Disease fears grow for Philippines flood survivors

CAGAYAN DE ORO, (Philippines), Dec 21 : Survivors of devastating flash floods in the southern Philippines face growing threats from disease, officials warned on Wednesday, as the toll of dead and missing tops a thousand. Some 44,000 people who fled as huge torrents swept away shantytowns five days ago are packed in evacuation camps with rudimentary facilities, but officials fear these sites could be potential breeding grounds for epidemics."We may be paying so much attention to the corpses we will ignore the evacuation centres," said assistant Health Secretary Eric Tayag in an interview on ABS-CBN television. - AFP Afghan police kill would-be bank bomber KABUL, Dec 21: Police shot dead a would-be suicide bomber before he could detonate his explosives at a bank in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border on Wednesday, officials said. Officers are hunting a second attacker who also tried to target a branch of the Kabul Bank in Khost city. "A suicide bomber was killed by police before entering Kabul Bank in Khost. He did not detonate. One guard was wounded in the incident," the interior ministry said in a statement. - BBC China to release protest leaders WUKAN, (China), Dec 21: Chinese authorities have agreed to release three villagers detained for leading September protests against land grabs, a community spokesman said Wednesday after meeting a senior official. "The three will be released one after another today and tomorrow," Lin Zulian told residents of the southern village of Wukan, after talks aimed at defusing a long stand-off with local authorities. - AFP N Zealand court jails mother in child abuse case WELLINGTON, Dec 21: A New Zealand court on Wednesday jailed a woman seven-and-a-half years for abuse of her two young children, in a case described by the country's welfare minister as "cruel and barbaric". "There is nothing nice about my mum," said the eight-year-old boy in his victim impact report, quoted in the New Zealand Herald. ." - AFP Thousands honour late Czech leader Havel Thousands of people have accompanied the coffin of late Czech leader Vaclav Havel en route to Prague Castle where he will lie in state. The procession marks the start of three official days of mourning for Havel who died on Sunday aged 75. Many applauded as the hearse carrying the former dissident playwright who led the 1989 overthrow of communism passed through the historic centre. A state funeral for the first Czech president is to take place on Friday. Havel's coffin was carried in a hearse, followed by members of Havel's family and thousands of members of the public, many dressed in black. take 40 years to dismantle TOKYO, Dec 21: Japan said Wednesday that decommissioning the tsunami-wrecked reactors at Fukushima could take as long as 40 years, with melted nuclear fuel possibly stuck where it is for a quarter of a century. A roadmap produced by the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) envisages engineers will use much of the next 10 years just trying to work out how to get at the fuel, which has partly eaten through its containment vessels. . Pakistan opposition demands early polls ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: Pakistan's main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif is demanding early elections amid speculation that a president weakened by illness and scandal will not complete his five-year mandate. President Asif Ali Zardari returned home on Monday after two weeks of medical treatment in Dubai for an illness that has not been publicly disclosed, but which aides have likened to a mini-stroke with no lasting damage. . Putin ally Naryshkin voted in as new parliament speaker MOSCOW, Dec 21: Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday voted in strongman Vladimir Putin's ally and former chief of Kremlin staff Sergei Naryshkin as its new speaker. A total of 238 parliament members supported his candidacy in the State Duma, where the ruling party obtained 238 out of 450 seats in December 4 parliamentary polls. Oil leak causes production halt at a Shell facility off Nigeria LAGOS, Dec 21: An oil leak has caused a production halt at a Shell facility off Nigeria capable of producing 200,000 barrels per day, the company said Wednesday, adding that "less than 40,000 barrels" have leaked. "Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company can confirm it is responding to an oil leak at the 200,000 barrel-per-day capacity Bonga deepwater facility, approximately 120 kilometres off the Nigeria coast," a statement said. Five die in plane crash on New Jersey motorway An investment banker and his wife and children are believed to be among five people killed when a small plane crashed on to a New Jersey motorway. The aircraft went down on Interstate 287 by the town of Harding in the north of the state, said aviation officials. The single-engine plane spiralled out of the sky and exploded upon impact, witnesses said. Wreckage of the private plane that crashed in New Jersey Recovery efforts revealed the extent of the damage to the small private planeTV news helicopter footage showed wreckage strewn across the motorway, which was closed in both directions.-