Flood damage to Serbia, Bosnia around 3 bln euros: EBRD
Belgrade (AFP) May 29, 2014 -
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) estimated Thursday that the damage from record floods in Serbia and Bosnia could cost some 3 billion euros ($4 billion).
"No official estimates as to the cost of this natural disaster are available as yet. However, some very rough preliminary estimates put the damage at around EUR1.5-2 billion in Serbia, and about EUR1.3 billion in ...
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Be prepared for hurricanes, despite calm forecast, NOAA warns
Miami (AFP) May 29, 2014 -
Despite the quiet forecast for this year's hurricane season, the director of the Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned Thursday not to let guards down completely.
Rick Knabb, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's NHC, emphasized that even a single storm that hits land can have a huge impact.
He cautioned residents of all hurricane-prone areas, from the ...
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After 8,000 cholera deaths, Haiti faces new epidemic
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) May 28, 2014 -
Hard-hit by a cholera epidemic that started in 2010, Haiti now faces a new threat in the expanding chikungunya virus, authorities said Wednesday.
"We have had 8,561 deaths from cholera since its reappearance in Haiti in 2010, while 702,892 cases have been confirmed," said Health Minister Florence Duperval.
Now, the chikungunya virus that has been spreading in the Caribbean has emerged as ...
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Australia rules out swathe of ocean as MH370 crash zone
Sydney (AFP) May 29, 2014 -
Australia Thursday ruled out a large swathe of Indian Ocean as Malaysian Flight MH370's final resting place, compounding the frustration of passengers' relatives who are still without answers almost three months on.
The Joint Agency Coordination Centre said a lengthy underwater search of an area where acoustic transmissions were detected in early April was now complete, as a US Navy official ...
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Super typhoon cools Philippine economy
Manila (AFP) May 29, 2014 -
The Philippines' roaring economy cooled in the first quarter of the year as the impacts of Super Typhoon Haiyan and other natural disasters hit harder than expected, official data showed Thursday.
Economic growth slowed to 5.7 percent in January-March, compared with 7.7 percent in the same period last year, the government said.
"The relatively slow growth is expected given the magnitude ...
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Storm Amanda blamed for three deaths in Mexico
Morelia, Mexico (AFP) May 29, 2014 -
Torrential rains from tropical storm Amanda claimed the lives of three people in Mexico, authorities said Wednesday.
Waters rushing down mountainsides caused flash floods that swept away two people in the town of Zitacuaro in the western state of Michoacan, said the state's director of civil protection, Nicolas Alfaro.
The fatalities were a 50-year-old man and a girl of eight.
Roads ...
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Chinese embassy's US street urged renamed for dissident
Washington (AFP) May 30, 2014 -
US lawmakers called Thursday for the street outside China's embassy to be renamed in honor of jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
A diverse group of US House members said that a name change on at least a section of the street in Washington would embolden Chinese rights campaigners as Beijing authorities work hard to censor any mention ...
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