Burma: Ethnic rebels clash with troops in eastern border town

A day after the military state held general elections, violent clashes between rebel troops and Burmese government soldiers broke out on Monday in the eastern town of Myawaddy in Karen State. Sources say at least six people have been killed and thirty injured on the Burmese side.

A Thai official told AFP that at least 10,000 Burmese civilians had crossed into Thailand amid heavy firing. A Thai military official on the border, who also asked not to be named, said one rocket propelled grenade landed on the Thai side in Mae Sot, injuring several people.

Zipporah Sein, Thailand-based general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), said skirmishes broke out between up to 300 Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers and the government army. She said the fighting was contained in the town but added that if it spilled into surrounding areas, up to 500 DKBA troops and 900 KNU soldiers could join the battle.

The exact circumstances were unclear. Local DKBA commander Na Kham Mwe told the exile news website Irrawaddy that government troops opened fire first. He also said government doesn't want to negotiate and more and more troops are being sent in the area.

Air security tightened globally in wake of bomb threat

Governments tightened aviation security on Monday after two U.S-bound bombs sent in air cargo from Yemen were intercepted in Dubai and Britain. The devices, discovered on Friday, were hidden in printers and would have been powerful enough to destroy the planes carrying them, Britain said.

Britain said it believed the attempt was organised by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), but said it had no information the organisation was planning further attacks.

The plot highlighted what appeared to be a loophole in air cargo security that put passengers’ lives at risk after Qatar Airways confirmed the Dubai parcel had been transported on its passenger planes from the Yemeni capital Sanaa via Doha.

France: About 50% flights to be cancelled Thursday

(October 27, 2010)

The French civil aviation authority DGAC said Wednesday that anti-pension reform strikes Thursday will force the cancellation of 50 percent of flights at Paris Orly airport and 30 percent at other airports,

Unions have called for a seventh day of nationwide protests against President Nicolas Sarkozy's bid to raise minimum retirement from 60 to 62 even though the bill is expected to be adopted by parliament on Wednesday.

Airline traffic is expected to return to normal on Friday, October 29, the DGAC said.

The Dominican Republic: Border security to keep the cholera at bay

(October 26, 2010)

The Dominican Republic, Haiti's more prosperous neighbor, with which it shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, tightened up border security to keep the disease at bay.

Officials in Santo Domingo said entry into the country from Haiti would be severely restricted, and border security increased to ensure new regulations are complied with.

"We will maintain strict supervision of our ports, airports and border crossings points to prevent the transmission of this disease to our country," public health minister Bautista Rojas was quoted as saying.

Haiti reported 25 more cholera deaths on Tuesday as UN health officials warned the epidemic was not over yet amid lingering fears it could still infiltrate the capital's putrid refugee camps.

The cholera outbreak, the first in Haiti in more than 100 years, has stabilized in recent days but the number of new deaths announced on Tuesday was more than four times the six reported on Monday.

Indonesia: Tsunami kills over 100 as earthquake triggers waves

(October 26, 2010)
Rescuers battled rough seas Tuesday to reach remote Indonesian islands pounded by a 10-foot (three-meter) tsunami that swept away homes, killing at least 113 people. Scores more were missing and information was only beginning to trickle in from the sparsely populated surfing destination, so casualties were expected to rise.

With few able to get to the islands to help with searches, fisherman were left to find the dead and look for the living. Corpses were strewn about since there were not enough people to dig graves, according to the Mentawai district chief, Edison Salelo Baja. More than 4,000 people expected to spend the night without shelter because tents and other supplies had also not arrived.



Central Java officials warned Tuesday that a lava dome containing pressurized gas could collapse, sparking an explosion far worse than the one in 2006 that killed two people.

Many residents heeded the warning, but thousands more remained near the volcano to watch over their homes and livestock.The slopes of volcanoes provide some of the most fertile soil in Indonesia, creating high population densities in vulnerable areas like the one around Merapi.

Officials with loudspeakers were encouraging thousands to escape the area as hot gas and ash continued to spew from the volcano’s mouth, according to AFP.

Honduras: Tropical Storm Richard hits the northern area of Honduras causing causing strong wind and rains

(October 23, 2010)

Tropical Storm Richard gained strength Saturday, lashing the Caribbean coast of Honduras with strong winds and heavy rain that threatened potentially deadly flash floods and landslides.

Hurricane warnings were issued for all of those areas, and storm warnings were also in place for Mexico's southern Caribbean coast.

Honduran officials said rain was falling on the eastern province of Gracias a Dios, where floods have been severe in the past.

Haiti: Cholera outbreak creeps closer to capital Port-au-Prince

(October 23, 2010)


In Haiti at least 208 people had died and 2,674 others were infected in an outbreak mostly centered in the Artibonite region north of the capital.

Health officials said a spreading cholera outbreak in rural Haiti threatened to outpace aid groups as they stepped up efforts Saturday hoping to keep the disease from reaching the squalid camps of earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince.

At least five people who traveled from the Artibonite region to Port-au-Prince on Saturday tested positive for cholera once they arrived in the capital, where they are being treated, she said. Aguirre said they are not considered the first cholera cases of Port-au-Prince because officials believe the people contracted the disease in Artibonite.

But the number of cases in towns near Port-au-Prince were rising, and officials worried the next target will be hundreds of thousands of Haitians left homeless by January's devastating quake and now living in camps across the capital.