South Africa AIDS toll: 950 die each day

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Fewer than half of South Africa's 15-year-olds will live to see their 60th birthday because of HIV/AIDS, according to a new report.

An estimated 950 people died per day during 2006 from AIDS related diseases, and a further 1,400 were infected each day -- a total of 530,000 new infections, said the report by the Actuarial Society of South Africa and the Medical Research Council.

The report, issued every two years and widely used as a model for predicting the course of the disease and its impact, included an estimate that 5.4 million of South Africa's 48 million people were infected with the AIDS virus by the middle of 2006 -- a figure in line with the government's own estimates issued earlier this year.

Only India is believed to have more people infected with HIV than South Africa.

The report said that life expectancy dropped from 63 in 1990 to 51 in 2006. In the hardest hit province of KwaZulu-Natal, it was as low as 43.

"The Demographic Impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa: National and Provincial Indicators for 2006" said that 15-year-olds had a 56 percent chance of dying before the age of 60, compared to a 29 percent chance of dying in 1990.

"The youth of today are facing a bleak future, and much still needs to be done to protect and support this vulnerable group," says Leigh Johnson, one of the authors of the report.

The South African government, long under fire for doing too little to prevent the spread of AIDS and treatment victims of the disease, recently revamped its strategy. It gave responsibility to Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ncguka and effectively sidelined Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who has been criticized for praising garlic, lemons and the African potato as remedies while disparaging the benefits of antiretroviral medicines.

Mlambo-Ncguka is due to unveil a plan for prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS in 2007-2011 at World AIDS Day ceremonies on Friday. The final five-year plan will be released in March, to allow time for activist groups, who were previously ignored by the government, to have their say.

The new report said high rates of AIDS mortality will persist in South Africa at least for the next decade, but much depended on the provision of treatment. It forecast that if 50 percent of people with AIDS were given treatment, then by 2010 approximately 388,000 AIDS deaths would occur each year.

This compared to approximately 291,000 deaths if 90 percent of people progressing to AIDS started treatment.

The report said that approximately 230,000 HIV-infected individuals were receiving antiretroviral treatment by mid-2006, and a further 540,000 were sick with AIDS but not receiving any therapy.

A part of an iron bridge rests in the middle of a river in Albay province, south of Manila, Friday, Dec. 1, 2006 as it was swept away after typhoon 'Durian' smashed into the Philippines with heavy rains and winds gusting up to 265 kph (165 mph), spawning flash floods and sending walls of muddy volcanic ash and red-hot boulders crashing down on several villages. The national Office of Civil Defense reported 198 people were killed and 260 were missing. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Hundreds feared dead in Philippine landslides

MANILA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Typhoon Durian may have killed up to 400 people in the central Philippines after heavy rains and winds sent tonnes of mud and boulders the size of cars crashing onto villages, the head of the local Red Cross said on Friday.

Durian, which packed winds of up to 225 kph (140 mph), moved into the South China Sea after lashing the Philippines since early Thursday and was expected to weaken into a tropical storm before hitting Vietnam on Monday.

Communities close to Mount Mayon, an active volcano about 320 km (200 miles) south of Manila, were buried after Durian dislodged mounds of debris from its slopes.

"There are a lot of conflicting reports but, looking at the trend, we could have about 300 to 400 people dead by tonight," Richard Gordon, a senator and head of the Philippine Red Cross, told local television.

Around 11,000 people were left homeless and infrastructure damaged, including power lines and phone links knocked out, bridges washed away and roads buried by landslides.

"It's a wasteland," said Noel Rosal, a mayor in the central region of Bicol.

Disaster reports from other provinces were sketchy.

PUNGENT FRUIT

Named after a pungent and spiky Asian fruit, the typhoon was the fourth to hit the Philippines in three months. Forecasters expect one more before the end of the year.

In September, 213 people were killed when Typhoon Xangsane battered the north and centre of the country, leaving millions without electricity or running water for days.

Xangsane also killed dozens in Vietnam.

In a village close to Mayon, soldiers used their bare hands to dig bodies out of the sludge. A pregnant woman was pulled out alive and airlifted to hospital.

"The hands and legs of some of the dead were sticking out from the mud," said Colonel Robert Morales, the deputy brigade commander in Bicol.

Disaster agencies called for fresh water, medicine and body bags. Thousands of evacuees crammed into schools and churches, while some residents were marooned on roofs.

Durian, one notch below a category 5 "super typhoon", caused havoc across the central and northern Philippines, affecting nearly 22,000 people, grounding planes and halting sea travel.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said farmers had suffered around 500 million pesos ($10 million) in losses after Durian swept through growing regions for coconuts, rice and hemp. Crop damage from previous typhoons cut third-quarter economic growth.

WORST IN HISTORY

On the island of Marinduque, trees were uprooted, lamp posts wrenched out and roofs swept from most homes.

"It's the worst in our history. Almost all houses were damaged by the typhoon in the province," Congressman Edmund Reyes said on local radio.

Australia's Lafayette Mining Ltd halted operations at its copper and zinc mine in the central Philippines after the typhoon damaged staff housing and power lines but the company said it hoped to reopen in two weeks.

Durian skirted Manila, where offices and schools were closed for a national holiday.

Illegal logging and mining raises the risk of mudslides during the Philippine typhoon season. In the worst disaster in recent years, more than 5,000 people died on the central island of Leyte in 1991 in floods triggered by a typhoon.

At least 3 deaths blamed on Midwest snow

CHICAGO - The first major snowstorm of the season forced a plane off a runway, canceled hundreds of flights and shuttered schools and businesses across the Plains and Midwest on Friday as drivers fought sloppy highways.

At least three deaths were blamed on the storm that was moving northwest through Illinois and Michigan on a path to Canada.

A Fed Ex cargo plane arriving Friday morning at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport slipped off the runway into mud, and crews were working to tow it away. No one was hurt, but the accident left only one runway open, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.

Laura and Ron Whittingham said early Friday that their United flight to Las Vegas was leaving on time from O'Hare, one of numerous airports where most flights were canceled.

"I guess we're just the lucky ones," Ron Whittingham said. "We are going to Vegas, so that's a good thing, right? We're starting off lucky."

In Missouri, Holly Foster said she was the only employee who had made it in to Gov. Matt Blunt's office by 8 a.m.

"My husband loves a challenge," she said.

About 2.4 million customers across central and southern Illinois and parts of Missouri were without power early Friday after ice snapped tree limbs and power lines.

In the Chicago area, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning until noon, predicting six to 12 inches of snow. Winds gusted to over 30 mph as the storm arrived in full by the morning rush hour.

"It looks like it's going to get messy," said Tim Halbach, a meteorologist in the Chicago suburb of Romeoville. "There could be times where some areas see 2 inches of snow per hour."

The wintry system struck Thursday from Texas to Michigan, forcing the closure of hundreds of schools, colleges and universities and state offices. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declared a disaster emergency for 27 counties, freeing up resources to help them.

The weather even forced the postponement of the state high school football playoffs in Oklahoma for the first time in 14 years. Snowfall there ranged from 2 inches to nearly a foot, while parts of Illinois prepared for 6 to 12 inches. In southeastern Wisconsin, forecasters warned that winds and rain could bring near-blizzard conditions.

An Oklahoma man was killed Thursday when his vehicle skidded on an icy road and hit an oncoming tractor-trailer. Also Thursday, on Interstate 44 near Rolla, Mo., a semitrailer truck slid through a cable barrier and struck several vehicles. A motorist who had been involved in an earlier accident and was standing by his car was struck and killed.

A driver died in Boone County, Mo. on Thursday when his car was struck by a snow plow blade, said Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. John Hotz. Two passengers were taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

The state trooper who responded to the crash then apparently became stranded himself.

"Apparently there were several of our troopers that were stranded out there all night," Hotz said. "We're having trouble even getting patrol cars around."

In Oklahoma, two accidents on Interstate 40 snarled traffic for most of Thursday. A 16-vehicle pileup involving an ambulance and eight semitrailers forced the closure of the highway in central Oklahoma for nearly 13 hours, while a tractor-trailer carrying some radiological material overturned in Oklahoma City.

No hazardous material leaked, said Highway Patrol trooper Kera Philippi, although the highway was shut down for more than six hours.

A 50-mile stretch of I-70 across mid-Missouri, where some of the heaviest snow fell, remained closed early Friday.

At the Nevada Fuel Mart in southwest Missouri, Rose Dozier said most truck drivers heading south stopped early Thursday night. They reported near-zero visibility before the snow began to subside.

"The drivers are all professionals and they're used to it," Dozier said. "They said a lot of cars are not."

Jennifer Stark with the National Weather Service in Topeka, Kan., said the storm seemed especially impressive because it had been preceded by unseasonably mild weather. Temperatures approached, and in some places eclipsed, record highs earlier in the week.

Floods in East Africa said to kill 250

NAIROBI, Kenya - About 250 people have been killed and 100,000 have lost their homes as catastrophic floods ravaged East Africa, aid workers said Friday as rains continued to pound the impoverished region.

Floods have hit Kenya, Somalia, Rwanda and Ethiopia, affecting more than 1.8 million people, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Weather experts warn that the punishing rains could continue through December in a region where a long drought has left the soil so dry it is unable to absorb the deluge.

Disease from poor sanitation is also taking its toll as submerged villages remain cut off and trucks laden with food and medicine are unable to reach survivors, according to the U.N. food agency.

East Africa is one of the poorest regions in the world where most people live on less than $1 a day. It is home to more than 200 million people and regularly sees droughts and famine.

The U.N. is expected to launch an appeal Dec. 5 for an extra $17 million for flood victims. The organization already has received $10 million to help.

Some 41 people have been killed in Kenya and more than 700,000 people are affected, the Kenyan Red Cross said. The Health Ministry recently issued a cholera alert, the U.N added.

In neighboring Somalia, the death toll rose to 116 after 20 people died in the north of the country in an outbreak of diarrhea, the U.N. said. Some 15 people died in floods in Rwanda, officials said.

More than 80 people have died in Ethiopia, while 361,000 people have been affected in the southeast of the country.