Typhoon death toll nears 200 in Philippines

MANILA (AFP) - The death toll from Typhoon Xangsane in the Philippines has neared 200, as rescue workers reached remote areas where last week's massive storm sparked flash floods and landslides.

The civil defense office and other government agencies put the official death toll at 197, with at least 22 others still listed as missing after Xangsane -- the strongest storm to hit Manila in a decade -- hit Thursday.

As workmen in the capital cleared the streets of fallen trees, power poles and other debris left in Xangsane's wake, officials counted the human and economic costs of the killer typhoon -- and braced for another tropical storm.

The industrial belt south of Manila bore the brunt of the typhoon, with at least 154 people killed in five provinces, authorities said.

The figure included six people who drowned overnight in the hills near the towns of Antipolo and Teresa on the eastern outskirts of Manila and 14 others who drowned near the remote town of San Francisco, southeast of the capital.

Five other people were still reported missing in San Francisco, Nancy Toribio of the social welfare and development office in Quezon province told AFP.

But she denied a report by the region's disaster coordinating center that a landslide had occurred in the town, killing three people and leaving 72 others missing, saying everyone had been accounted for, save the five people missing.

"I can confirm there was no landslide in the town of San Francisco -- just flooding which caused the deaths of some 14 people," she told AFP from the provincial capital Lucena City.

Elsewhere, 23 people were killed and 17 others were missing after a bus was swept off a bridge by a swollen river near the town of Igbaras on the central island of Panay, police said.

At least 20 other typhoon-related deaths have been reported by officials in the Bicol region, metropolitan Manila and nearby provinces to the north.

Xangsane displaced 1.33 million people and blacked out the country's main island of Luzon, leaving some 43 million people in the dark.

The storm wrecked 146,000 houses and tens of thousands of hectares (acres) of farmland. Some 171,000 people displaced by floods and strong winds remained in evacuation centers on Tuesday.

Scattered flooding was reported around Manila overnight as another tropical storm approached from the Pacific coast.

The new storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers (53 miles) an hour, was expected to brush past the northeast coast of Luzon late Friday or early Saturday, the country's weather office said.

An alert has been issued in the central and northern Philippines for storm surges, flash floods and landslides.

After slamming into the Philippines, Xangsane headed across the South China Sea before smashing into central Vietnam on Sunday, leaving 30 dead. One person was also reported dead in southern China.

Electricity and water had been restored to most of Manila's 12 million residents by early Tuesday as the government and local authorities counted the cost to infrastructure, business and agriculture.

The economic planning secretary, Romulo Neri, said he did not expect the country's economic growth to be affected by the typhoon.

Some estimates have put the damage to property and infrastructure in excess of two billion pesos (40 million dollars).

Thai Floods have affected almost 945,000 people

GENEVA (AFP) - Thirteen people have been killed and tens of thousands affected by floods sparked by heavy rain across a swathe of Thailand, the United Nations' emergency aid agency has said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday that 26 homes have been totally destroyed and more than 1,200 partially damaged.

More than 1,400 roads and 179 bridges have been destroyed, OCHA said Monday.

The total amount of damage from initial surveys by local authorities is estimated at 4.3 million dollars (3.35 million euros), it said.

The flooding began after a series of tropical depressions began moving across Thailand in recent weeks, and has affected almost 945,000 people.

Eighteen provinces are still inundated, with water levels remaining high in key rivers.

The Thai government is running its own aid effort and has not requested any international assistance, OCHA said.

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Wildfire burning along Columbia River in central Washington state threatens homes

BRIDGEPORT, Washington (AP) — A wildfire in central Washingtonstate was threatening several homes after destroying two outbuildings, fire officials said.
The wind-driven blaze was burning over 8,000 acres, or more than 12 square miles. Itwas 25% contained Sunday evening, said Dan Johnson, aspokesman for the Washington State Patrol's fire protection bureau.

Stiff winds had calmed by Sunday evening, Johnson said.Officials expect to have the fire fully contained by Wednesday.

No evacuations had been ordered. The fire was about a half-mile from the threatened homes, Johnson said.

It started Saturday afternoon and is believed to have been sparked by a downed power line, said Melissa Gannie, a fire protection bureau spokeswoman.

The blaze was burning near Bridgeport, a town of about 2,000, in steep terrain in a narrow strip along the Columbia River.

About 100 firefighters were battling the blaze, Gannie said.

Meanwhile, California firefighters were in the final stage of surrounding one of the biggest blazes in state history, which has burned 254 square miles of brush and timber since erupting Labor Day.

A helicopter crashed while returning to pick up more fire retardant and water. Two pilots aboard walked away with minor injuries.

The fire was 95% contained, and officials expected to have it fully surrounded by Monday.

The fire, ignited by someone burning debris, burned mainly inthe Los Padres and Angeles National forests. At one point, it threatened the Ventura County communities of Ojai, Santa Paula andFillmore.

The fire destroyed one rural home and damaged another. It also burned a handful of structures including barns, sheds, an unoccupied cabin and a camping trailer.

British honeymooner trampled to death by elephant

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- An elephant trampled and killed a British man on his honeymoon in Kenya.

Patrick Smith, 34, was killed in front of his wife, Julie, in the Masai Mara National Reserve on Sunday, officials said. His wife managed to leap out of the way.

"He was trampled by an elephant while on a nature trail with his wife," said Connie Maina, spokeswoman for the Kenya Wildlife Service. "This is a terrible accident."

"No one knows what startled the elephants, but the guide was doing everything right. They were downwind and thought they were a safe distance. Elephants have very poor eyesight, so this was not an attack," he said. "It was a tragic accident."

Kenya's elephant population is estimated at 35,000, down from a peak of 167,000 in the 1970s due to rampant poaching.

According to Kenya's Wildlife Service, the last tourist killed by an elephant in Kenya was in 2000. But there are frequent incidents between elephants and villagers in rural areas. In August, Kenyan officials shot dead a pair of rogue elephants who had killed four people in the north.

India calls for calm over dengue fever outbreak

The Indian government has appealed for calm as it tries to contain an outbreak of dengue fever in the country's north.

Federal Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss urged people not to panic, saying the situation was under control.

He was speaking after talks in the capital, Delhi, where 14 of 28 recent dengue deaths have occurred. Nearly 500 cases of dengue have been reported.

Sixteen new cases were announced in Delhi on Tuesday, a day after a massive drive to contain dengue was launched.

Dengue fever - carried by mosquitoes - can lead to headaches, high fever and other flu-like symptoms, and even to brain haemorrhage.

Meanwhile, the southern state of Kerala is battling a massive outbreak of another mosquito-borne infection - chikungunya disease.

Up to 20,000 people are affected in the worst-hit district of the state, authorities say.

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