Locusts hatching earlier than expected in NSW

Plague locusts have begun hatching in south west New South Wales, at least a week earlier than expected.

The Department of Primary Industries has warned farmers to be on the alert for hatching locusts after swarms were reported across the Riverina and Central West in autumn.




30 Algerians die in flash floods

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Torrential rains in the Algerian Sahara caused flash floods that killed 30 people and injured dozens in a historic oasis region, officials in the North African nation said Thursday.

Hundreds of people had to be rescued by helicopter and up to 600 houses were destroyed in the rains Tuesday and Wednesday around the medieval town of Ghardaia, the official APS news agency said. Security services and the military were helping in the rescue operations.

The country's head of public health, Ali Belkhir, told national radio that 29 people had died. But the region's governor said 30 were counted dead by late Thursday, said APS.




Lake Kinneret drops to lowest ever recorded water level

The past year has seen the sharpest drop in the water level of the Kinneret since measurements were first recorded, according to data the Water Authority published on Thursday.

Having fallen two meters over the past year, today the level of the Kinneret stands at 214.06 meters below sea level, more than a meter from the lowest red line.

The Water Authority revealed that the level is advancing at a disturbing speed towards the black line, emphasizing that the Kinneret is 5.26 meters from the highest red line.

Since Spring, 2004, the level of the Kinneret has dropped more than five meters which is about 850 million cubic meters of water, more than the amount of water consumed annually by Israel.




NASA MODIS Image of the Day: September 29, 2008 - Aral Sea, 2000-2008

A Soviet-era plan to turn the arid plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan into fertile cropland resulted in the near-total diversion of the water that once fed the Aral Sea.




Uzbekistan: Harvest by force
The use of school-students to pick cotton further tarnishes the reputation of Islam Karimov's repressive state, says Andrew Stroehlein.

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This is not their choice or even a poverty-driven decision made by desperate families trying to make ends meet. This is a top-down government policy: the authorities close the classrooms, they put the children on buses, and they give them a police escort to the fields. Repeated regime pledges to end the practice have come to naught: even as the Uzbek government announced a ban on child-labor on 15 September 2008, children were already in the fields, picking cotton under compulsion.




Dog Recovering After Shark Attack
Jake the Rat Terrier Saved After Owner Punches Shark




Health alert Chicken Pox hits Accra (Ghana)

An unusual outbreak of chicken pox is being experienced in the Accra metropolis this year, according to a Times survey. The survey, conducted in six medical centres, including three hospitals and three polyclinics, revealed that about 600 cases have been reported in the first quarter of the year. Last year, 356 cases were reported during the same period at hospitals and clinics located in three sub-metros of Ayawaso, Kpeshie and Okaikoi within the Accra metropolitan area.




Whooping cough outbreak leaves baby seriously ill (Australia)

A SMALL baby from Barkers Vale, north of Nimbin, was last night clinging to life at the Brisbane Royal Children's Hospital after contracting whooping cough in what health officials are describing as the region's worst outbreak.
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Melody's struggle with the potentially fatal illness comes as health officials blame low immunisation rates for a whooping cough outbreak four times worse than any previously recorded on the North Coast.

Of 500 cases reported in the outbreak, 89 were in children aged younger than four, North Coast Public Health director Paul Corben said. Of the children who fell ill, 53 were not vaccinated.




Michigan E. coli case count continues to rise

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The number of confirmed E. coli sickness cases continues to climb in Michigan. The state Department of Community Health says Monday that 30 cases with the same DNA fingerprinting have been identified.




Teen fights for life after E. coli outbreak

The Oklahoma State Department of Health says more than 300 people have become ill from the outbreak. Experts are still working to determine the cause and are now analyzing some additional data.

While the department says the outbreak is over, the effects of it are still taking a toll on some. 13-year-old Lexy Morton was hospitalized due to E. coli for five weeks.




More gastro hits Riverina (Australia)

THE number of people struck down by gastroenteritis in the Riverina has climbed above 50, with a new outbreak reported yesterday. The latest victims are eight residents and a staff member from a nursing home in Young, which is in lockdown and not accepting any visitors to prevent the illness spreading.




Over 1000 dengue cases reported

Update: 10:44AM Fiji has on record more than 1000 people suffering from dengue fever following an outbreak with the past three weeks.

Interim Health Minister, Dr Jiko Luveni speaking at the 59th session of the Regional Committee Meeting in Manila, Philippines yesterday, said dengue is a disease that attracts attention only when there is an outbreak and is labelled as a neglected disease.




Number of Cholera Cases in Iraq Nearly Doubles

BAGHDAD, 28 September 2008 (IRIN) - More than 300 confirmed cholera cases have been registered in central and southern Iraq since an outbreak began on 20 August, with almost 50 percent of the cases occurring in the past week, the health ministry's cholera unit has said. "The number of cholera cases has reached 327 in nine provinces: Babil 200 cases, Baghdad 61 cases, Basra 29 cases, Karbala 26 cases, Anbar four cases, Najaf three cases, Diwaniya two cases, Diyala one case and Maysan one case," said Ihsan Jaafar, director-general of the public health directorate and spokesman for the ministry's cholera control unit.