities say the suspects Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, were arrested in M...

China quake: Dozens die and hundreds hurt in Sichuan

  • News Item
  • April 20, 2013
Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured in a powerful earthquake in rural areas of China's south-western province of Sichuan. The 6.6-magnitude quake wrecked buildings and cut power in Lushan county, and officials say an initial dea...

Texas Waco fertiliser plant blast search for survivors

  • News Item
  • April 19, 2013
 Emergency services are searching for survivors after a blast at a fertiliser plant in the US state of Texas killed between five and 15 people. More than 160 people were injured and dozens of buildings destroyed in the town of West, near Waco. Thr...

Greece farm shooting: 30 injured in pay dispute

  • News Item
  • April 19, 2013
About 30 migrant workers have been injured in a shooting on a strawberry farm in Greece after requesting salaries that had not been paid. The migrants - mainly from Bangladesh - were shot at by at least one farm supervisor, in a Peloponnesian vill...

Eight killed in gun attack in Kenyan town of Garissa

  • News Item
  • April 19, 2013
At least eight people have been killed in an attack by a group of armed men in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa. Witnesses said the attackers targeted a hotel in the town before escaping the scene. Five wounded people were taken to hospital, acc...

Kenya children buried in landslide after heavy rain

  • News Item
  • April 18, 2013
Two children have been trapped in their home after a landslide in western Kenya, police have told the BBC. They were asleep in a village in the Narok area when their house was covered by mud following heavy rain overnight, Narok police chief Peter...

Many casualties in Texas Waco fertiliser plant blast

  • News Item
  • April 18, 2013
 Scores of people are injured and an unknown number feared dead after a huge explosion at a fertiliser plant near Waco in the US state of Texas. Dozens of homes and buildings have been destroyed, and several are still on fire, after the West Ferti...

Boston Marathon bombing: FBI reveals pressure cooker clues

  • News Item
  • April 17, 2013
Bombs that targeted the Boston Marathon on Monday may have been packed in pressure cookers, investigators say. Images from a joint Homeland Security and FBI bulletin show the remains of a dark backpack, a detonation device and mangled pieces of me...

Pakistani troops in rescue effort after Iran quake

  • News Item
  • April 17, 2013
Pakistan has sent troops to help its citizens affected by a powerful earthquake that struck just over the border in south-east Iran. The 7.8-magnitude quake, the most powerful to hit Iran for more than 50 years, caused at least 40 deaths in Pakist...

Fatal Alps coach crash: One killed and several injured

  • News Item
  • April 16, 2013
One person has been killed and several are seriously injured after a coach carrying around 50 Britons crashed in the French Alps. The crash happened at 1400 BST in the Alpe d'Huez resort, it is reported. The Foreign Office said it was aware of a "...

FBI probes Boston 'terror' blasts

  • News Item
  • April 16, 2013
An investigation is under way after two explosions near the finishing line of the Boston Marathon left three people dead and at least 140 injured. The FBI has taken over co-ordination of what it described as a "potential terrorist inquiry". Boston...

China bird flu: Reported H7N9 cases rise to 60

  • News Item
  • April 15, 2013
China has reported 11 fresh cases of bird flu, with the virus now appearing in the central province of Henan and the capital Beijing. The new cases of the H7N9 strain bring the total number of reported cases to 60. Two more people have now died. A...

Gunmen launch deadly attack on Somalia courthouse

  • News Item
  • April 15, 2013
At least 19 people have been killed in bomb and gun attacks in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Sixteen people, including nine attackers, are believed to have died after gunmen stormed the city's main court buildings. Later a car bomb was detonated ...

Iraq deadly bombings hit Nasariyah and Kirkuk

  • News Item
  • April 15, 2013
 At least five people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a series of early morning explosions in cities across Iraq, officials say. Attacks were reported in Tuz Khurmatu and Kirkuk in northern Iraq and Nasariyah in the south. Three car bo...

Nigeria's Boko Haram rejects amnesty idea

  • News Item
  • April 12, 2013
The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has rejected the idea of an amnesty. Last week President Goodluck Jonathan asked a high level team to look into the possibility of granting the militants a pardon. The announcement was made via an audio state...

Hacker targets flight deck computer systems

  • News Item
  • April 12, 2013
Aviation agencies in Europe and the US are keen to quiz a hacker who targeted flight deck computers. Security researcher Hugo Teso was able to "hijack" the systems to feed false navigation information to a simulated jet that made it change course....

Deadly train accident in Indian state of Tamil Nadu

  • News Item
  • April 10, 2013
Eleven coaches of a passenger train have gone off the rails in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, killing at least one person, officials said. At least 21 people were injured when the Yashwanthpur-Muzaffarpur express derailed on Wednesday mo...

Iran: Dozens of aftershocks follow deadly earthquake

  • News Item
  • April 10, 2013
 More than 80 aftershocks have hit south-west Iran following Tuesday's 6.1 magnitude earthquake, which killed at least 37 people and injured 850. Twelve villages were completely destroyed and terrified residents spent the night in the open, report...

Afghan roadside bomb 'kills nine' in Wardak

  • News Item
  • April 9, 2013
At least nine people have been killed and 22 injured after a roadside bomb hit a bus in the Afghan province of Wardak, officials say. A woman was among the dead and children were also wounded in the blast, which took place in the Saydabad district...

'Thirteen dead' in Serbia gun rampage

  • News Item
  • April 9, 2013
Thirteen people have been killed in Serbia after a man went on a gun rampage in a village near Belgrade, local media report. Six men, six women and a child died before the gunman tried to kill himself and his wife. The pair are now said to be in a...

Angola deaths after weekend floods

  • News Item
  • April 8, 2013
At least nine people have died in Angola's capital, Luanda, after weekend floods caused by torrential rains. Four people are also missing after a storm led to the flooding of hundreds of houses, a government official told Angola's Angop news agenc...

Syria crisis: Damascus car bomb 'kills 15'

  • News Item
  • April 8, 2013
A car bomb has exploded in the centre of Syria's capital Damascus, killing at least 15 people and wounding 53, state media report. The blast happened in a busy residential and commercial area, close to schools and Syria's central bank. Huge plumes...

Argentina flash floods claim more lives

  • News Item
  • April 8, 2013
Catastrophic flash floods have killed 57 people in the province of Buenos Aires, while hundreds more remain homeless, officials say. The worst hit is the city of La Plata, where 51 people died. Six people also died in the capital Buenos Aires. Man...

Iraq unrest: Deadly blast at Baquba political rally

  • News Item
  • April 8, 2013
A suicide bomb and grenade attack has killed at least 22 people and injured about 50 at a political rally in the eastern Iraqi city of Baquba. A grenade was thrown into the crowd gathered inside a large tent and, seconds later, a suicide bomber bl...

India ends search for survivors in Mumbai rubble

  • News Item
  • April 7, 2013
Rescuers in India have ended their search for survivors in the rubble of a Mumbai high-rise which collapsed killing 72 people, 26 of them children. The seven-storey block in Thane, an unauthorised building which was already inhabited despite being...

UN agency 'broke' as Syria refugee funds run out

  • News Item
  • April 7, 2013
A UN agency has said it will soon be unable to provide "life-saving" aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan and other countries due to funds running out. "The needs are rising exponentially and we are broke," said Marixie Mercado, a spokeswoman for chil...

Smart bracelet protects aid workers

  • News Item
  • April 7, 2013
A hi-tech bracelet could soon be helping civil rights and aid workers at risk of being kidnapped or killed. When triggered, the personal alarm uses phone and sat-nav technology to warn that its wearer is in danger. Warnings are sent in the form of...

China closes Nanjing market over H7N9 bird flu

  • News Item
  • April 7, 2013
China has confirmed two fresh cases of bird flu in Shanghai, as it attempts to contain the latest outbreak of the virus in the east of the country. There have now been 18 identified cases of infection of the H7N9 strain. Six people have died, and ...

Dozens die' in Nigeria road crash

  • News Item
  • April 7, 2013
Nigeria: At least 36 people, including children, have reportedly been killed in a major road accident in southern Nigeria. The collision on the Benin-Ore motorway in Edo state involved a bus, a lorry and a petrol tanker, Nigerian officials were qu...

Cooling system failure at Fukushima nuclear plant

  • News Item
  • April 5, 2013
Japan: Part of the cooling system at Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has stopped for the second time in a month, the plant operator says. After an alarm sounded at reactor number three, checks showed the system had stopped at o...

Floods a 'catastrophe' for La Plata, Buenos Aire

  • News Item
  • April 5, 2013
Argentina: Emergency workers continue to try to rescue residents stranded by flooding in Buenos Aires and La Plata. More than 50 people are known to have died after one of the heaviest storms recorded caused flash floods. Thousands were evacuated ...

Building collapse near Mumbai kills 35

  • News Item
  • April 5, 2013
India: At least 35 people have died, including 11 children, after a building under construction collapsed near the Indian city of Mumbai, police say. Dozens have been injured and many others are feared trapped beneath the seven-storey building in ...

Deadly raid on Peshawar power plant

  • News Item
  • April 2, 2013
Pakistan: At least seven people have been killed in an attack by dozens of militants on an electricity plant on the outskirts of the Pakistani city of Peshawar. A policeman and a plant employee were killed on the spot and nine people were taken ho...

Sellafield shutdown: Severe weather closes nuclear site

  • News Item
  • March 22, 2013
UK: The Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant has been shut down because of severe weather conditions. A 'site incident' has been declared at the Cumbria base and plants moved to a "controlled, safe, shut-down state".Sellafield Ltd said the move, ...

Resilience: Learning from the past to meet the threats of the future

  • News Item
  • March 22, 2013
UK: The Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management (ICPEM)’s fifth annual conference will take place at the Kettering Conference Centre, UK, on Thursday, May 16, 2013. The conference focus is ‘Resilience: Learning from the Past to meet...

New business partnership to launch crisis communication solution in Australia

  • News Item
  • February 25, 2013
UK-based business continuity and communication solution specialist Vocal has announced a strategic alliance with leading crisis management firm CQ Australia, which sees the introduction of its iModus crisis communications solution to the Australia...

HPA updates on family cluster of novel coronavirus infection in the UK

  • News Item
  • February 19, 2013
UK: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) says it is continuing its investigations into a family cluster of novel coronavirus infections in the UK. Three members of the same family have all tested positive for novel coronavirus; two of them had no hi...

UK 'can cope with solar superstorm'

  • News Item
  • February 7, 2013
If a solar superstorm struck the Earth, the effects on the UK would be "challenging but not cataclysmic", says a major report. An expert panel for the Royal Academy of Engineering assessed the readiness of Britain to handle a huge outburst of radi...

Quake off Solomon Islands triggers deadly tsunami

  • News Item
  • February 6, 2013
Homes were damaged and at least four people have been reported dead after a tsunami triggered by an earthquake hit the Solomon Islands. The quake, with a magnitude 8.0, struck at 01:12 GMT near the Santa Cruz islands, the US Geological Survey said...

Brazil Santa Maria fire: tighter checks in Sao Paulo state

  • News Item
  • January 30, 2013
The governor of Brazil's most populous state, Sao Paulo, has ordered tighter inspections of all venues, including nightclubs, cinemas and theatres. The measure follows a fire that killed 235 people at a nightclub in the southern city of Santa Mari...

Storms leave two dead in Georgia and Tennessee

  • News Item
  • January 30, 2013
A sprawling storm system has brought havoc to a swathe of the US, leaving two people dead and thousands of households without electricity. One person died when an apparent twister hit the state of Georgia, overturning cars on a motorway. Bartow Co...

Brazil and Fifa play down World Cup safety concerns

  • News Item
  • January 28, 2013
While the fire that caused 231 deaths in a night club in southern Brazil on Sunday has created unease over local safety standards, Brazilian officials are playing down concerns over the major sports events the country is about to host. In the afte...

Brazil night club fire kills 232 in Santa Maria

  • News Item
  • January 27, 2013
At least 232 people have died in a fire that swept through a nightclub in a university city in southern Brazil, police and officials say. Local media say the fire began when a band let off fireworks at the Kiss club in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do S...

Tropical storm strikes Queensland

  • News Item
  • January 25, 2013
With bushfires still threatening much of southern Australia, record amounts of rain has inundated the northern state of Queensland. Tropical Storm Oswald's heavy rains have caused flooding, and authorities are now draining dams in the capital Bris...

Austrian trains in head-on crash

  • News Item
  • January 21, 2013
Several people have been severely injured in a head-on collision between two commuter trains in Austria. Emergency fire and ambulance crews had to cut people out of the wreckage after the crash, which happened during rush hour in the capital, Vien...

Firebugs: Australia's dangerous summer arsonists

  • News Item
  • January 18, 2013
The term sounds deceptively friendly, like a character from a children's cartoon, but "firebugs" are the scourge of the southern Australian summer. They are the arsonists who set alight bushfires, and who often strike on days when soaring temperat...

Earthquake near Loughborough shakes East Midlands

  • News Item
  • January 18, 2013
An earthquake has been felt by people in several parts of the East Midlands. The British Geological Survey (BGS) confirmed a 2.9 magnitude earthquake near Loughborough in Leicestershire at 05:20 GMT. It was felt in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and N...

Australian PM Gillard hails firefighters

  • News Item
  • January 17, 2013
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has praised fire crews in New South Wales who are tackling a blaze that has destroyed dozens of houses. Visiting Coonabarabran, the site of the wildfire, Ms Gillard said it was "incredible" that no lives had...

Dreamliner: Most Boeing 787 planes grounded on safety fears

  • News Item
  • January 17, 2013
Airlines and regulators have grounded the majority of Boeing's flagship 787 Dreamliner planes amid continuing safety concerns. Airlines in Chile and India have temporarily halted 787 flights, following a US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) di...

London helicopter crash: Two die in Vauxhall crane accident

  • News Item
  • January 16, 2013
Two people were killed and 12 were hurt when a helicopter crashed into a crane on a building in central London. The helicopter hit the crane on top of The Tower, One St George Wharf beside the Thames at about 08:00 GMT. Cars and two buildings caug...

Flame retardant pollutants detected in remote locations

  • News Item
  • January 15, 2013
Chemicals used as flame retardants are present as environmental pollutants at locations around the globe, including remote sites in Indonesia, Nepal and Tasmania, according to a study by researchers from the Indiana University School of Public and...

Cairo trail derailment leaves 19 dead

  • News Item
  • January 15, 2013
A military train carrying army recruits has derailed south of Egypt's capital, Cairo, killing 19 people and injuring more than 100, officials say. The train was heading to an army camp in Cairo when a carriage became detached and crashed into a go...

Australia battles scores of bushfires

  • News Item
  • January 10, 2013
Fire crews are tackling dozens of bushfires in south-east Australia, as forecasters predict another spell of hot weather for the weekend. More than 100 separate fires are burning in New South Wales. Some 3,000 sq km of land has been razed. One of ...

Seastreak Wall Street ferry crash hurts 57 in New York

  • News Item
  • January 9, 2013
A New York passenger ferry has hit a dock during the Manhattan rush hour, injuring 57 people and tearing a hole in the vessel's bow. Eleven people have been seriously injured, the Associated Press reports. The Seastreak Wall Street ferry hit the m...

Cooler weather brings relief to fire-ravaged Australia

  • News Item
  • January 9, 2013
Cooler weather has brought some relief to south-east Australia as fire crews continue to battle bushfires across several states. Temperatures in New South Wales have fallen more than 10C, after one of the highest-risk fire days in its history. But...

Searing temperatures fan Australia wildfires

  • News Item
  • January 8, 2013
High winds and record temperatures fanned fires in south-east Australia, after the prime minister warned of a "very dangerous day". More than 130 fires are currently burning in New South Wales, 40 of which have not been contained. An uncontrolled ...

Australia bushfires: Tasmania search for 100 'missing'

  • News Item
  • January 6, 2013
Australian police are searching fire-ravaged towns in southern Tasmania looking for 100 unaccounted people. Tasmania's police commissioner said he feared lives may have been lost in the wildfires which swept through parts of the island in recent d...

Australia wildfires: Thousands stranded in Tasmania

  • News Item
  • January 5, 2013
Wildfires on the Australian island of Tasmania have stranded thousands of people and destroyed at least 100 homes. Much of Australia is experiencing a heatwave, and temperatures in the Tasmanian state capital Hobart earlier reached a record high o...

Ivory Coast new year stampede kills dozens in Abidjan

  • News Item
  • January 1, 2013
At least 60 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in a crush during new year festivities in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan, officials say. The incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday as people were heading home from a firework...

Nicaragua San Cristobal volcano: Hundreds told to leave

  • News Item
  • December 31, 2012
Nicaraguan authorities have ordered the evacuation of several hundred people living near San Cristobal volcano. Officials also declared an amber alert for five sq km ( two sq miles) around the volcano, which began spewing ash and gas on Tuesday. H...

The science behind Britain's wild weather in 2012

  • News Item
  • December 31, 2012
BBC weatherman Nick Miller looks at the science behind what happened to Britain's weather in 2012. He explains meteorologists' latest theories about why the weather in 2012 was so different from normal. The worst drought since 1976 was followed by...

Explosions at Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano

  • News Item
  • December 17, 2012
People living on the slopes of the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador are being evacuated as a plume of gas and ash rises from its crater. Tungurahua volcano began to erupt again last week, prompting the government to issue an orange alert, the second ...

Newtown school massacre victims identified

  • News Item
  • December 16, 2012
All 20 children who died in a shooting at a school in Connecticut were aged between six and seven, according to an official list of the dead. The state's chief medical examiner said the gunman used a rifle as his main weapon, and all the victims a...

Sandy: Barack Obama asks Congress for $60bn

  • News Item
  • December 8, 2012
US President Barack Obama has requested more than $60bn (£37bn) from Congress for response, recovery and repairs in the wake of "Superstorm" Sandy. The scale of the request was welcomed by the governors of the two worst-hit states, New York and Ne...

Japan earthquake tsunami warning issued

  • News Item
  • December 7, 2012
A tsunami warning has been issued after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off Japan's eastern coast. The epicentre of the quake was about 245km (150 miles) south-east of Kamiashi at a depth of about 36km, the US Geological Survey said. The quake w...

Chinese pesticide cloud alarms Buenos Aires

  • News Item
  • December 7, 2012
A toxic cloud has covered parts of Buenos Aires, causing alarm and leading to the evacuation of many buildings. The authorities say the smoke was caused by a fire in a container with pesticides at the city's port, but the situation is now under co...

Wildfires fanned by invasive grass species

  • News Item
  • December 6, 2012
New research indicates that a species of invasive grass is making wildfires in the western US larger, hotter and more frequent. Scientists say that a variety called cheatgrass dries out and burns more rapidly than other vegetation. They believe it...

Wales Audit Office concern at 'unclear' emergency plans

  • News Item
  • December 6, 2012
Serious concerns have been raised about the system for responding to civil emergencies in Wales. Emergency services were praised for their response but doubts have been raised by the Wales Audit Office (WAO) about overall co-ordination. Examples o...

Smartphones to be pocket seismometers

  • News Item
  • December 5, 2012
The smartphones in our pockets are about to get even smarter. Scientists want these ubiquitous gadgets to be put to work helping them detect and investigate earthquakes. The devices contain accelerometers and a team at the Berkeley Seismic Laborat...

Japan orders tunnel inspections after Sasago collapse

  • News Item
  • December 3, 2012
The Japanese government has ordered emergency inspections of road tunnels across the country following a deadly roof collapse west of Tokyo. Nine people were confirmed dead after concrete panels collapsed and started a fire in the Sasago tunnel, 8...

Japan Sasago tunnel: Collapse traps cars

  • News Item
  • December 2, 2012
A major road tunnel has collapsed in Japan, trapping a number of vehicles and leaving at least seven people missing, media reports say. Survivors described how large sections of concrete fell on top of cars in the Sasago tunnel. A fire broke out a...

Rain brings fresh flooding risk to England

  • News Item
  • November 27, 2012
Weather forecasters say north-east England is most at risk of flooding but rain is expected to ease later. The Environment Agency has 209 flood warnings and more than 270 flood alerts in place in England and Wales. There are several flood warnings...

Flood warnings in Northamptonshire remain in place after heavy rain

  • News Item
  • November 26, 2012
Flood warnings remain in place across Northamptonshire after a weekend of heavy rain, with some roads still under water. Police say the A605 in Oundle is flooded between A427 Station Road and Church Street, and drivers have been warned to take car...

Clean-up after Cornwall floods

  • News Item
  • November 26, 2012
Residents are cleaning-up after more than 100 properties were flooded in Cornwall after heavy rain. Overnight, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said it had removed water from a property in Perranporth and one in the St Buryan area, near Penzance, ...

Flood warnings remain in east Yorkshire after heavy rainfall

  • News Item
  • November 26, 2012
Hundreds of householders are being urged to take flood precautions in the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire area. Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said it had attended a significant number of localised flooding callouts on Sunday. ...

Second fire breaks out at Bangladesh clothes factory

  • News Item
  • November 26, 2012
A fire has broken out in a multi-storey building housing clothes-making factories in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka. The blaze reportedly started on the third floor of a 12-floor building, but was later contained. There were no reports of any deaths, ...

Dhaka Bangladesh clothes factory fire kills more than 100

  • News Item
  • November 25, 2012
More than 100 people are now known to have died in a fire that swept through a clothes factory in Bangladesh, local officials say. The blaze broke out late on Saturday in the multi-floor Tazreen Fashion factory in the Ashulia district on the outsk...

Egypt bus crash kills 47 children near Manfalut

  • News Item
  • November 17, 2012
At least 47 children aged four to six years old have been killed after their school bus was hit by a train in central Egypt, officials said. The bus was carrying about 60 children from a nursery school when it was hit by a train near Manfalut, 350...

South Australia bushfire destroys homes

  • News Item
  • November 12, 2012
More than 100 firefighters are working to contain a bushfire in Australia that has burned 2,000 hectares of land and destroyed at least seven homes. The fire broke out in Tulka, near Port Lincoln in South Australia, on Sunday. It is not clear how ...

Flood-hit West Sussex homeowners urged to tackle risk

  • News Item
  • November 6, 2012
Residents and businesses in a town hit by severe flooding this summer are being urged to take part in flood prevention event next week. More than 500 homes in West Sussex were affected by heavy rain in June, the county council said. Flood action g...

Sandy death toll hits 80 and keeps rising

  • News Item
  • November 1, 2012
The death toll from Sandy keeps rising as swathes of the US East Coast battle to recover, three days after being battered by the massive storm. More than 80 people are now known to have died in the US, 37 in New York City alone, and others remain ...

Super-storm Sandy survival guide

  • News Item
  • October 31, 2012
Though the flood waters are receding, millions of US citizens will remain without electricity until the end of the week or longer. Here's how to cope when the lights go out. Sandy has blown north, but for people living on the US east coast, the ef...

Storm Sandy: Transport chaos as floods recede

  • News Item
  • October 31, 2012
At least 40 people have been killed, millions have no power and transport has been crippled across the north-eastern US as storm Sandy heads north. In New York City, 18 people have been killed and the flooded subway remains closed until further no...

Hurricane Sandy: NY firefighter tells of Queens rescue

  • News Item
  • October 31, 2012
"Super-storm" Sandy has swept into the US East Coast with hurricane-force winds, bringing flooding, cutting power and claiming at least 13 lives. The BBC's Ben Thompson in New York says it does appear as if the city's worst fears have been realise...

Storm Sandy causes severe flooding in eastern US

  • News Item
  • October 29, 2012
"Super-storm" Sandy has swept into the US East Coast with hurricane-force winds, bringing severe flooding, cutting power and claiming 13 lives. Sandy caused a record surge of seawater in New York City, flooding subway and road tunnels and plunging...

Hurricane Sandy: US states begin storm shutdown

  • News Item
  • October 29, 2012
Barack Obama has warned Americans to take Hurricane Sandy seriously as authorities started shutting down the eastern seaboard ahead of its arrival. Several states have declared emergencies, with tens of millions of people affected as schools are c...

L'Aquila quake: Italy scientists guilty of manslaughter

  • News Item
  • October 25, 2012
Six Italian scientists and an ex-government official have been sentenced to six years in prison over the 2009 deadly earthquake in L'Aquila. A regional court found them guilty of multiple manslaughter. Prosecutors said the defendants gave a falsel...

Hong Kong boat crash off Lamma Island kills 36

  • News Item
  • October 2, 2012
A collision between two passenger boats off Hong Kong has left at least 36 people dead, officials say. One of the boats was carrying more than 120 people to a fireworks display when it half-sank following Monday night's collision near Lamma Island...

Pakistan floods: Tens of thousands made homeless

  • News Item
  • September 26, 2012
Tens of thousands of people have been made homeless by heavy monsoon flooding in the Pakistani provinces of Balochistan and Sindh, officials say. About 120,000 homes have been destroyed and tens of thousands of tents are now being distributed. Off...

Chile hopes earthquake technology can help save lives

  • News Item
  • September 26, 2012
On February 27, 2010 at 03:34 in Chile, the dark skyline shivered, as an 8.8 magnitude earthquake flattened homes, levelled bridges and burst water pipelines. The quake killed 525 people and inflicted $30bn (£19bn) in damage. Clogged mobile networ...

Wearable sensor maps disaster areas in real time

  • News Item
  • September 26, 2012
A sensor that digitally maps the area through which the wearer is moving, in real time, has been created by scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The project is supported by the US Air Force and the Office of Naval Research, a...

Storm continues to cause havoc

  • News Item
  • September 26, 2012
Flooding is expected to continue to cause problems, as the most intense September storm for 30 years continues. More than 75 warnings were in place, mainly in the north of England. Some areas could receive a further 20mm-40mm of rain. However, the...

Karachi factory fire: Relatives bury dead

  • News Item
  • September 13, 2012
Families in the Pakistani city of Karachi are burying their dead after a fire engulfed a garment factory with workers trapped inside, killing at least 247 people. Many other relatives are lining up at the city's hospitals to give blood samples to ...

Hillsborough papers: Key excerpts

  • News Item
  • September 13, 2012
Papers which reveal evidence of failures and deceit over the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground have been released to the public for the first time. The Hillsborough Independent Panel spent 18 months looking t...

Death toll from Karachi factory fire soars

  • News Item
  • September 12, 2012
At least 289 people have died in one of Pakistan's worst fires, at a garment factory in Karachi, officials say. Rescuers are still battling to reach the dead and injured inside, more than 24 hours after the inferno began. Hundreds were trapped ins...

Earthquakes shake south-west China's Yunnan

  • News Item
  • September 7, 2012
A series of earthquakes has hit south-west China, leaving at least 64 people dead and 715 injured, state-run media say. The quakes struck the border of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, with the largest felt at 11:19 Beijing time (03:19 GMT), Xinhua n...

Powerful earthquake rocks Costa Rica's north-west

  • News Item
  • September 6, 2012
A powerful earthquake in north-western Costa Rica has killed two people. The Red Cross said a 55-year-old woman died of a heart attack in Guanacaste, near the epicentre of the quake, and a construction worker was killed when a wall collapsed. The ...

Morocco bus crash leaves many dead

  • News Item
  • September 6, 2012
At least 42 people died when a bus plunged into a ravine in southern Morocco, officials say. More than 20 others are reported to have been injured, some seriously. The bus, travelling between the cities of Marrakesh and Zagora, left the road near ...

Turkey grenade depot blast kills 25

  • News Item
  • September 6, 2012
An explosion at an ammunition store in Turkey has killed 25 soldiers and wounded four others, the military says. The blast happened on Wednesday night at a military storage for hand grenades in the western province of Afyon. Environment Minister V...

Blaze at India fireworks factory 'kills 34'

  • News Item
  • September 5, 2012
At least 34 people have been killed and 30 others injured in a massive blaze at a fireworks factory in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, police say. The fire at the Om Shakti factory triggered off several explosions of firecrackers with thi...

Spain fires: Costa del Sol blaze 'mostly halted'

  • News Item
  • September 1, 2012
The advance of huge wildfires that have destroyed properties on Spain's Costa del Sol has been mostly halted, though pockets remain, officials say. Some people who had fled their homes have now been able to return, although others spent the night ...

Large earthquake strikes off Philippines

  • News Item
  • September 1, 2012
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake has struck off the eastern Philippine island of Samar, causing tsunami evacuations and power cuts. The regional tsunami warnings have now been lifted. The earthquake struck at a depth of 33km (20 miles) at 20:47 local ti...

Isaac breaks levee near sodden New Orleans

  • News Item
  • August 30, 2012
Hurricane Isaac has weakened to a tropical storm, pummelling New Orleans, but causing most damage to less-protected areas outside the city. Isaac is soaking the US Gulf Coast exactly seven years after the devastating and much stronger Hurricane Ka...

Hurricane Isaac bears down on New Orleans, Louisiana

  • News Item
  • August 29, 2012
Thousands of people have fled the US city of New Orleans as Hurricane Isaac makes its slow approach. The hurricane will hit the Louisiana city exactly seven years after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, but it is a much less powerful storm. ...

Haiti, Dominican Republic await Tropical Storm Isaac

  • News Item
  • August 24, 2012
Haiti and the Dominican Republic are braced for a battering as Tropical Storm Isaac approaches Hispaniola, the island shared by the two countries. Some 400,000 Haitians still living in makeshift camps after a deadly earthquake in 2010 are "amongst...

Three dead in newly-built Chinese bridge collapse

  • News Item
  • August 24, 2012
A section of a multi-million dollar bridge in China that opened in November has collapsed, leaving three people dead and five injured, state media say. Four lorries fell off the Yangmingtan Bridge in Harbin City, Heilongjiang province, when part o...

Wildfire near Manton, California, destroys 50 buildings

  • News Item
  • August 24, 2012
At least 50 buildings have been destroyed by a 33-sq-mile (85-sq-km) wildfire burning outside the northern Californian town of Manton, officials say. The lightning-sparked blaze began on Saturday and continues to threaten hundreds of homes. Up to ...

Typhoon Kai-Tak claims 27 lives as floods hit north Vietnam

  • News Item
  • August 19, 2012
At least 27 people have been killed during a typhoon which swept across northern provinces of Vietnam over the weekend, officials have said. Typhoon Kai-Tak made landfall on Friday, bringing intense rain and strong winds. Nearly 12,000 houses were...

Shamoon virus targets energy sector infrastructure

  • News Item
  • August 18, 2012
A new threat targeting infrastructure in the energy industry has been uncovered by security specialists. The attack, known as Shamoon, is said to have hit "at least one organisation" in the sector. Shamoon is capable of wiping files and rendering ...

Czech police arrest man over 'Breivik-style' plot

  • News Item
  • August 18, 2012
Police in the Czech Republic have arrested a man they suspect of planning an attack similar to those launched by Anders Bering Breivik in Norway. Weapons, explosives and police uniforms were found in his flat in the city of Ostrava and detectives ...

DR Congo mine collapse: Dozens killed

  • News Item
  • August 16, 2012
At least 60 miners have been killed after a shaft collapsed in a gold mine in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials say. The miners were about 100m underground when the accident happened in Orientale province on Monday, local media...

Dallas in state of emergency after West Nile virus

  • News Item
  • August 16, 2012
The city of Dallas in the US state of Texas has declared a state of emergency as it struggles to contain an outbreak of mosquito-borne West Nile virus. At least 14 people have died after contracting the virus in the state so far this year. Almost ...

Nigeria Plateau state floods kill 33

  • News Item
  • August 15, 2012
At least 33 people have been killed by heavy flooding in central Nigeria's Plateau state, relief official Abdussalam Muhammad has told the BBC. He said the floods had destroyed homes and washed away roads and bridges, hampering rescue efforts. Mor...

Asian nations 'face greatest natural disaster risk'

  • News Item
  • August 15, 2012
Emerging economies in Asia, including India and the Philippines, face the greatest financial risk from natural disasters, an analysis suggests. The authors based their rankings on nations' economic activity and exposure to natural hazards, such as...

Many injured in church bell tower firework blast

  • News Item
  • August 14, 2012
Up to 28 people were injured when a rogue firework accidentally set off thousands of others in a church bell tower at a festival in Spain. A spokeswoman for Elche town hall in eastern Spain said three firework operators were hospitalised for serio...

Fire in Spain's Canary Islands an 'ecological disaster'

  • News Item
  • August 14, 2012
Firefighters in Spain's Canary Islands are still struggling to contain a blaze on La Gomera described by a local official as an "ecological disaster". Five planes and seven helicopters are supporting firefighters on the ground. But a change in win...

Fire in Spain's Canary Islands forces La Gomera exodus

  • News Item
  • August 13, 2012
Firefighters are battling a forest fire on La Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands which forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people by ferry overnight. The worst affected area on La Gomera is Valle Gran Rey. Road access has been cut by the fire, whi...

'Ash falling like rain' in La Gomera as forest fire rages

  • News Item
  • August 13, 2012
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes in La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, as a forest fire continues to rage. The worst-affected area on La Gomera is Valle Gran Rey. Road access has been cut by the fire, which has spread with hi...

Iran quakes death toll rises to 250, as search goes on

  • News Item
  • August 12, 2012
Rescuers in Iran are searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors from two strong earthquakes which left at least 250 people dead. The 6.4 and 6.3 quakes struck near Tabriz and Ahar on Saturday afternoon, and more than 2,000 a...

India bus crashes in Himachal Pradesh killing 39

  • News Item
  • August 12, 2012
At least 39 people have died after a bus crashed into a gorge in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, say police. Local officials said the privately owned and crowded bus had been travelling from Chamba to Bharmaur. It reportedly skidded...

Tropical Storm Ernesto hits Mexico's Gulf coast

  • News Item
  • August 10, 2012
Tropical Storm Ernesto has hit Mexico for a second time, bringing strong winds and flooding to several areas of the southern Gulf coast. The storm, downgraded from a hurricane, has maximum winds of 110km/h (70mph). Ernesto hit Mexico on Tuesday af...

Philippines ramps up flood relief efforts

  • News Item
  • August 9, 2012
Efforts are under way in the Philippines to help hundreds of thousands of people affected by deadly floods that have paralysed the capital, Manila, and nearby areas. Officials appealed to volunteers to help distribute supplies to almost 300,000 pe...

New Zealand dormant volcano erupts after a century

  • News Item
  • August 7, 2012
A New Zealand volcano dormant for more than a century has erupted, sending up ash clouds, disrupting flights and closing roads. Mount Tongariro, one of three volcanoes in the centre of the North Island, became active just before midnight local tim...

Red Cross building attacked in Misrata, Libya

  • News Item
  • August 6, 2012
Unknown assailants have attacked a residential building of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Libyan port city of Misrata, the agency says. It said grenades and rockets were among the weapons used, causing major damage. The agency...

India monsoon floods kill 34 in Uttarakhand

  • News Item
  • August 6, 2012
Rescuers are searching for bodies in the debris of destroyed homes in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand where 34 people have been killed by heavy monsoon rains. The downpours which started on Thursday triggered landslides and flash floods. ...

Hundreds of millions without power in India

  • News Item
  • July 31, 2012
Hundreds of millions of people have been left without electricity in northern and eastern India after a massive power breakdown. More than half the country was hit by the power cuts after three grids collapsed - one for a second day. Hundreds of t...

India train fire kills 47 in Andhra Pradesh

  • News Item
  • July 30, 2012
At least 47 people have been killed in a fire on a passenger train travelling in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, officials say. One coach of the Tamil Nadu Express from Delhi to Chennai caught fire as it was passing through Nellore station ear...

Northern India hit by massive power cut

  • News Item
  • July 30, 2012
A massive power cut has caused disruption across northern India, including in the capital, Delhi. The outage hit at least six states including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan early on Monday, officials said. It is un...

Floods in North Korea 'killed 88 people in July'

  • News Item
  • July 29, 2012
Flooding in North Korea has killed 88 people and injured 134 others in the past ten days, state-run KCNA news agency said. Typhoons and torrential rain have damaged 5,000 homes and left more than 60,000 people homeless. South Pyongyang province su...

Sixteen Hindu pilgrims killed in Kashmir bus crash

  • News Item
  • July 27, 2012
A truck carrying Hindu worshippers has fallen into a gorge in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 16, police say. The worshippers were returning from Amarnath cave, the site of an annual pilgrimage, when the incident happened in Samba district la...

Stuxnet thwarted by control code update

  • News Item
  • July 25, 2012
German engineering giant Siemens has issued a fix for the software loopholes used by the notorious Stuxnet worm. Stuxnet was discovered in 2010 after investigations into malfunctions at many industrial plants and factories. Iran's nuclear enrichme...

One dead as earthquake strikes off Indonesia

  • News Item
  • July 25, 2012
A powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake has struck off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, sending people fleeing from their homes. One elderly man collapsed and died as he fled his home, officials said. There have been no reports of other casualt...

Nigeria: Deadly flooding in Jos in Plateau state

  • News Item
  • July 25, 2012
At least 39 people have been killed in flooding in central Nigeria's Plateau state after heavy rainfall caused a dam to overflow near the city of Jos. A Red Cross spokesman said that about 200 homes, many of them made from mud, had been submerged ...

Officials in southern Russia held over floods

  • News Item
  • July 22, 2012
Russian police have arrested three officials in the southern Krymsk region accused of failing to warn residents of disastrous flooding earlier this month. The former head of Krymsk district, who had already been fired for his handling of the flood...

Explosion in Turkey hits Iraq oil pipeline

  • News Item
  • July 21, 2012
An explosion has shut down twin pipelines that carry oil from Iraq to the Mediterranean. The blast happened on Friday night on a stretch of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline in the town of Midyat, in south-east Turkey near the Syrian border. Firefighters...

Portugal's Madeira hit by forest fires

  • News Item
  • July 20, 2012
Firefighters have been battling forest fires across the Portuguese island of Madeira for more than two days. Dozens of people have abandoned their homes as the wildfires, which began on Wednesday, came close to settlements. The latest evacuations...

Tanzania rescue bid as ferry sinks off Zanzibar

  • News Item
  • July 18, 2012
A Tanzanian ferry carrying at least 250 people has sunk near the island of Zanzibar. An operation to rescue passengers has been launched by the navy and police. The boat had left the city of Dar es Salaam earlier in the day. The navy said the vess...

South Asia landslides 'on the rise'

  • News Item
  • July 18, 2012
Most South Asian countries are witnessing an increasing trend in landslides in recent years and scientists say extreme rainfall patterns, seismicity, and uncontrolled human activities are to blame. Authorities have said the number of people killed...

Nine killed in second Nepali bus crash in two days

  • News Item
  • July 16, 2012
At least nine people have been killed in a bus accident in Nepal, police say, just one day after another deadly crash killed dozens. Monday's accident happened as the bus swerved off the road into a river. Rescue workers are still searching the wa...

Nepal crash kills dozens on pilgrim bus

  • News Item
  • July 16, 2012
At least 39 pilgrims have been killed in a bus crash in Nepal, officials say. The crowded bus swerved off a road and plunged into an irrigation canal near the town of Parasi, 150km (93 miles) south-west of Kathmandu. The bus was taking the pilgrim...

Cyprus naval explosion: Ministers deny charges

  • News Item
  • July 16, 2012
The former defence and foreign ministers of Cyprus have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges over a big explosion on a naval base that killed 13 people. Costas Papacostas and Marcos Kyprianou are among six public officials facing prosecution...

Real-time flood map goes online in UK

  • News Item
  • July 8, 2012
A live flood warning system has gone online as the UK experiences unseasonable amounts of heavy rain. The system aims to allow people to track areas that are in danger of imminent flooding. The FloodAlerts map offers people real-time updates on ar...

Russia floods: Putin orders inquiry over mass deaths

  • News Item
  • July 8, 2012
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered an inquiry into whether enough was done to prevent mass deaths in the southern flood-hit Krasnodar region. Mr Putin demanded to know how much warning people had been given about the impending disaster. ...

Flood warnings and rain persist in UK

  • News Item
  • July 8, 2012
Over ten flood warnings remain in place across England, with more heavy rain falling in some areas on Sunday. Warnings are in place in the Midlands, south-east and south-west but those for the Edinburgh and Lothians areas of Scotland have now bee...

US record heatwave leaves dozens dead

  • News Item
  • July 8, 2012
At least 42 people have died in a heatwave that has brought soaring temperatures to a dozen US states from the Midwest to the East Coast. Crops shrivelled and roads and railway lines buckled in the heat. Hundreds of records fell across the affecte...

Chernobyl's radioactive trees and the forest fire risk

  • News Item
  • July 7, 2012
Much of the 30km exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant is pine forest, and some of it so badly contaminated that a forest fire could create a devastating radioactive smoke cloud. Heading north from Kiev in Ukraine, you can see old ladi...

Colorado Waldo Canyon fire battle gains ground

  • News Item
  • July 3, 2012
The most destructive wildfire in the US state of Colorado's history is now 70% contained, officials say. The announcement came after residents visited their neighbourhoods to survey damage. Some 32,000 people were forced to leave the city of Colo...

Power outages persist for 1.4m amid US heatwave

  • News Item
  • July 3, 2012
Some 1.4m storm-struck households in the eastern US are without electricity for a fourth day amid sweltering temperatures. Three people have already died from heat-related deaths in Maryland, as crews from as far as Quebec and Oklahoma battle to r...

US storm-hit millions swelter in heatwave

  • News Item
  • July 2, 2012
At least two million people remain without power in the eastern US following storms that have been blamed for 22 deaths since Friday. Amid an ongoing heatwave, utilities warn it could take several more days to restore electricity to many household...

At least one dead in South Dakota wildfire plane crash

  • News Item
  • July 2, 2012
At least one person has died after a US military cargo plane crashed while battling a wildfire in South Dakota. Three others in the six-person crew were taken to hospital, officials said. Other team members are feared dead. Meanwhile, some evacua...

Washington DC region swelters after storm cuts power

  • News Item
  • July 1, 2012
Some three million people have been left without power after violent storms hit the region around the US capital, Washington DC. The storms swept from the Midwest states to the region around Washington, packing winds of up to 80mph (130 km/h). The...

Colorado Springs under threat as 32,000 flee fire

  • News Item
  • June 28, 2012
More than 32,000 people were forced to flee their homes as a raging wildfire threatening the US city of Colorado Springs doubled in size overnight. Traffic and smoke choked the streets as people hurried to evacuate the city and the nearby US Air ...

MI5 fighting 'astonishing' level of cyber-attacks

  • News Item
  • June 26, 2012
MI5 is working to counter "astonishing" levels of cyber-attacks on UK industry, the organisation's chief has said. In his first public speech for two years, Jonathan Evans warned internet "vulnerabilities" were being exploited by criminals as well...

Road to sustainability is through cities, says Ban Ki-moon

  • News Item
  • June 22, 2012
  Road to sustainability is through cities, says Ban Ki-moon Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 21 June 2012  — - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon applauds a crowd of Mayors and local government representatives for advancing sustainability in their towns and...

Colombian volcano Nevado del Ruiz spews ash and gas

  • News Item
  • June 18, 2012
Plumes of smoke and ash are continuing to rise from Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz volcano. People living on its slopes said they had heard "strong, strange noises" coming from the summit of the 5,346m-high mountain on Friday and Saturday. Officials s...

Radiohead stage collapse kills one in Canada

  • News Item
  • June 17, 2012
One person has died in a stage collapse before a Radiohead concert in the Canadian city of Toronto. Three others were injured, one seriously, in the incident at Downsview Park, medical officials said. The collapse happened an hour before the gates...

The sandwich approach: youth and experts prompt action beyond Rio+20

  • News Item
  • June 17, 2012
Belo Horizonte/Brazil, 16 June 2012 –  With the urgency of global action bigger than ever, new alliances between young municipal leaders and seasoned sustainability experts are needed to prompt strong action beyond Rio+20. This was one of the k...

Firefighters battle blazes near Greek capital Athens

  • News Item
  • June 17, 2012
Authorities in Greece have been battling wildfires in several locations near the capital Athens. More than 150 firefighters were called to tackle the fires which broke out on Saturday and spread in high winds. Three of them were reported injured....

Thirteen dead in Turkish prison fire

  • News Item
  • June 17, 2012
Thirteen prisoners have died and five others have been taken to hospital after a fire broke out in a prison in southeast Turkey, officials said. The victims suffocated after inmates set bedding alight at the jail in Sanliurfa province. The fire w...

Mystery over 'New Jersey yacht blast'

  • News Item
  • June 12, 2012
The US Coast Guard has suspended a search for 21 people apparently missing after a reported explosion on a yacht off the coast of New Jersey, amid suggestions that the report was a hoax. The Coast Guard made the announcement after several hours of...

'Fast' wildfire scorches Colorado

  • News Item
  • June 12, 2012
A fast-moving wildfire near Fort Collins in the US state of Colorado has scorched nearly 37,000 acres (14,973 hectares) of land, according to Nick Christensen, executive officer of the Larimer County Sheriff's Office. Hundreds of residents have b...

Afghan quakes: 80 died in landslide, says Baghlan governor

  • News Item
  • June 12, 2012
More than 80 people are believed to have been killed in a landslide triggered by two quakes in northern Afghanistan on Monday, officials say. "This is a human tragedy. An entire village was lost," the governor of Baghlan province told the BBC. Par...

Colorado wildfire not contained and 'moving fast'

  • News Item
  • June 11, 2012
A fast-moving wildfire near Fort Collins in the US state of Colorado has scorched nearly 37,000 acres (14,973 hectares) of land, officials say. The fire has not been contained and sheriff's officials described conditions as "concerning". Hundreds...

Flood and storm warnings in England and Wales

  • News Item
  • June 11, 2012
Severe weather warnings of heavy rain, and flood alerts, are in place across parts of England and Wales. The Environment Agency has issued alerts warning of possible flooding in 31 areas - 21 in south-east England, three in Wales and others in the...

Wales flooding: Rescue at flooded caravan parks

  • News Item
  • June 9, 2012
A major rescue is under way at caravan parks in mid Wales after severe flooding. Three people have been rescued by helicopter and police estimate 40 people have been taken to safety. People are still trapped and numerous caravans are surrounded b...

Volcano threatens millions in Mexico

  • News Item
  • June 4, 2012
Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano has blasted a tower of ash over nearby towns and villages prompting authorities to consider the possibility of evacuations. Popocatepetl sits roughly halfway between Mexico City and the city of Puebla, meaning some 25...

Diamond Jubilee: Massive London security operation planned

  • News Item
  • June 2, 2012
The Metropolitan Police have planned a security operation for the Diamond Jubilee weekend which is larger than that for last year's royal wedding. Up to 6,000 extra police officers will be on duty throughout the events and celebrations in London. ...

Prepare Now to Survive Perfect ‘Cyber Crime’ Storm Ahead, says Expert

  • News Item
  • May 31, 2012
Security guru urges people to plan for cyber threats just as they would any other disaster, as World Conference on Disaster Management gets underway June 25-27 in Toronto Toronto, Ontario – May 8, 2012 – It has been one year since hackers infiltra...

Supervolcanoes 'can grow in just hundreds of years'

  • News Item
  • May 31, 2012
The largest volcanoes on our planet may take as little as a few hundred years to form and erupt. These "supervolcanoes" were thought to exist for as much as 200,000 years before releasing their vast underground pools of molten rock. Researchers re...

Eighteen die in India road crash

  • News Item
  • May 31, 2012
Eighteen people were killed when a passenger bus crashed into a truck in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The accident took place in the Lakahooti area when the bus collided with a truck carrying people returning from a funeral early on Thursday....

Fire officers cleared over Atherstone warehouse deaths

  • News Item
  • May 30, 2012
Two senior fire officers have been found not guilty of the manslaughter of four colleagues who died tackling a blaze at a Warwickshire warehouse. Incident commanders Timothy Woodward, 51, and Adrian Ashley, 45, were charged after the Atherstone-on...

Italy quake: Aftershocks strike Emilia Romagna

  • News Item
  • May 30, 2012
Dozens of aftershocks have shuddered through Italy's northern Emilia Romagna region overnight. Seventeen people are now known to have died and another 350 were hurt in Tuesday's 5.8 magnitude quake, the second in just over a week. The latest victi...

Earthquakes without frontiers - new five year study on continental interiors

  • News Item
  • May 30, 2012
University of Cambridge, UK: A new five-year study is to target a relatively neglected area of earthquake research – the ten million square kilometres of the Alpine-Himalayan belt stretching from Italy, Greece and Turkey, across the Middle East, I...

Flame: Massive cyber-attack discovered, researchers say

  • News Item
  • May 29, 2012
A complex targeted cyber-attack that collected private data from countries such as Israel and Iran has been uncovered, researchers have said. Russian security firm Kaspersky Labs told the BBC they believed the malware, known as Flame, had been ope...

Tropical storm Beryl disrupts long weekend on US coast

  • News Item
  • May 29, 2012
Tropical storm Beryl has brought heavy rain and outages as it hit the south-eastern coast of the US. Winds of 70mph (113km/h) - close to hurricane strength - left about 23,000 households with no power in parts of Florida and Georgia. A number of r...

Kenyan capital Nairobi's centre rocked by large blast

  • News Item
  • May 28, 2012
A large explosion has hit the centre of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Several people are believed to have been wounded, reports say. TV pictures showed a fire raging in a badly damaged building. The blast's cause is unknown. A Red Cross disaster r...

Intel to use London as a smart city lab

  • News Item
  • May 25, 2012
Chip maker Intel has set up a laboratory in London to test the technologies that could power the cities of the future. The Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Connected Cities was unveiled at 10 Downing Street. Intel is partnering wit...

Up to 15 storms forecast for US in 2012

  • News Item
  • May 25, 2012
US weather officials predict there will be nine to 15 storms during this year's Atlantic hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) predicts four to eight of those storms will become hurricanes, a "near-normal" se...

Two jailed over New Zealand Rena ship disaster

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  • May 25, 2012
Two officers of the container ship that ran aground off New Zealand, causing its worst maritime spill, have been jailed for seven months each. Captain Mauro Balomaga and navigation officer Leonil Relon, both from the Philippines, had previously pl...

Jets scrambled amid security scare on US Airways flight

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  • May 22, 2012
Two F-15 fighter jets have been scrambled to escort a transatlantic flight diverted amid a passenger's suspicious behaviour, say US officials. The plane was due to land in Charlotte, North Carolina, but was sent over 900 miles (1,400km) away to Ba...

Deadly train crash in south India's Andhra Pradesh

  • News Item
  • May 22, 2012
At least 15 people have been killed and 25 injured when a passenger train collided with a goods train in India's Andhra Pradesh state. The Bangalore-bound Hampi Express crashed into the stationary goods train at Penneconda railway station early o...

Press release - Terror challenges in Asia, the trillion dollar market

  • News Item
  • May 21, 2012
  TERROR CHALLENGES IN ASIA: THE TRILLION DOLLAR MARKET By Maroof Raza Global spending on Homeland Security now stands at about $200 billion annually. But with budgets in Asia now set to increase by 30 percent in its trillion dollar plus market, w...

Four killed in northern Italy earthquake

  • News Item
  • May 20, 2012
An earthquake in northern Italy has killed at least four people and caused serious damage to buildings in several towns, officials say. The 6.0-magnitude quake struck in the middle of the night, about 35km (22 miles) north of the city of Bologna. ...

Shopping centre used in training

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  • May 17, 2012
A partly demolished shopping centre has been used for a major rescue training exercise. Hampshire fire crews have been practising the skills they will need to save lives in real disasters - both in the UK and around the world. The exercise involve...

PRESS RELEASE -- CBRN in the Maritime Environment

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  • May 16, 2012
CBRN in the Maritime Environment 26th - 27th September 2012, Marriott Regents Park, London, UK The UK’s first and only dedicated commercial Maritime CBRN conference In response to fears at seaports and terminals over access to sufficient detectio...

Georgian capital Tbilisi hit by floods - five dead

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  • May 14, 2012
At least five people have been killed and dozens hurt after a river burst its banks in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, flooding parts of the city centre. Floodwaters from the Mtkvari river submerged roads and bridges, cutting power supplies and depo...

Argentina river ship sinks after Paraguayan tug crash

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  • May 13, 2012
Seven people are missing after an Argentine cargo ship and a Paraguayan tug boat collided on the Parana river, Argentine officials say. The Argentine ship capsized and sank quickly after the crash. Divers have been searching for the missing men. A...

China rainstorms kill dozens in Gansu province

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  • May 13, 2012
Some 40 people are now reported to have died in rain and hail storms in north-western China. The official Xinhua news agency also said another 18 people were still missing following the storms on Thursday in Gansu province. The agency said more th...

Smoke bombs disrupt service on Montreal subways

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  • May 11, 2012
Smoke bombs were set off in several subway stations in Montreal, Canada, temporarily halting service during rush hour, police say. Most subways were operating normally by 10:00 (14:00 GMT), and there were no reports of injuries. Thousands of commu...

CIA 'foils underwear bomb' plot by al-Qaeda in Yemen

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  • May 7, 2012
US intelligence officials say they have disrupted a plot by al-Qaeda in Yemen to detonate an upgraded version of the failed 2009 "underwear bomb", according to US media reports. The device is said to be in US custody, with the FBI reportedly exami...

London to test 'smart city' operating system

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  • May 7, 2012
An operating system designed to power the smart cities of the future will be put through its paces in London. Living Plan IT has developed its Urban OS to provide a platform to connect services and citizens. With partners including Hitachi, Philli...

Engineers launch artificial earthquakes at 'hospital'

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  • May 7, 2012
Engineers in California have unleashed high-intensity artificial earthquakes on a five-storey building packed with medical equipment. The mock hospital has been built on a giant "shake table" which can subject the building to movements similar to ...

London 2012: Ambulance service in Olympics training

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  • May 7, 2012
Ambulance staff from across the country have joined forces in London this weekend to test their response to incidents ahead of the 2012 Games Exercise Amber was hosted by the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and held at the service's Olympics deploy...

Thai industrial complex suffers deadly fire and blast

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  • May 7, 2012
At least 12 people have been killed and more than 100 injured as explosions and a fire hit Thailand's largest petro-chemical complex. Hundreds of residents living near the Map Ta Phut plant, in Rayong province, were evacuated and experts are monit...

Dozens missing in Nepal floods near Annapurna

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  • May 7, 2012
Dozens of people are still missing in Nepal after a mountain river burst its banks near Mount Annapurna, in the west of the country, causing flash flooding, police say. A police official told AFP that a search operation for the 43 missing people w...

Scores hurt as balloons explode at Armenia rally

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  • May 5, 2012
Scores of people have been injured in the Armenian capital Yerevan after clusters of gas balloons exploded at a political rally. Crowds were attending a government campaign event in the city's central square ahead of parliamentary polls. Health o...

India riots: Nine convicted over Gujarat killings

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  • May 4, 2012
A court in India has convicted nine people of burning three people to death in their home during the religious riots in Gujarat state 10 years ago. Thirty-two others were acquitted of the crime which took place in Ode village in Anand district. Mo...

Nepal forest fires 'cause big wildlife loss'

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  • May 4, 2012
Protected areas in Nepal and northern India have been affected by forest fires, with at least one suffering huge wildlife losses, officials have said. They say nearly 70% of Nepal's Bardiya National Park has been consumed by fire in the past few ...

Search for survivors after India ferry sinking

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  • May 1, 2012
Divers and rescue workers are looking for survivors on the Brahmaputra river in India's Assam state, where a ferry capsized during a storm on Monday, killing at least 103 people. Police said about 150 people had been rescued or swam to safety whil...

London 2012: Major Olympic security test unveiled

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  • April 30, 2012
Details of a major Olympic security exercise involving the deployment of Royal Navy ships, RAF helicopters and jets have been unveiled. Exercise Olympic Guardian takes place on land, sea and air in the London and Weymouth areas between 2 and 10 Ma...

'At least 30 dead' as Indian ferry sinks

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  • April 30, 2012
At least 30 people have died after a ferry capsized in north-eastern India, local police say. The vessel was reported to be carrying at least 200 passengers on the Brahmaputra river in Assam state. Reports say at least 160 other passengers are mis...

Lightning in India's West Bengal kills nine

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  • April 30, 2012
Nine people have been killed and 15 others injured from lightning striking a temple in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, police say. The incident happened when a group of people took shelter in the temple during torrential rains in the Uday...

Ukraine to build Chernobyl 'cap' to stop radiation leak

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  • April 27, 2012
Twenty-six years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Ukraine is launching the construction of a new protective layer to cover the section of the reactor that exploded. The disaster, caused by an explosion and fire in the nuclear power station's ...

GPS network is quick quake sensor

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  • April 26, 2012
The US space agency Nasa is set to test a real-time network of GPS sensors that it hopes will lead to faster, more accurate earthquake analysis. Nearly 500 sensors in the Pacific-coast states of California, Oregon and Washington will be put to use...

BP oil spill: First criminal charges filed in US

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  • April 24, 2012
The US justice department has filed the first criminal charges linked to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A former BP engineer was arrested on charges of intentionally destroying evidence. Kurt Mix of Katy, Texas, faces two counts of obstruction o...

Spam: India leads world in junk emails

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  • April 23, 2012
India has become the top spam-spewing nation on the planet, suggests a report. Compiled by security firm Sophos, the report ranks nations by the amount of junk mail routed through computers in each country. India has leapt to the top of the spam c...

Kenya church group killed by flash floods in park

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  • April 23, 2012
Seven members of a church youth group have died after being swept away by flash floods in a national park, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has said. Park guides rescued eight others, KWS spokesman Paul Udoto said. The Kenyan nationals were walkin...

Dutch train crash: Woman dies of her injuries

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  • April 23, 2012
A 68-year-old woman has died of injuries in a head-on collision between two trains near the Dutch city of Amsterdam on Saturday, officials say. Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan said 16 other people seriously injured in the crash remained in h...

Iranian oil terminal 'offline' after 'malware attack'

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  • April 23, 2012
Iran has been forced to disconnect key oil facilities after suffering a malware attack on Sunday, say reports. The computer virus is believed to have hit the internal computer systems at Iran's oil ministry and its national oil company. Equipment ...

Salvage deal for Costa Concordia agreed

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  • April 22, 2012
Work to salvage the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship is due to start next month, the owners say. The contract was won by US-based company Titan Salvage and an Italian firm specialising in underwater ship repairs, Microperi, Costa Cruises said....

Netherlands train crash: Scores injured in Amsterdam

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  • April 22, 2012
About 125 people have been injured, at least 13 of them seriously, when two passenger trains collided in the Amsterdam area, Dutch officials say. They say the accident happened near Sloterdijk, to the west of the capital. Neither train was derail...

Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano spews burning rock

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  • April 20, 2012
The Popocatepetl volcano outside of Mexico City has been spewing glowing rock fragments as far as 1km (0.6 miles) down its slopes. Columns of ash have been shooting from more than 60 openings in the crust of the 5,450m (17,900-foot) volcano. Resid...

'Huge' water resource exists under Africa

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  • April 20, 2012
Scientists say the notoriously dry continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater. They argue that the total volume of water in aquifers underground is 100 times the amount found on the surface. The team have produced the most d...

Mexico raises Popocatepetl volcano alert

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  • April 18, 2012
Mexico has raised the alert level around the huge Popocatepetl volcano, after it began spewing ash and steam. Several schools around the 5,450m (17,900 foot) volcano were closed as a precaution, and evacuation shelters have been prepared. The Nati...

US tornadoes: Sixth death reported from Midwest storms

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  • April 17, 2012
A sixth person has died after tornadoes tore through the US Midwest at the weekend, emergency officials say. Earlier three girls, aged five, seven and 10, and two men were among those killed in Woodward, Oklahoma, after the town's warning sirens f...

Mexico shaken by two earthquakes in 24 hours

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  • April 12, 2012
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake has struck off Mexico's Pacific coast, the second to hit the area in the last 24 hours. The quake struck in the Gulf of California, 127km (78 miles) northeast of the town of Guerrero Negro, in Baja California, the US Geo...

Disaster zone robot competition announced by Pentagon

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  • April 10, 2012
A competition to develop next-generation robots capable of saving lives in disaster zones has been unveiled by the Pentagon's advanced research laboratory. Darpa says it wants "adaptable robots with the ability to use human tools - from hand tools...

Disaster fund to encourage new solutions

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  • April 8, 2012
The Department for International Development is to announce a fund this week to encourage new solutions to assist after natural disasters. Examples of the kind of projects it will support include an app to help reunite missing families, and using ...

Texas tornadoes wreck homes and ground flights

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  • April 4, 2012
Several powerful tornadoes have touched down near Dallas, in the US state of Texas, flipping trucks, wrecking homes, uprooting trees and grounding planes. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport cancelled flights and moved passengers away from glass windows for...

Elgin leak poses massive challenge

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  • March 30, 2012
An uncontrolled release of fossil fuel out in the ocean. An oil giant's share price tumbling. A frantic search for techniques to shut off the leak. Sound familiar? A visit to Aberdeen on Thursday prompted the question of parallels between Total's ...

Elgin platform gas leak: Work 'could take six months' says Total

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  • March 27, 2012
Oil company Total has revealed it could take six months to drill a relief well to stop the gas leak on its Elgin platform in the North Sea. The company is looking at several options to stem the flow of gas following Sunday's incident. Jake Molloy,...

Foreign spies 'penetrate' US military networks

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  • March 23, 2012
Foreign spies should be assumed to have penetrated the computer networks of the US military, American politicians have been told. Security experts testifying to the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee said the penetration was likely so complete tha...

India swine flu outbreak kills 12

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  • March 23, 2012
Twelve people have died of swine flu in India since the beginning of March, the country's health ministry says. Half of the deaths have been reported from the western state of Maharashtra. Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have also reported...

Costa Concordia: Five more bodies found

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  • March 22, 2012
More than two months after the cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized off the Italian coast, a team searching the wreck has found five more bodies. Italian authorities say they were found outside the ship, in a small space between the wreck and the...

Afghanistan avalanche 'kills 22' in Badakhshan

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  • March 22, 2012
At least 22 people from one extended family have been killed in an avalanche in Afghanistan's north-eastern Badakhshan province, officials say. They say that the avalanche took place in the Wakhan Corridor, a small, mountainous and remote finger o...

Gloucestershire rescue groups take part in flood test

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  • March 22, 2012
Emergency and rescue organisations are taking part in a training exercise to test their response to flooding. The three-day search and rescue exercise is taking place in Lydney in the Forest of Dean. The town is under threat because of its locati...

Mexico hit by strong earthquake near Acapulco

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  • March 21, 2012
A large earthquake has struck near Acapulco on Mexico's Pacific coast. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake had a magnitude of 7.4 and put the epicentre at 15 miles (25km) east of Ometepec, in Guerrero state. Witnesses in the ...

Mexico hit by strong earthquake near Acapulco

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  • March 20, 2012
A large earthquake has struck near Acapulco on Mexico's Pacific coast. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake had a magnitude of 7.6 and put the epicentre at 15 miles (25km) east of Ometepec, in Guerrero state. Witnesses in the ...

Court finds Australian man guilty of bushfire in 2009

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  • March 20, 2012
An Australian man has been convicted of deliberately starting a blaze three years ago that was part of the worst wildfire disaster in the country's history. A Victoria Supreme Court jury found Brendan Sokaluk, 42, guilty of lighting a bushfire tha...

India: 15 dead after train hits vehicle

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  • March 20, 2012
A train in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh has collided with a vehicle packed with passengers, killing at least 15 people, officials say. The crash happened at an unmanned level crossing near Madu railway station in Hathras early on Tuesda...

Mexico hit by strong earthquake near Acapulco

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  • March 20, 2012
A large earthquake has struck near Acapulco on Mexico's Pacific coast. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake had a magnitude of 7.6 and put the epicenter at 15 miles (525 km) east of Ometepec, in Guerrero state. Witnesses said ...

India bus crash kills at least 16 school children

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  • March 20, 2012
Indian police say at least 16 children died and 18 others were injured when their school bus crashed into a canal in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The driver lost control of the bus when he tried to avoid a head-on collision with a motorcycle, pol...

Chevron halts production after leak at Brazil oil field

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  • March 16, 2012
The US oil company Chevron says it has temporarily halted production operations in Brazil after a fresh oil leak was discovered. It has detected what it calls a "small new seepage" of oil on the seabed close to a well in the Frade field, where th...

Virgin Media wins London Underground wi-fi contract

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  • March 15, 2012
Virgin Media has won the contract to provide wi-fi to the London Underground. The contract is only for ticket offices, escalators and platforms because it would have required major construction work to have added connectivity to the network's tunn...

Switzerland coach crash kills 28, including 22 children

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  • March 14, 2012
At least 28 people - including 22 children - have been killed in a bus crash in Switzerland, police say. Another 24 children were injured in the accident in the canton of Valais, near the border with Italy. The bus - which was carrying children f...

Bangladesh ferry sinking kills at least 32

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  • March 13, 2012
At least 32 people have died and scores are missing after a ferry with some 200 people on board sank in a southern Bangladeshi river, police say. About 50 people swam to safety after the accident in the Meghna River, south-west of the capital Dhak...

Japan quake: 'Humans are kind'

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  • March 12, 2012
Japan is marking the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck the north-eastern coast, leaving 20,000 dead or missing. Hina Oishi, a 24-year-old working in Iwata, Japan, is originally from Ishinomaki, one of the har...

Solar storm passes without incident

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  • March 11, 2012
A solar storm in the Earth's magnetic field has passed by the Earth with minimal effects, experts say. "The freight train has gone by, and is still going by, and now we're just watching for how this is all going to shake out," said Joseph Kunches,...

Helicopter rescue for crew of ship aground off Sicily

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  • March 11, 2012
Coast guards in Italy have used helicopters to rescue the crew of a cargo ship after it ran aground on a reef off Sicily in stormy seas. All 19 crew members were ferried to shore by helicopters after the captain of the Gelso M gave the order to ab...

Japan tsunami: Stories and signs of hope

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  • March 11, 2012
A year after the biggest earthquake on record to hit Japan and the tsunami which followed in its wake, Roland Buerk visits some of the places hit by the disaster to see what progress has been made in rebuilding towns and lives. The Otsuchi vending...

Afghanistan avalanche kills 37 in Badakhshan

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  • March 6, 2012
At least 37 people have been killed by an avalanche in Afghanistan's north-eastern Badakhshan province. The provincial governor's office said another six people were injured when the snow hit a village in Shekay district, near the Tajikistan borde...

'Up to 50 dead' in Guinea lorry crash

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  • March 5, 2012
Reports say up to 50 people have died and at least 20 injured after a road crash in eastern Guinea. "A lorry... was the cause of this serious accident which has plunged numerous families into mourning," government minister Alhassane Conde said in...

Earthquake shakes Indian capital Delhi

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  • March 5, 2012
An earthquake has shaken buildings in the Indian capital, Delhi, sending people running into the streets. India's earthquake centre said it measured magnitude 4.9 and was centred in Bahadurgarh in Haryana state, about 50km (30 miles) west of Delhi...

Greek tanker sinks with captain on board

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  • March 5, 2012
A Greek tanker carrying more than 2,000 tonnes of oil has sunk off the port of Piraeus, with its captain on board. Coastguards said divers retrieved the body of the Alpha 1's captain, while its 10 other crew members were rescued. Officials said no...

'Short-circuit' caused Congo's deadly arms depot blasts

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  • March 5, 2012
Huge explosions at an arms depot that killed at least 146 people in Congo's capital Brazzaville were caused by a short-circuit that led to a fire, government officials say. They say some 1,500 people were hurt.Rescuers are still searching for s...

Poland suffers deadly train crash near Szczekociny

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  • March 4, 2012
Two trains have collided in southern Poland, leaving 16 people dead and 58 hurt, local officials say. The accident occurred on Saturday evening on the Warsaw-Krakow mainline at the small town of Szczekociny, according to Polish TV. Two express tr...

BP reaches $7.8n deal over Deepwater Horizon oil spill

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  • March 3, 2012
BP says it has reached a $7.8bn (£4.9bn) deal with the largest group of plaintiffs suing the company over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill. It will benefit some 100,000 fishermen, local residents and clean-up workers whose livelihoods or h...

At least 27 dead as tornadoes sweep across US states

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  • March 3, 2012
A series of powerful storms and tornadoes have killed at least 27 people in the US states of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, officials say. Local police confirmed that 13 people died as tornadoes swept across three counties in Indiana. Twelve more die...

Syria unrest: Red Cross urges access to Baba Amr, Homs

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  • March 3, 2012
The Red Cross says it will try again to be allowed access to the devastated Baba Amr district of the Syrian city of Homs, after being blocked on Friday. It said it was "unacceptable" that its seven-lorry convoy had been stopped. There have been re...

Fire Minister announces funding for successful control centre projects

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  • March 1, 2012
Today the Government is publishing the outcome of its invitation to fire and rescue authorities in England to submit their plans to improve the resilience, efficiency and technology in their control services following the termination of the last G...

Russia: Ten bodies found after explosion in Astrakhan

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  • February 29, 2012
According to EMERCOM of Russia, a round-the-clock search for the injured after a household gas explosion has found 26 people. Eighteen people were injured and ten unidentified bodies have been retrieved. Medical assistance was provided on scene an...

China chemical plant blast leaves 12 dead, many injured

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  • February 28, 2012
An explosion at a pharmaceutical factory in northern China has killed at least 12 people, local government officials said. Part of the plant was flattened by the blast and witnesses said houses within a 2km diameter had windows smashed. Police be...

Tilbury power station blaze under control

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  • February 27, 2012
A huge blaze which engulfed a power station at Tilbury in Essex has been brought under control, firefighters say. More than 120 firefighters tackled the blaze, which started in a storage area containing about 4,000 tonnes of wood pellets at about...

Cruise ship Costa Allegra adrift off Seychelles

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  • February 27, 2012
An Italian cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board is without power in the Indian Ocean following a fire. No one has been injured. The Costa Allegra is adrift in the dark more than 200 miles southwest of the Seychelles, near Alphonse Isl...

Bahrain's 'underground medics' secretly treat injured protesters

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  • February 25, 2012
Fearful of arrest when seeking treatment in Bahrain's hospitals, injured protesters are turning for help to medics who have been forced underground, a Bahraini doctor has told the BBC. Sixteen-year-old Mohammed al-Jaziri was seriously injured when...

Olympic security plans put to the test

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  • February 22, 2012
UK: A major two-day exercise is currently under way to test the response of the Government and the emergency services to a terrorist incident set during the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. Exercise 'Forward Defensive' is testing Games ti...

Deadly train crash in Buenos Aires

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  • February 22, 2012
Argentina: Several people have been killed and some 550 injured in a commuter train crash at a station in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. Local reporters say they saw 12 bodies removed from the wreckage, with dozens of people still trappe...

UK Government evaluates electro-magnetic pulse event threats

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  • February 22, 2012
UK: The Government must improve on its current reactive posture to the threat of a major electro-magnetic pulse event says the Defence Committee in its report entitled: Developing Threats: Electro-Magnetic Pulses (EMP) - see CRJ 6:3, October 2011;...

Earthquake shakes northern Italy

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  • January 28, 2012
Northern Italy has been hit by an earthquake of magnitude 5.3, the second tremor in the area this week. Residents of Turin and Milan were among those who felt the earthquake, at 1553 local time (1453 GMT), though there are no reports of any damag...

Three dead in Rio de Janeiro building collapse

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  • January 26, 2012
The bodies of three people have been recovered in Brazil by rescue workers searching through rubble after the collapse of three high-rise office buildings in Rio de Janeiro. At least 16 people remain missing, but rescue workers say it is unlikely ...

Big Tokyo earthquake likely 'within the next few years'

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  • January 24, 2012
The chance of a big earthquake hitting the Japanese capital in the next few years is much greater than official predictions suggest, researchers say. The team, from the University of Tokyo, said there was a 75% probability that a magnitude seven q...

Mexico earthquake in Chiapas shakes region

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  • January 22, 2012
A 6.2-magnitude earthquake has hit the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, shattering windows and sending frightened residents into the streets. The quake struck in the Pacific Ocean about 35 miles (55km) south-west of the city of Mapastepec, near ...

Elite security rehearsal on the Thames in preparation for Olympics

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  • January 19, 2012
British security teams have been taking part in a large scale security rehearsal in London ahead of this summer's Olympic Games. Scotland Yard and the Royal Marines are joining forces for a series of "familiarisation exercises" as part of their pr...

Indonesia quake triggers brief tsunami alert

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  • January 11, 2012
A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province, prompting officials to issue a brief tsunami warning. Residents ran into the streets after the 7.3 magnitude quake struck 423km (262 miles) south-west of Banda Aceh. No damag...

Brazil dam burst forces thousands from homes

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  • January 8, 2012
Brazilian authorities are trying to evacuate several thousand people after a dam burst in northern Rio de Janeiro state. Water broke through the dam protecting the town of Campos de Goytacazes, opening up a big crater in a highway. Rio and other p...

Stricken cargo ship Rena breaks up off New Zealand

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  • January 8, 2012
A cargo ship which ran aground off the coast of New Zealand three months ago has broken in two, spilling containers and threatening a new oil spill. Heavy seas snapped off the stern section of the Greek-owned Rena, which leaked large amounts of fu...

New Zealand's Christchurch rocked by earthquakes

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  • December 23, 2011
Two strong earthquakes have rocked the New Zealand city of Christchurch, closing the airport and sending residents rushing from buildings. The first 5.8 quake struck at 1358 local time (0058 GMT), the US Geological Survey said. A second of similar...

Philippines floods: More than 1,000 remain missing

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  • December 23, 2011
The Philippines government says 1,079 people are still missing in the wake of the devastating Typhoon Washi. More than 1,000 others are known to have died in the storm, which struck Mindanao island on Saturday. Entire neighbourhoods in Cagayan de ...

Tanzania floods: Heavy rains inundate Dar es Salaam

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  • December 23, 2011
At least 20 people have died in floods after unusually heavy rains hit Tanzania's main city of Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) has warned that the downpours are set to continue and has told those living in the city's valley...

Hong Kong orders chicken cull as bird flu alert raised

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  • December 21, 2011
Hong Kong is culling 17,000 chickens after three birds were confirmed to have died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in the past week. The government has banned imports and the sale of live chickens for three weeks after an infected chicken car...

Philippines flood toll passes 650 as search continues

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  • December 18, 2011
The number of people killed in the Philippines by floods triggered by Tropical Storm Washi has risen to 650. Soldiers and volunteers are still searching for the 800 people reported missing on southern Mindanao island. Many were trapped in their ho...

Russian fishing vessel in Antarctic drama

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  • December 15, 2011
A Russian fishing vessel with 32 people on board has issued a mayday call, after taking on water close to the Antarctic ice shelf. A number of ships are on their way to assist the vessel, the Sparta, but they are being hampered by ice and the near...

Improving earthquake building preparedness

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  • December 15, 2011
Australia: University of Adelaide researchers are leading an international project to help identify buildings most vulnerable to earthquakes and the best ways to strengthen them. Chief Investigator Professor Mike Griffith, from the University ...

India toxic alcohol kills 102 in West Bengal

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  • December 15, 2011
At least 102 people are now known to have died after consuming toxic alcohol in India's West Bengal state. Residents of 12 villages in the South 24 Parganas district fell ill after drinking the alcohol. Four people have been arrested. Some 100 oth...

Tala launches international crisis communications network and secures first client

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  • December 15, 2011
Following its appointment by global security and risk assessment company, red24, PR consultancy Tala has announced the launch of an international crisis communications network. The new network comprises communications experts a...

Papua New Guinea hit by 7.1 magnitude earthquake

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  • December 14, 2011
A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake has struck the Pacific state of Papua New Guinea, but no tsunami warnings have been issued. The quake struck 89km (55 miles) from the second city of Lae, at a depth of 121km, said the US Geological Survey. "It w...

New award honours Edward Blakely

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  • December 14, 2011
USA: The Planners of Color Interest Group (POCIG), a group affiliated with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), is pleased to establish the Edward Blakely Award. This achievement award will be given each year to a worthy candi...

Liege attack: Gunman kills three in Belgium

  • News Item
  • December 13, 2011
A gunman has opened fire in the centre of the Belgian city of Liege, killing at least three people and wounding 75. The man also threw grenades into a crowded square from a rooftop before killing himself, reports say. The attacker was named as Nor...

Mexico earthquake kills two in Guerrero state

  • News Item
  • December 11, 2011
A 6.7-magnitude earthquake has struck Mexico, shaking buildings and sending people rushing out on to the street. The quake, which struck the western state of Guerrero at 19:47 local time (01:47 GMT), was strongly felt in Mexico City. At least two ...

Ferry hijacked in western Turkey's Gulf of Izmit

  • News Item
  • November 11, 2011
A passenger ferry has been seized in waters off north-west Turkey by up to five hijackers, officials say. The ferry, named Kartepe, was travelling in the Sea of Marmara with more than 20 people on board. The captain was allowed to give a brief int...

China: Yunnan gas-leak mine 'is illegal'

  • News Item
  • November 11, 2011
A Chinese mine where 21 workers were killed on Thursday and 22 more remain trapped was being operated illegally, state media has reported. The pit, in the south-western Yunnan province, lost its licence a year ago. The government has tried to shut...

Turkey earthquake: Rescue teams search for survivors

  • News Item
  • November 10, 2011
Rescue teams are searching for dozens of people trapped in rubble after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey, killing at least seven people. Twenty-five buildings have collapsed, including a six-storey hotel in the city of Van, where ...

China mine disaster: Nineteen killed in Yunnan colliery

  • News Item
  • November 10, 2011
Nineteen miners have been killed and more are trapped underground after an accident at a colliery in south China. The incident happened early on Thursday at the Sizhuang mine in Yunnan province's Qujing city. Hundreds of firemen, rescue teams and ...

London 2012: Chemical attack scenario rehearsal

  • News Item
  • November 8, 2011
Firefighters have tackled a mock chemical attack in south London during an exercise testing their response skills ahead of the Olympic Games. Crews used specialist equipment to practice decontaminating more than 100 victims as part of the test at...

Colombia mudslide deaths mount

  • News Item
  • November 8, 2011
The number of people known to have died in a mudslide in western Colombia has risen to at least 38. Rescuers are continuing to search for more than 20 people believed buried beneath 300 tonnes of earth and mud. Fourteen homes were swept away when ...

India stampede 'kills 16' at Haridwar festival

  • News Item
  • November 8, 2011
At least 16 people have been killed in a stampede in the holy northern Indian town of Haridwar. The stampede happened at a religious ceremony observing the 100th anniversary of the birth of the founder of a Hindu sect. Thousands have been attendin...

Thailand floods: Bangkok evacuation widens

  • News Item
  • November 7, 2011
Residents in more districts of the Thai capital have been warned to evacuate as flood water continues to move south towards the sea. The water has now reached the outskirts of the inner city, although the authorities are still battling to keep the...

Oklahoma shaken by 5.6 magnitude earthquake

  • News Item
  • November 6, 2011
The US state of Oklahoma has been shaken by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake, thought to be the strongest in its history. Some buildings cracked and a highway buckled, but there were no immediate reports of serious injury or damage. The quake was centre...

Deadly mudslide strikes western Colombia

  • News Item
  • November 6, 2011
Rescue workers in Colombia say at least 15 people have died in landslides in the west of the country. Sniffer dogs are searching for dozens of people feared buried under mud and rubble after their houses were washed away in the city of Manizales. ...

Thailand flooding death toll 'tops 500'

  • News Item
  • November 6, 2011
The number of people killed by months of flooding in northern Thailand has risen to more than 500, officials say. Three months of heavy rain have affected about a third of Thailand's province, destroying farmland and forcing tens of thousands from...

Bangkok floods: Anger grows in deluged districts

  • News Item
  • November 1, 2011
Flood water has continued to pour into outer districts of the Thai capital, Bangkok, forcing residents to evacuate. The government says efforts to protect the centre of the city from the rising water have been largely successful. But tension has b...

London to host cyberspace security conference

  • News Item
  • November 1, 2011
London is preparing to host a major international conference on the threat from cyber security attacks. Representatives of 60 nations are gathering to discuss how to tackle the rising levels of cybercrime. It comes a day after intelligence agency ...

Early snow storm leaves major power outages in US

  • News Item
  • October 31, 2011
More than two million homes are still without power after an unseasonable snowstorm hit the US East Coast over the weekend. The storm, which brought up to 30in (76cm) of snow in parts, has been blamed for a dozen deaths. Power outages in two state...

Early snowstorm hits US East Coast

  • News Item
  • October 30, 2011
An unseasonable snowstorm has hit the US East Coast, with some areas of New Jersey and Massachusetts seeing around 15in (40cm) of snow. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a winter storm warning from Saturday into Sun...

Gas explosion kills 29 in Chinese coalmine

  • News Item
  • October 30, 2011
A deadly blast at a coal mine in southern China has killed 29 people. The gas explosion took place at a colliery in Hunan province, Chinese state media reported. Six miners were being treated in hospital after being rescued from the Xialiuchong Co...

US military helicopters to survey deadly Thai flooding

  • News Item
  • October 29, 2011
The Thai authorities have asked US military helicopters to survey flooding, which has hit the north and is now threatening the capital Bangkok. Two Seahawk helicopters aboard the USS Mustin warship would conduct "aerial reconnaissance", the Pentag...

Dozens feared dead after India bridge collapses

  • News Item
  • October 29, 2011
At least 30 people, many of them women and children, are feared dead after a foot bridge spanning a river in north-eastern India collapsed. At least 28 people were rescued from the Kameng River, in Arunachal Pradesh state, after the structure coll...

Early snowstorm approaches US East Coast

  • News Item
  • October 29, 2011
An unseasonable snowstorm threatens to bring up to 10in (25cm) of early snowfall to the US East Coast. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a winter storm warning from Saturday into Sunday and says travel conditions ma...

Thailand floods: Bangkok residents leave as river rises

  • News Item
  • October 28, 2011
Water levels in Bangkok's main river hit a new high as residents continued to leave the Thai capital ahead of possible flooding at the weekend. Roads were jammed as residents used a five-day holiday to leave the city. Flood waters are continuing t...

Hurricane Rina downgraded to tropical storm near Cancun

  • News Item
  • October 27, 2011
Hurricane Rina has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it approaches Mexico's Caribbean coast, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) says. Despite weakening, Rina is forecast to bring winds of up to 110km/h (68mph) when it makes landfall late ...

Turkey earthquake: Survivor found after 100 hours

  • News Item
  • October 27, 2011
A man has been pulled alive from the rubble of a building in south-eastern Turkey, more than 100 hours after an earthquake devastated his town. He was rescued from the flattened block of flats in Ercis. He is in hospital, and said to be in good co...

Bangkok floods: Thousands flee as waters approach

  • News Item
  • October 27, 2011
Thousands of residents are rushing to leave the Thai capital Bangkok, which is braced for potentially severe flooding over the weekend. The city's bus and train stations and many roads are jammed by crowds of people attempting to flee. People in s...

Deadly floods hit Ghana capital Accra

  • News Item
  • October 27, 2011
Heavy floods have swept through Ghana's capital, Accra, killing nine people, officials say. The floods destroyed homes, cut off electricity and forced the closure of schools and shops. President John Atta Mills visited the affected areas, as emerg...

Turkey earthquake: Aid lorries looted by survivors

  • News Item
  • October 27, 2011
The Turkish Red Crescent said that 17 lorries carrying aid for earthquake victims have been looted. Local officials in the city of Van said that survivors, furious at not receiving supplies, had raided the convoy for food and blankets. In the wors...

Hurricane Rina forms in Caribbean

  • News Item
  • October 25, 2011
Hurricane Rina has formed in the western Caribbean, threatening to bring heavy rain and powerful winds to southern Mexico and Central America. A Nicaraguan navy vessel that was evacuating coastal residents has gone missing with 27 people on board....

Dublin on emergency footing as floods cause chaos

  • News Item
  • October 25, 2011
Dublin City Council has activated its major emergency plan as a result of widespread flooding in the city. Sustained rainfall led to major roads, houses and one of the city's main shopping centres going under water. An off-duty Irish police office...

Turkey earthquake: More aid pledged to worst-hit areas

  • News Item
  • October 25, 2011
The Turkish government has pledged more aid to thousands of people affected by Sunday's deadly earthquake in the east. Officials said 12,000 more tents would be delivered to the cities of Ercis and Van and also to nearby villages. Ankara has been ...

Turkey earthquake: Desperate search for survivors

  • News Item
  • October 24, 2011
Rescue teams in Turkey are continuing to search for people trapped under rubble after a strong earthquake hit the eastern Van region on Sunday. Some 265 people died and 1,140 were injured in the 7.2 magnitude quake, according to Interior Minister ...

Thailand floods: Waters advance on north Bangkok areas

  • News Item
  • October 24, 2011
Floodwaters are creeping further into the Thai capital, Bangkok, with residents of six more districts told to move to higher ground. Roads near the Don Muang domestic airport were flooded and the huge Chatuchak market in the north of the city was...

Dozens die as strong quake rocks eastern Turkey

  • News Item
  • October 23, 2011
A strong quake has shattered buildings near the eastern Turkish city of Van, killing at least 70 people and trapping an unknown number under rubble. Casualties are reported to be particularly high in the town of Ercis, close to the Iranian border,...

India: Darjeeling bridge collapse kills 32

  • News Item
  • October 23, 2011
At least 32 people have died and 132 injured after a bridge collapsed at a political event in India's tea-producing region of Darjeeling. More than 150 villagers were standing on the bridge for talks by local separatist leaders on Saturday night w...

Japan approves $157bn quake budget for reconstruction

  • News Item
  • October 21, 2011
Japan's government has approved a 12.1tn yen ($157bn; £100bn) budget for the reconstruction of areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. The extra budget is the latest effort by authorities to stimulate growth in the Japanese economy, w...

Burma flash floods 'leave dozens dead or missing'

  • News Item
  • October 21, 2011
Reports from central Burma say flash floods have left dozens of people dead or missing. The flooding happened on Thursday in the town of Pakokku when torrential rain caused a river to overflow. Residents told the BBC they had recovered more than 5...

Thailand floods: Bangkok 'impossible to protect'

  • News Item
  • October 20, 2011
The Thai government says it will be impossible to protect all of the capital from flooding because of a build-up of water to the north. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said sluice gates would be opened to allow a controlled release of water thr...

Thailand flooding: Bangkok districts put on alert

  • News Item
  • October 19, 2011
Residents of seven districts of Bangkok have been told to move valuables to higher ground and be ready to evacuate, as flooding which has swamped northern Thailand approaches the capital. More than 300 people have been killed in the worst flooding...

Thai flooding: Floodwalls reinforced to protect Bangkok

  • News Item
  • October 18, 2011
Thai soldiers and civilians worked frantically to shore up sandbag defences on the northern edge of the Bangkok on Tuesday. The action came after the city's governor warned that the threat posed by the worst flooding in Thailand in half a century ...

Climate change 'grave threat' to security and health

  • News Item
  • October 18, 2011
Climate change poses "an immediate, growing and grave threat" to health and security around the world, according to an expert conference in London. Officers in the UK military warned that the price of goods such as fuel is likely to rise as confli...

Central America floods and landslides 'leave 80 dead'

  • News Item
  • October 17, 2011
The number of people killed by a week of torrential rains, triggering floods and landslides across Central America, has reached at least 80, officials say. El Salvador is the worst-affected, with 32 people killed, mostly buried in their houses by ...

Nepal bus plunges off mountain road 'killing 41'

  • News Item
  • October 13, 2011
At least 41 people were killed when a bus veered off a mountain road into a river in eastern Nepal, police say. Other passengers are missing after the accident in remote Sindhuli district, about 100km (62 miles) from Kathmandu. The bus swerved on ...

Floods and landslides leave 18 dead in Central America

  • News Item
  • October 13, 2011
A tropical depression storm pounding Central America has triggered floods and landslides that have left at least 18 people dead, officials say. In Guatemala, at least 13 people were reported killed with four victims in Nicaragua and one in El Salv...

Bali earthquake: 'Fifty hurt' as powerful tremor strikes

  • News Item
  • October 13, 2011
A strong earthquake has shaken the Indonesian island of Bali, injuring dozens of people and sending debris crashing into the streets. The 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck before midday, with its epicentre about 100km (62 miles) to the south-west of...

New Zealand oil spill ship captain charged

  • News Item
  • October 11, 2011
The captain of a cargo ship that has grounded off New Zealand and is leaking oil into the sea has been arrested and charged, officials say. The captain was charged with "operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk". The 775ft...

Thailand races to defend Bangkok from floods

  • News Item
  • October 11, 2011
Workers in Thailand are racing to complete floodwalls of sandbags on the outskirts of Bangkok to stop the country's worst floods in years from inundating parts of the capital. Further north, Thailand's plains are also severely flooded. In the prov...

IPSA announces Pears as board member

  • News Item
  • October 10, 2011
IPSA - International Professional Security Association - has recently announced the official appointment of Simon Pears, head of security at the Centre of Excellence, Sodexo, to its international council and management board, after being successfu...

Thailand floods: More than 200 die, temples threatened

  • News Item
  • October 5, 2011
More than 200 people have died in monsoon flooding in Thailand since mid-July, officials say. More heavy rain is forecast, reservoirs are at full capacity and rivers are overflowing. Water has inundated 58 of Thailand's 77 provinces, with 25 still...

Heavy rain triggers deadly Algeria floods

  • News Item
  • October 3, 2011
Flooding in Algeria has killed at least 10 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, officials have said. Eight people were killed in the town of el-Bayadh, 700km (435 miles) south of the capital Algiers, reports say. The dead include three children...

Typhoon Nalgae batters flood-hit Philippines

  • News Item
  • October 1, 2011
The second typhoon to hit the Philippines in less than a week has been battering northern areas, with ferocious winds and heavy rain. At least one person died as Typhoon Nalgae hit regions still waterlogged by the earlier storm Nesat, and official...

Pakistan mine collapse: Six killed and about 34 rescued

  • News Item
  • September 27, 2011
At least six miners have been killed in a marble mine collapse in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police have told the BBC. About 34 miners were rescued following the collapse, they said. Some reports said that the collapse in the Bu...

Pakistan bus crash kills children in Punjab province

  • News Item
  • September 27, 2011
At least 26 people, mostly children, have been killed after a bus went off the road and plunged into a ravine in Pakistan, police say. The bus was carrying students returning from an excursion when the incident happened on a motorway south-east of...

Shanghai train crash injures 200

  • News Item
  • September 27, 2011
A Shanghai subway train has hit the rear end of another train, injuring at least 200 passengers, the train company says. Most of the injuries were slight, Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Company said after the incident on Line 10. It happened after...

Powerful Typhoon Nesat hits Philippines

  • News Item
  • September 27, 2011
A powerful typhoon has struck the Philippines, triggering floods and cutting power in the capital, Manila and throughout the main island, Luzon. At least 16 people have been killed, including several children, most of them in Manila. Typhoon Nesat...

Strategic Leaders' Guide receives national recognition

  • News Item
  • September 27, 2011
The Strategic Leaders’ Guide, a user-friendly aide memoire for multi agency incident command, has been awarded national ‘good practice’ status by the UK Government’s Civil Contingencies Secretariat. The Guide was design...

India floods situation worsens in UP, Bihar and Orissa

  • News Item
  • September 26, 2011
More than two million people have been affected by floods in India as torrential rains lash Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states. Heavy monsoon rains have been battering parts of India for the past fortnight. More than 80 people have died in flo...

Deadly Typhoon Roke moves across Japan

  • News Item
  • September 22, 2011
The powerful typhoon that hit Japan on Wednesday has been making its way across the country, bringing floods, damage and deaths. At least 10 people have been killed by Typhoon Roke, with many others missing or injured, local media reported. The st...

Workers at Sikkim power unit killed by quake landslides

  • News Item
  • September 21, 2011
Indian soldiers are trying to reach a hydroelectric plant in the state of Sikkim where at least 17 people were killed in a series of landslides. The landslides were triggered by a powerful earthquake on Sunday. A spokesman at the plant told the BB...

Guatemala landslide kills three children

  • News Item
  • September 21, 2011
Three children have been killed in a landslide in Guatemala, with at least 12 other people missing. Police said two brothers and a sister, aged between four and seven, died when mud buried their home in Santa Cruz Barillas, in the north-western st...

Powerful Typhoon Roke hits Japan

  • News Item
  • September 21, 2011
A powerful typhoon has struck disaster-ravaged Japan, bringing heavy rains and floods that have killed four people. Typhoon Roke is on course to hit Fukushima, where engineers are still struggling to bring a nuclear plant under control after the M...

Himalayan quake: India rescuers struggle in Sikkim

  • News Item
  • September 20, 2011
Rescue workers in the Indian state of Sikkim are struggling to reach victims of Sunday's powerful earthquake. More than 70 people were killed, at least 40 of them in Sikkim. The quake was felt elsewhere in India, as well as in Nepal, Tibet and Bhu...

China floods: Dozens killed after days of rain

  • News Item
  • September 19, 2011
Floods and landslides in China caused by a week of heavy rain have killed at least 57 people and forced more than a million from their homes. Officials said 12.3 million people were affected in Sichuan, Henan and Shaanxi provinces - in the south-w...

Race to rescue quake victims in India, Nepal and Tibet

  • News Item
  • September 19, 2011
Rescue efforts are under way across isolated Himalayan regions in India, Nepal and Tibet after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the area on Sunday. The epicentre was the northern Indian state of Sikkim, where the Indian government says that at le...

Several killed as earthquake hits India, Nepal

  • News Item
  • September 18, 2011
At least seven people have been killed in Nepal and northern parts of India after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck the region. Five people died in Nepal, including three crushed when a wall of the British embassy compound collapsed in the capital...

Pakistan floods: UN appeals for $365m to help victims

  • News Item
  • September 18, 2011
The United Nations has launched an appeal for $365m (£231m) to help some six million Pakistanis who have been affected by devastating flooding. The UN said the money would be used to help the affected people in the southern provinces of Sindh...

Pakistan floods: Two million hit by disease in Sindh

  • News Item
  • September 15, 2011
More than two million people in Pakistan are suffering from flood-related diseases following torrential rain in Sindh province, officials say. More than 7,000 people are being treated for snake bites. Aid agencies estimate that six million people ...

Cassidian Press Release: ECTOCRYP

  • News Item
  • September 14, 2011
    CASSIDIAN’s Groundbreaking ECTOCRYP Cryptographic Devices to be Used in Middle East Cassidian signs contract to provide Ectocryp IP crypto devices to the Middle East ECTOCRYP reprogrammable family of crypto devices are ...

India trains in deadly collision near Madras

  • News Item
  • September 13, 2011
A passenger train has hit a stationary train in southern India, killing at least seven people, police say. They say the collision happened at Arrakkonam station, near Madras (Chennai). Some 50 people were injured in the incident, India's TV channe...

Cassidian Press Release:Mobile IP Node

  • News Item
  • September 13, 2011
    Cassidian demonstrates the first truly secure Mobile IP Node Mobile IP Node guarantees secure delivery of critical data for the first time ever in the history of mobile wireless comms Programme will improve the ability of mil...

Cassidian Press Release: OLISE

  • News Item
  • September 13, 2011
    CASSIDIAN Launches Answer to “No Fault Found” Servicing Issue for Electro-optical Equipment Millions of pounds could be saved over lifetime of equipment by removing need for unnecessary return and repair Deployed ...

Cassidian Press Release: CORMORANT

  • News Item
  • September 13, 2011
  September 2011 – The CORMORANT service contract between Cassidian and MoD has been extended to December 2012 and discussions are currently taking place between both parties with an aim to ensure prolonged operational capabilities u...

Floods chaos worsens in Pakistan

  • News Item
  • September 12, 2011
More than 200 people have died and millions remain affected after two weeks of flooding in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, officials say. The situation is worsening each day as water levels are rising because of poor drainage, the head of Paki...

9/11 anniversary: US marks 10 years since attacks

  • News Item
  • September 11, 2011
The US has started to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Security is tight following warnings of a possible al-Qaeda attack. The US embassy in Afghanistan has begun the ceremonies, with events...

Zanzibar ferry disaster: Scores die, many more rescued

  • News Item
  • September 10, 2011
At least 187 people have died after an overloaded ferry sank off the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar with at least 800 people on board. A government spokesman said 620 survivors had been rescued. Three days of mourning have been declared. The MV Spic...

Floods worsen in eastern US after Tropical Storm Lee

  • News Item
  • September 10, 2011
The Susquehanna River has reached record levels in Pennsylvania and New York, swollen by torrential rainfall from Tropical Storm Lee. The president declared a state of emergency in both states, bringing federal aid to affected areas. The river ros...

Magnitude-6.4 quake hits off Vancouver Island

  • News Item
  • September 9, 2011
A magnitude-6.4 earthquake has hit near Vancouver Island, Canada, the US Geological Survey (USGS) says. The epicentre of the quake, which hit at 12:41 local time (19:41 GMT), was 289km (179 miles) west of Vancouver, the USGS reported. The quake oc...

Power partly restored to California, Arizona and Mexico

  • News Item
  • September 9, 2011
Power is steadily returning to two southwestern US states and Mexico, following a massive blackout which affected more than five million people. Services to Arizona were restored early on Friday, while parts of California and the Mexican state Baj...

Swollen Susquehanna River prompts evacuation orders

  • News Item
  • September 8, 2011
Nearly 100,000 people in the north-eastern US have been given orders to evacuate areas around the Susquehanna River after torrential downpours. Squalls from Tropical Storm Lee drenched New York and Pennsylvania and pushed river levels dangerously ...

Texas wildfire crews gaining ground

  • News Item
  • September 7, 2011
Texas firefighters say they have contained 30% of the state's most destructive wildfire in years. Efforts to contain the Bastrop County blaze, which has razed about 45 sq miles (116 sq km) of land, have been aided by a second day of milder winds....

New face at Parsons Brinckerhoff

  • News Item
  • September 6, 2011
London, United Kingdom (06 September 2011) – Parsons Brinckerhoff, the international engineering consultancy, has appointed leading industry specialist Dr Nicole Hoffmann, as UK Principal Fire Engineer for its transport business covering ra...

Indian bus accident kills 15 people

  • News Item
  • September 5, 2011
At least 15 people have been killed after a bus plunged into a river in India's Uttarakhand state, police say. The bus was travelling from Katiyal to the state capital, Dehradun, when it fell into the Tons river on Sunday. Rescue workers are looki...

Typhoon Talas: Japan searches for missing dozens

  • News Item
  • September 5, 2011
Japanese rescue teams have resumed the search for dozens of people missing after powerful Typhoon Talas ripped through the west of the country. At least 26 people have been killed by the storm, which made landfall on Shikoku island on Saturday, tr...

Typhoon Talas kills at least 19 people in Japan

  • News Item
  • September 4, 2011
At least 19 people have been killed and more than 50 are missing after powerful Typhoon Talas ripped through western Japan, local media reports. The storm brought heavy rain and winds of up to 108km/h (68mph) after making landfall on Shikoku islan...

Louisiana declares emergency as storm brews

  • News Item
  • September 2, 2011
Louisiana has declared a state of emergency as it prepares for a tropical depression expected to bring up to 15in (38cm) of rain over the weekend. Tropical Depression 13 - to be named Lee if upgraded, as expected, to a tropical storm - is creeping...

Space junk at tipping point, says report

  • News Item
  • September 2, 2011
Scientists in the US have warned Nasa that the amount of so-called space junk orbiting Earth is at tipping point. A report by the National Research Council says the debris could cause fatal leaks in spaceships or destroy valuable satellites. ...

Russia chemical leak affects 'thousands' in Chelyabinsk

  • News Item
  • September 1, 2011
At least 30 people have been taken to hospital after a toxic chemical leak in the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia's Ural mountains, say officials. Thousands more suffered breathing difficulties after containers of the toxic element bromine were brok...

Tokyo roads blocked in earthquake drill

  • News Item
  • September 1, 2011
Japanese police have blocked main roads in Tokyo during rush hour in an elaborate earthquake drill. It is the first time the authorities have attempted to simulate the gridlock that would occur after a major disaster. People across Japan hold dril...

Nigeria floods: Death toll in Ibadan rises

  • News Item
  • September 1, 2011
At least 102 people are now thought to have been killed by floods in and around the south-western Nigerian city of Ibadan, the Nigerian Red Cross says. Floodwater, resulting from heavy rains that began on Friday, damaged three bridges and caused a...

Irene floods: Supplies airlifted to Vermont towns

  • News Item
  • August 31, 2011
Soldiers have been airlifting storm-relief supplies to Vermont towns which remain cut off after the trail of destruction left by Irene. More than 200 roads are blocked or washed away in Vermont, hampering rescue efforts to 13 towns. Irene killed 4...

Bird flu fear as mutant strain hits China and Vietnam

  • News Item
  • August 30, 2011
Avian flu shows signs of a resurgence, while a mutant strain - able to sidestep vaccines - could be spreading in Asia, the United Nations has warned. The variant appeared in Vietnam and China and its risk to humans cannot be predicted, veterinary ...

Miners rescued from flooded illegal Chinese pit

  • News Item
  • August 30, 2011
Twenty-two coal miners have been rescued after being trapped underground for a week in north-eastern China, officials have said. The miners became trapped in the small, illegal mine in Heilongjiang province after accidentally drilling through into...

Uganda landslides: Villagers killed in Bulambuli

  • News Item
  • August 29, 2011
At least 24 people have died after torrential rains triggered landslides in eastern Uganda, Red Cross workers say. Residents fear 35 people may have been killed in Bulambuli district, but only 24 bodies have been recovered so far. The village of N...

Irene: Vermont in flood as US counts storm cost

  • News Item
  • August 29, 2011
The US has begun clearing up after the impact of Tropical Storm Irene, which has killed as many as 28 people. The storm is now soaking Canada's north-east, while the north-eastern US is battling historic floods; five million US homes have lost pow...

Typhoon Nanmadol kills eight in the Philippines

  • News Item
  • August 28, 2011
Typhoon Nanmadol has killed at least eight people in the Philippines and is heading to Taiwan, officials have said. Fierce winds and rain caused floods and landslides, with 20 major roads blocked and several bridges collapsing, said civil defence ...

Nigeria floods: At least 20 killed in Ibadan

  • News Item
  • August 28, 2011
At least 20 people have been killed and thousands displaced by flooding in and around the city of Ibadan in south-western Nigeria. The floods, resulting from heavy rains that began on Friday, caused a dam to overflow and washed away numerous build...

Hurricane Irene: Emergency declared in six US states

  • News Item
  • August 26, 2011
Six states along the east coast of the US, from North Carolina to New York, have declared emergencies ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Irene. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season weakened slightly early on Friday to a category two storm, wi...

US warning over strengthening Hurricane Irene

  • News Item
  • August 23, 2011
US officials have warned the entire US east coast should be ready for the possible arrival of Hurricane Irene. Now a category 2 storm heading over the Turks and Caicos Islands and south-eastern Bahamas, it may intensify to a category 4 as it nears...

Earthquake strikes US east coast

  • News Item
  • August 23, 2011
A magnitude-5.9 earthquake has rattled the east coast of the United States. The quake was felt in Washington, where the Pentagon and US Capitol building were evacuated, as well as in New York. The Washington National Cathedral and the Ecuadorean e...

Dominican Republic braced for Hurricane Irene

  • News Item
  • August 22, 2011
Tropical Storm Irene has turned into a hurricane - the first of the Atlantic hurricane season - over Puerto Rico. It has now passed the US territory and is next set to hit the Dominican Republic. It may also affect the northern coast of Haiti. In ...

Apple's iPhone gets Japanese earthquake alert

  • News Item
  • August 22, 2011
Japanese iPhone users will get the option to receive earthquake alerts under the next version of Apple's iOS operating system. 9to5Mac reports that the feature will be added to the device's notification centre in iOS 5, which is expected to b...

Powerful earthquake jolts South Pacific near Vanuatu

  • News Item
  • August 21, 2011
A powerful earthquake has been reported off the South Pacific island of Vanuatu at a depth of 41 km (25 miles) with no immediate reports of damage. The magnitude 7.1 quake occurred at 03:55 local time, 63km (39 miles) south of the capital, Port-Vi...

Researchers to demonstrate and deploy disaster communication system

  • News Item
  • August 19, 2011
Newswise — In the aftermath of most disasters – from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to this year’s earthquake in Japan – communication systems have been overwhelmed, leaving people without phones and Inter...

Exclusive images of the clean-up after riots in Croydon, UK

  • News Item
  • August 13, 2011
Matthew Cheesman, who is working on the emergency clean-up and restoration in Croydon after the riots, has sent CRJ these images from behind the cordons. The first few images show the Reeves furniture store, which was set alight during the rioting...

Argentina oil refinery blast 'kills one, injures five'

  • News Item
  • August 10, 2011
An explosion at an oil refinery in Argentina has killed one person and injured five others, local media say. The blast happened at a refinery owned by Brazil's Petrobras oil company near Bahia Blanca, some 450km (280 miles) south-west of Buenos Ai...

Comoros boat sinks leaving many dead

  • News Item
  • August 9, 2011
At least 30 people have died after their boat sank off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros, officials say. The accident happened south of the main island of Grande Comore after the boat had set off to Anjouan island. A rescue official put the ...

Calls to ban sky lanterns

  • News Item
  • August 3, 2011
UK: Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service have joined up with Michael Eavis, the farmer behind the Glastonbury festival, to remind people of the risks from setting off sky (Chinese) lanterns and in particular the risks they carry to farme...

Three killed in train crash in India's West Bengal

  • News Item
  • August 1, 2011
At least three people have been killed and 200 injured in a train collision in the Indian state of West Bengal. Officials said the accident happened when the engine and some coaches of the Guwahati to Bangalore express derailed and were then hit b...

Russia: Nine drown as Moscow pleasure boat sinks

  • News Item
  • July 31, 2011
A pleasure boat has sunk on the Moscow River in Russia's capital, drowning nine people, officials say. Seven of the 16 on board were rescued, they said. The boat is reported to have been hosting a birthday party and is suspected to have been overc...

DR Congo: Bodies recovered after ferry collision

  • News Item
  • July 30, 2011
At least 80 bodies have been recovered from a river in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo after a ferry collided with a cargo boat. The accident happened at night, but it is not clear if it occurred on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursda...

Working together to treat children

  • News Item
  • July 29, 2011
South Africa: On July 29, a meeting at the University of Johannesburg set out to explore the interactive and reciprocal possibilities suggested by an article published in issue 7:2, Paediatric emergency (p18), published on August 19. At the meetin...

Bus crash kills 17 in Bangladesh

  • News Item
  • July 28, 2011
At least 17 people have been killed and more than 20 others injured in a bus crash in northern Bangladesh, police say. The passenger bus collided head on with a lorry at Shajahanpur in Bogra district, 100 miles (160km) north of the capital, Dhaka....

South Korea hit by fatal landslides

  • News Item
  • July 28, 2011
At least 32 people have been killed in landslides in South Korea, as heavy rain deluged homes and caused chaos across northern areas of the country. A landslide crushed a hotel at a mountain resort in Chuncheon, east of the capital, Seoul, killing...

China train crash: Signal design flaw blamed

  • News Item
  • July 28, 2011
Serious flaws in a signalling system caused a fatal collision on China's high-speed rail network, officials say. Thirty-nine people died when a train ran into the back of another which had stalled on a viaduct near Wenzhou after lightning cut its ...

Huge Arctic fire hints at new climate cue

  • News Item
  • July 28, 2011
An exceptional wildfire in northern Alaska in 2007 put as much carbon into the air as the entire Arctic tundra absorbs in a year, scientists say. The Anaktuvuk River fire burned across more than 1,000 sq km (400 sq miles), doubling the extent of A...

Pakistan still not prepared for floods, says Oxfam

  • News Item
  • July 26, 2011
Pakistan is still not sufficiently prepared to cope with flooding and other natural disasters, a year after the worst floods in its history, aid agency Oxfam has said. More than 1,750 people are thought to have been killed and 20 million people af...

Heat wave spreads across central and eastern US

  • News Item
  • July 21, 2011
A punishing heat wave has settled over central and eastern parts of the US, pushing temperatures as high as 43C (110F) and causing up to 22 deaths. The National Weather Service warned of "dangerous" levels of heat and humidity creeping east, with ...

Nepal landslides kill Dutch trekker and 11 others

  • News Item
  • July 21, 2011
A Dutch trekker has been killed by a landslide in Nepal. Another trekker and their guide were injured in the landslide in Langtang region north-west of Kathmandu. The Dutchman is the 12th person to die this week in a series of landslides in the mo...

Earthquake strikes Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

  • News Item
  • July 20, 2011
At least 13 people in Uzbekistan have been killed in a 6.1-magnitude earthquake centred in Kyrgyzstan near the two countries' border. The Uzbek emergency ministry said the quake, in the Ferghana valley, also injured 86 people. Kyrgyzstan has so fa...

Indonesians flee volcano eruption on Sulawesi

  • News Item
  • July 16, 2011
Thousands of people on an Indonesian island have been forced to flee a fierce volcanic eruption. Mount Lokon, on Sulawesi, started erupting at around 2230 local time (1530 GMT) on Thursday, according to reports. There were no immediate reports of ...

Earthquake hits English Channel

  • News Item
  • July 14, 2011
An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.9 has struck in the English Channel, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said. The quake had a depth of 10km and its epicentre was south of Portsmouth, according to the BGS. Residents in parts of West Sussex rep...

Earthquake off Japan triggers tsunami alert

  • News Item
  • July 10, 2011
A strong earthquake has jolted north-east Japan, the same area that was devastated four months ago. It triggered a small tsunami in Iwate prefecture, measuring 10cm (4in). Workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant were evacuated as a precaution...

Floods at China mines trap '40'

  • News Item
  • July 4, 2011
Rescuers in southern China are trying to reach more than 40 workers in two coal mines after one pit was flooded and the other caved in. They are venting explosive gas and pumping water from a mine in Guangxi region, where three miners died. Flood...

ExxonMobil pipe leaks oil into Yellowstone River in US

  • News Item
  • July 3, 2011
An ExxonMobil pipeline in the US state of Montana has ruptured, leaking hundreds of barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River, officials say. The company said the pipe had been shut down and the segment where the leak happened had been isola...

Los Alamos nuclear lab: New Mexico fire reaches border

  • News Item
  • June 28, 2011
A New Mexico wildfire has breached the boundary of Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the top nuclear weapons research facilities in the US. On Monday, officials said that they had detected "no off-site releases of contamination" and said the ...

Emergency response to Russian plane crash

  • News Item
  • June 22, 2011
Russia: Forty-five people were killed when a Tupolev-134 aircraft operated by RusAir crashed near Petrozavodsk, the largest city in Karelia, at 23:45hrs on June 20. The plane, which was en route from Domodedovo Airport in Moscow to Petrozavodsk, i...

Hurricane Beatriz lashes Pacific resorts in Mexico

  • News Item
  • June 21, 2011
Hurricane Beatriz is threatening some of Mexico's most popular resorts, leaving tourists sheltering in their hotels. The Pacific ports of Acapulco, Manzanillo and Zihuatanejo are closed. The US National Hurricane Center said winds rose to 150km/h ...

Wildfire kills two forest rangers in Florida

  • News Item
  • June 21, 2011
A wildfire in Florida has claimed the lives of two forest rangers, as emergency services continue to battle more than 400 blazes across the state. The rangers had been trying contain a 12-acre (4.8-ha) blaze near the Georgia border, but the fire f...

Volcanic ash affects Chile after round-the-world trip

  • News Item
  • June 19, 2011
Ash from a volcanic eruption in southern Chile has disrupted domestic flights at home for the first time, having travelled right round the world. The Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano started spewing ash into the atmosphere two weeks ago. This caused ...

China floods: Millions affected by deadly downpours

  • News Item
  • June 19, 2011
More than two million people are now reported to have been affected by deadly floods in eastern China. Torrential rain was continuing, leaving large parts of Zhejiang and Hubei provinces under water, state-run news agency Xinhua said. It said near...

New Zealand quake dents Christchurch rebuilding hopes

  • News Item
  • June 14, 2011
A series of earthquakes that hit the New Zealand city of Christchurch has confirmed fears that many homes will have to be abandoned, officials say. Prime Minister John Key said Monday's tremors had hit the same parts of the city that were devastat...

New Zealand quake: Christchurch hit by aftershocks

  • News Item
  • June 13, 2011
A series of earthquakes has hit the New Zealand city of Christchurch, almost four months after a tremor devastated the area and killed 181 people. The latest quakes struck just miles from the city, and left about 50,000 people without power. The m...

Haiti: Port-au-Prince flooding kills at least 11 people

  • News Item
  • June 7, 2011
At least 11 people have been killed in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, after torrential rain caused floods and landslides. Two children were buried alive when their home collapsed and two people died in a tent city erected after last year's d...

E. Coli breakout in Germany - EU convenes extraordinary meeting

  • News Item
  • June 7, 2011
The Hungarian Presidency of the European Union convened an extraordinary Agriculture Council in Luxembourg on June 7 to assess the implications of the outbreak of a particularly virulent strain of Escherichia coli bacteria that has been responsibl...

Indonesia: Search for missing in fatal ferry sinking

  • News Item
  • June 7, 2011
Rescue workers are looking for more than a dozen people still missing after an overcrowded ferry sank off the Borneo coast. Indonesian officials said at least 18 people had drowned in the incident off South Kalimantan. Officials told reporters tha...

Fatal floods hit southern China after prolonged drought

  • News Item
  • June 7, 2011
At least 14 people have been killed in raging flood waters that have swept through south-western Guizhou province. Scores of people are missing, and tens of thousands have left their homes ahead of more flooding. Roads, bridges and hundreds of hom...

Chile volcano eruption: Alert remains for ash cloud

  • News Item
  • June 6, 2011
Authorities in southern Chile and Argentina are continuing to monitor the direction of ash clouds belched out by a chain of volcanoes over the weekend. Some 3,500 people left the region after the eruption of the Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano range...

NZ quake: Christchurch hit by magnitude 5.0 aftershock

  • News Item
  • June 6, 2011
New Zealand's city of Christchurch has been hit by two shocks that closed some stores but caused no major damage. The continuing shocks are expected to further delay recovery from the devastating 22 February quake. The shocks - one of magnitude 5....

Massachusetts emergency after tornadoes kill four

  • News Item
  • June 2, 2011
A cluster of tornadoes has hit the US state of Massachusetts, killing at least four people. They roared through some 20 towns, ripping off roofs, uprooting trees and scattering debris. Worst hit was Springfield, the third largest city in the state...

Future cities need to be resilient

  • News Item
  • June 1, 2011
BONN/GERMANY - Over the next 40 years we will have to build the same urban capacity again that was built over the last 4,000 years. On top of this, 80 per cent of the expected US$80-100 billion per year in climate change adaptation costs are to be...

British Red Cross teams up with West Yorkshire Police

  • News Item
  • May 27, 2011
The British Red Cross and West Yorkshire police celebrated their new partnership by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday 24 May at the Red Cross office in Leeds.The agreement means that Red Cross staff and volunteers will be on c...

Missouri releases list of missing after tornado

  • News Item
  • May 26, 2011
The US state of Missouri has released a list of more than 230 people missing since a devastating tornado struck the city of Joplin on Sunday. But the list is shrinking as people are located, and officials hope others have simply failed to contact ...

Young and middle-aged hit hardest by influenza in UK this winter

  • News Item
  • May 26, 2011
Wednesday, May 25: Young and middle-aged adults bore the brunt of influenza in the UK this winter with more than 70 per cent of fatal cases hitting this age group, according to figures published by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in their annua...

Iceland volcanic ash cloud set to reach UK

  • News Item
  • May 23, 2011
A volcanic ash cloud from Iceland is expected to reach parts of the UK by the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Met Office has said. It does not mean there will definitely be airspace closures but makes flight disruption more likely, it said. T...

Missouri: Tornado batters Joplin, at least 30 dead

  • News Item
  • May 23, 2011
As many as 30 people are reported killed after a tornado tore through the city of Joplin in the US state of Missouri, officials say. The town suffered a "direct hit" from the tornado and parts of the city have been devastated, local media says. Mi...

Malaysian landslide buries orphanage children

  • News Item
  • May 22, 2011
Landslides have hit an orphanage near the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, killing 16 people, all but one of them children, officials say. Rescuers saved nine people from the Hidayah Madrasah al-Taqwa orphanage in the district of Hulu Langat. The ...

Iceland volcano: Grimsvotn eruption hits local flight

  • News Item
  • May 22, 2011
The Icelandic authorities have imposed a local flight ban after the country's most active volcano, Grimsvotn, began erupting. A plume of smoke has risen 20km (12 miles) into the sky from the volcano. But Iceland's Meteorological Office says the e...

Turkey: Earthquake in Kutahya province leaves two dead

  • News Item
  • May 20, 2011
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 has struck north-west Turkey, killing at least two people and injuring 79. The tremor struck just before midnight local time and centred on the town of Simav, in Kutahya province, some 310km (190 miles) west o...

Soweto, South Africa, train crash injured hundreds

  • News Item
  • May 20, 2011
More than 850 people have been injured in a train crash during Thursday's evening rush hour in the South African township of Soweto in Johannesburg, the train operator Metrorail has said. A commuter train hit a stationary one from behind, the forc...

Christchurch earthquake: Diary from Sumner

  • News Item
  • May 20, 2011
Three months after a quake that scored a direct hit under Christchurch, many residents are struggling with mountains of paperwork required to get their homes repaired and rebuilt. Reference numbers, codes and Pin numbers permeate our daily living ...

NZ quake: Special inquest into last nine victims

  • News Item
  • May 16, 2011
A special inquest has opened in New Zealand into the deaths in the Christchurch earthquake of nine people who remain formally unidentified. Chief coroner Neil MacLean has so far pronounced dead three Chinese women. Their phones, bank accounts and ...

Mississippi flood: Southern states brace for crest

  • News Item
  • May 11, 2011
Communities along the southern stretch of the Mississippi River are bracing for major floods as the crest of the swollen river moves downstream. In poverty stricken areas of the Mississippi delta, the river and its tributaries have washed away cro...

Spain: Earthquake rocks Lorca, Murcia, killing 10

  • News Item
  • May 11, 2011
At least 10 people were killed after a magnitude 5.3 earthquake toppled several buildings in southern Spain, near the town of Lorca, officials say. The quake struck at a depth of just 1km (0.6 miles), some 120km south-west of Alicante, at 1850 (16...

Mexico mine blast: 'No hope' for Coahuila missing

  • News Item
  • May 9, 2011
Rescuers in Mexico have pulled a ninth body from the remains of a coal mine destroyed in an explosion in the north of the country. A total of 14 miners were trapped underground when a gas blast shook the vertical-shaft mine on Tuesday. Miners had ...

US tornadoes: Death toll rises as more bodies found

  • News Item
  • April 30, 2011
The death toll from the tornadoes that hit the southern US this week has risen to 340, in one of the worst twister outbreaks in the country's history. Soldiers and emergency teams are still searching for bodies and survivors. More than 200 tornado...

Over 250 killed as tornadoes ravage US south

  • News Item
  • April 28, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AFP) – Tornadoes and storms carved a trail of "catastrophic" destruction across the southern United States, killing over 250 people in the worst US weather disaster in years, officials said Thursday. Shocked residents o...

Barack Obama says southern US storms 'catastrophic'

  • News Item
  • April 28, 2011
President Barack Obama says the damage from deadly tornados in south-eastern US states is "catastrophic", as he prepares to visit storm-hit Alabama. Mr Obama hailed rescue workers as heroes and said he stood with every affected American. Storms an...

Ecuador raises alert as Tungurahua volcano spews ash

  • News Item
  • April 27, 2011
Ecuador has declared an amber alert after the Tungurahua volcano started spewing ash again. A plume more than 7km (4.3 miles) high could be seen emerging from the volcano in central Ecuador. The authorities evacuated residents living near the volc...

Six die in Taiwan tourist train accident

  • News Item
  • April 27, 2011
At least six people were killed when a tree collapsed into the path of a tourist train at a popular mountain spot in central Taiwan, officials say. Some 50 other people were injured in the accident near Mount Ali. Many of the passengers on the nar...

DR Congo ferry capsizes on Lake Kivu, killing dozens

  • News Item
  • April 25, 2011
A ferry has capsized on Lake Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 38 people, aid group the Red Cross says. It was caught in strong winds and waves soon after leaving Minova bound for the city of Bukavu on Sunday e...

Brazil hit by deadly floods and landslides

  • News Item
  • April 24, 2011
Landslides and floods triggered by torrential rain have killed at least 10 people in southern Brazil. Among the dead were three children whose home was among several buried in the town of Novo Hamburgo in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. A man was ...

Dozens missing after Philippine landslide

  • News Item
  • April 22, 2011
At least three people have been killed and 21 more are missing after a landslide struck homes and destroyed mining tunnels in the Philippines. Mud and rocks buried miners' houses in the remote village in Compostela Valley province on the southern ...

Bangladesh: Scores die as ferry sinks

  • News Item
  • April 21, 2011
At least 23 people have died and dozens are missing after a ferry carrying more than 100 passengers capsized in a river in eastern Bangladesh. The ferry went down after hitting the wreckage of another ferry in the Meghna river in Brahmanbaria, 80k...

Colombia: Mudslides cause major damage in Utica

  • News Item
  • April 21, 2011
Floodwaters and thick mud have made life miserable for many in Colombia More than 200 families have been left homeless in the central Colombian town of Utica after a mudslide swept away their houses. Heavy rains caused the local river to break its...

Royal wedding: The security challenge

  • News Item
  • April 19, 2011
As final preparations for the royal wedding get under way, the police are working around the clock to ensure that no security breach or incident should disrupt proceedings on Prince William and Kate Middleton's big day. It is 1.33 miles from Westm...

US storms and tornado death toll rises

  • News Item
  • April 17, 2011
The death toll from three days of severe weather across several southern US states has risen to at least 43. The latest state to be hit was North Carolina, where 62 tornadoes left a trail of destruction in the worst storm to hit the state in two d...

US storms: Alabama deaths raise death toll

  • News Item
  • April 16, 2011
Severe spring storms including tornados have left 16 people dead and destroyed school buildings and homes in southern states of the US. The storm did most damage in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama. Among those killed were two elderly sisters in the...

Germany: Freak sandstorm causes deadly motorway pile-up

  • News Item
  • April 10, 2011
A freak sandstorm that swept across a motorway in northern Germany caused a multiple pile-up, leaving eight people dead and dozens injured. Sand and dirt were blown on to the four-lane A19 near Rostock, close to the Baltic Sea in Mecklenburg-Weste...

New York set to be big loser as sea levels rise

  • News Item
  • April 8, 2011
New York is a major loser and Reykjavik a winner from new forecasts of sea level rise in different regions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in 2007 that sea levels would rise at least 28cm (1ft) by the year 2100. But this...

Japan: Powerful aftershock leaves three dead

  • News Item
  • April 8, 2011
Three people have been killed and scores injured after a powerful aftershock struck north-east Japan. Several buildings were destroyed and power was cut to 3.6 million homes. It was the most powerful tremor since the 9.0-magnitude quake that trigg...

Australia raises cost of twin natural disasters to $9bn

  • News Item
  • April 4, 2011
The twin natural disasters that hit Australia early this year will cost its economy A$9bn ($9.4bn; £5.8bn), according to the Treasury department. The latest figure is a substantial increase on the earlier estimate of A$5.6bn. Treasurer Wayne ...

Indonesia lifts tsunami alert after earthquake off Java

  • News Item
  • April 4, 2011
Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency (BMKG) has lifted the tsunami alert issued after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake south of the island of Java. The tremor struck shortly after 0300 on Monday (2000 GMT on Sunday), about 300km (186 miles) sou...

Namibia's President Pohamba declares floods emergency

  • News Item
  • April 2, 2011
Namibia's President Hifikepunye Pohamba has declared a state of emergency following serious flooding in the north of the southern African country. More than 20 people are reported to have drowned and some 10,000 displaced, many from the town of Os...

British Red Cross: working across borders - Event

  • News Item
  • April 1, 2011
This year’s lecture at the Royal Geographic Society will be hosted by Sir Nicholas Young, chief executive at the British Red Cross. He will be joined by Paul Jenkins, head of partnerships development with the International Red Cross and Red...

Thailand tourist islands flood in deadly rains

  • News Item
  • March 30, 2011
Severe flooding across the south of Thailand has killed at least 15 people and stranded thousands of tourists. Victims were either swept away by the rising waters or buried in mudslides caused by the unseasonable downpours. Trains to the region ha...

Could electricity change the face of firefighting?

  • News Item
  • March 28, 2011
March 27, 2011:  Scientists have described a discovery that could underpin a new genre of firefighting devices, including sprinkler systems that suppress fires not with water, but with zaps of electric current, without soaking and damaging th...

Japan earthquake: The work of the UK rescuers

  • News Item
  • March 16, 2011
The British search and rescue team working on the north-east coast of Japan is spending a second day looking for survivors. Every single member of the team, including accompanying journalists, has now been issued with a dosimeter, which reads radi...

Radiation fears after Japan blast

  • News Item
  • March 15, 2011
Explosions at a Japanese quake-stricken nuclear plant have led to radiation levels that can affect human health, a senior Japanese official has said. Prime Minister Naoto Kan has urged those living within 30km (18 miles) of the plant to stay indo...

Tsunami hits Japan after massive quake

  • News Item
  • March 11, 2011
Another day, another earthquake. Except the Magnitude 8.9 tremor off the coast of Honshu, Japan, will be a standout event for 2011 - if not in terms of the eventual death toll it brings, then certainly in scale. There are usually only one o...

Chile Congress blames San Jose mine owners for collapse

  • News Item
  • March 3, 2011
A congressional commission in Chile has blamed the mine owners for the rockfall which left 33 men trapped underground for 69 days last year. The commission said Alejandro Bohn and Marcelo Kemeny were guilty of negligence, a charge they deny. The ...

Floods and landslides hit Bolivia

  • News Item
  • February 27, 2011
A landslide caused by intense rains has destroyed more than 150 homes in the Bolivian city of La Paz. The authorities managed to evacuate the poor Kupini II area before it was smashed by a collapsing hillside. Elsewhere in La Paz, at least five pe...

South Africa: Toxic water 'threatens Johannesburg'

  • News Item
  • February 25, 2011
Rapidly rising acidic water in the abandoned gold mines under Johannesburg in South Africa could leak out early next year, the water ministry warns. Its report recommends building pumps and monitoring stations immediately. The toxic liquid has ...

Indonesian mud volcano flow 'to last 26 years'

  • News Item
  • February 25, 2011
The world's largest mud volcano, which left 13,000 families homeless, is likely to continue erupting for another 26 years, researchers have estimated. It first erupted back in May 2006, and - at its peak - was spewing 180,000 cubic metres of m...

Microsoft Kinect-powered robot to aid earthquake rescue

  • News Item
  • February 25, 2011
As New Zealand tries to come to terms with Christchurch's devastating earthquake, rescuers continue to bravely work their way through the rubble in search of more than 200 missing people. From the ground, experts attempt to judge where people are ...

The European Commission facilitates support to evacuate Europeans from Libya

  • News Item
  • February 24, 2011
The European Commission facilitates support to evacuate Europeans from Libya The Presidency of the European Council and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the European Union activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to support the e...

Hopes fade for NZ quake missing

  • News Item
  • February 24, 2011
Hopes are fading of finding survivors beneath collapsed buildings in the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. Ninety-eight bodies have now been recovered and taken to a temporary morgue. Prime Minister John K...

New Zealand earthquake: Death toll rises to 75

  • News Item
  • February 23, 2011
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has declared a national state of emergency as the death toll from Tuesday's earthquake in Christchurch rose to 75. Police have said there is "incredible carnage right throughout the city", with "bodies littering...

India court convicts 31 over deadly Godhra train fire

  • News Item
  • February 22, 2011
A special court in the western Indian state of Gujarat has found 31 people guilty of setting fire to a passenger train in the town of Godhra in 2002. A total of 59 people, mainly Hindu pilgrims, died after the Sabarmati Express was allegedly atta...

Mali stampede in Bamako 'kills dozens'

  • News Item
  • February 22, 2011
At least 30 people have been killed in a stampede at a stadium in the Malian capital of Bamako, officials say. Seventy others were injured in the incident, which occurred at the end of a sermon given by imam Osman Madani Haidara. The stampede happ...

New Zealand earthquake leaves 65 dead

  • News Item
  • February 22, 2011
New Zealand's prime minister says at least 65 people have died after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch. John Key said the toll was expected to rise further, adding: "We may be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day." The tremor struck at 1...

Estonia children's home fire kills 10

  • News Item
  • February 20, 2011
A fire has swept through a home for disabled children in the western Estonian town of Haapsalu, killing 10 children, officials say. Nine adults and 37 children were inside the wooden building when the fire started at 1230 GMT, rescue official Vikt...

Vietnam boat sinking: Human error blamed, two arrested

  • News Item
  • February 20, 2011
Human error was to blame for the sinking of a tourist boat in Vietnam which killed 12 people, including one Briton, Vietnamese police have said. Quang Ninh police spokesman Le Thanh Binh said a valve that allowed water to come into the boat to co...

Halong Bay tourists dead as Vietnam boat sinks

  • News Item
  • February 17, 2011
At least 11 tourists and a guide have drowned after a tour boat sank in Halong Bay in northeastern Vietnam. The boat was touring in the picturesque Unesco World Heritage Site in Quang Ninh province when it went down. At least 21 foreign tourists w...

Sun unleashes huge solar flare towards Earth

  • News Item
  • February 16, 2011
The Sun has unleashed its strongest flare in four years, observers say. The eruption is a so-called X-flare, the strongest type; such flares can affect communications on Earth. Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft recorded an in...

Sellafield cautioned over radioactive leak

  • News Item
  • February 15, 2011
Sellafield managers have been issued with a formal caution over a leak of radioactive liquid which went unnoticed for 14 months. The Environment Agency said the leak, which was reported in January 2009, caused no impact to the environment. But it ...

Company guilty of Cheltenham geologist's manslaughter

  • News Item
  • February 15, 2011
A Gloucestershire firm has become the first company to be convicted under new corporate manslaughter legislation. Geologist Alexander Wright, 27, from Cheltenham, died at a development site in Brimscombe Lane, near Stroud, when a trench collapsed ...

Haiti cholera challenge 'failed' by agencies

  • News Item
  • February 14, 2011
By Mark DoyleBBC International Development Correspondent The cholera outbreak that has killed 3,600 people in Haiti since October 2010 has not been suppressed - despite billions of dollars in promised aid, according to a report by Haitian and US ...

Honduras vice-minister Robelo among 14 plane crash dead

  • News Item
  • February 14, 2011
A deputy minister, Rodolfo Robelo, is among 14 people reported dead in a plane crash in Honduras. The small commercial plane was on a routine scheduled flight from the coastal city of San Pedro Sula to the capital, Tegucigalpa. Also among those ki...

Nato seizes 'pirate mother ship' off Somalia

  • News Item
  • February 13, 2011
A Nato warship has captured a suspected pirate mother ship off Somalia, Nato's counter-piracy mission has said. It said Denmark's warship fired warning shots on Saturday, forcing the vessel to stop and its crew to surrender. Sixteen suspected pir...

Eleven die in stampede at Nigeria election rally

  • News Item
  • February 12, 2011
Eleven people have died in a stampede at an election rally in Nigeria. The rally in the southern city of Port Harcourt was part of President Goodluck Jonathan's election campaign ahead of a poll due in April. At least 29 others are said to have be...

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