PHILLIPINOS

CNN) -- Dangerous conditions and the lack of electricity have forced rescuers to halt their efforts to locate more than a thousand missing Filipino villagers feared trapped beneath a mudslide, according to the Philippines' defense secretary.

"Right now they cannot get in because there was some movement in soil and they didn't want to compromise the lives of rescuers," Avelino Cruz, who is in charge of the rescue effort, told CNN on Friday, more than 12 hours after the disaster occurred.

Two weeks of steady rain caused a mountain to disintegrate Friday morning, burying hundreds of homes in a village on the southern Philippines island of Leyte.

An initial confirmed death toll was 18, with 53 survivors found, including a child, said Rosette Lerias, provincial governor of Leyte.

Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross, put the estimated death toll at 300, with 1,500 missing.

Vans loaded with upwards of 20 asians or hispanics seem always to turn into infernos.

And the Hajjists always get it when they 'stone the devil'. Stupid tramplings.

Great White fans are another.

the bangladeshis also seem eternally screwed. every time you turn around it's 'typhoon this, typhoon that'.

Children.

Boy, 11, fatally stabbed on West Side

By David Wischnowsky
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 15, 2006, 8:17 PM CST

When Clay "C.J." Ether stumbled into his mother's bedroom in the middle of the night, blood was pouring from the 11-year-old's chest and he said he had been stabbed, family members said.

C.J.'s mother, Kallie Ether, called 911, then called her sister about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, said the sister, Vivian Shine. "She locked the bedroom door where she was asleep with her daughter and waited for the police," Shine said.

When officers arrived at the West Side apartment that C.J. shared with his mother and 7-year-old sister in the 5000 block of West Washington Boulevard, they found the boy with a knife wound in his chest, said Police Officer Kristina Schuler.

Chicago police and family members are now trying to unravel the mystery of who fatally stabbed the 6th grader who family, friends and school officials said was a good student who liked sports and video games.

C.J. was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died of multiple stab wounds, said the Cook County medical examiner's office. His death was ruled a homicide, a spokesman said.

Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the stabbing is under investigation and detectives have been canvassing the area, talking to witnesses. No suspects are in custody, she said. Police still need to determine where C.J. was when he was stabbed, said Officer John Mirabelli.

C.J.'s death stunned his family and residents of the Austin community. His brother, Cortez Boyd, 18, could not hold back tears as he talked about his brother.

"I saw him last night about 8 p.m. when [C.J.] went to the store," Boyd said. That was the last time Boyd saw his younger brother, he said.

Like many 11-year-olds, C.J. enjoyed playing video games, Boyd said. He also liked basketball, football and watching funny movies, his brother said.

"He was a regular little kid," said Tina Grady, a neighbor in the apartment building, who said her 12-year-old daughter has grown up with C.J.. "His mom keeps good tabs on him."

"He was a baby," C.J.'s aunt Latesia Payne said. "He did what normal 11-year-olds do."

At the boy's school, Emmet Academy, principal Jacqueline Robinson said students' were shaken by C.J.'s death.

"There are children who are saying they're afraid about what happened," she said. "Some kids came to school upset and I've received calls already from parents. My staff is also upset and very concerned."

......me.

Nah, I'm just kidding. He thinks I'm "alright".

we're looking for mass casualties here, people. Stuff that makes Pat Robertson sit up and take notice. One child dying is not a sign that God hates that particular child- it's that he just doesn't care.

SOMB

... YOU

beige people seem to be on the chopping block.

God likes capitalists more than communists...

GOD HATES - James Blunt.

- the Donner Party
- lemmings
- Aztecs
- Atlantis-ians
- Haitians

the Kennedy's

God hates gay black people. That's why Hurricane Katrina happened. I'm sure there was at least one victim who was gay and black. He's the reason it happened.

Come on, you know Pat Robertson was thinking that.

It is time to face the fact. God hates us all. We are all doomed to die. Your death is proof of God's hatred for you. Remember (And please forgive the use of the masculine.); Every man for himself and God against all.
Cheers,
Janine

Slackmo you get 50 bonus pts for a Pat McCurdy reference.

In regards to that 11 year old stabbing story, why did EMS take the boy to a hospital all the way in Maywood? Wouldn't Cook County...I mean Stroger Hospital have been closer?

Ugandan church-goers.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- A church roof in Uganda's capital collapsed during heavy rains Wednesday, killing at least 21 people attending an evening service, police said.

At least 20 people were injured and have been hospitalized, police spokesman Assuman Mugenyi said.

Police and firefighters are leading a rescue operation at Kalerwe, an area in the northern part of the capital, Kampala, he said.

You don't watch many vampire movies, do you?

No offence, but Rorschach said it better:

Quakes in Iran Kill at Least 66
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago



TEHRAN, Iran - Three strong earthquakes and several aftershocks reduced villages to rubble in western Iran early Friday, killing at least 66 people and injuring about 1,200 others, officials said.


At least 13 tremors jolted the mountainous region throughout the night, Tehran University's Geophysics Institute said.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 5.7-magnitude quake shortly before 5 a.m., followed by a 4.7-magnitude aftershock about 15 minutes later.

The quakes were centered near Boroujerd and Doroud, two industrial centers about 210 miles southwest of Tehran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The regional head of emergency response, Ali Barani, said about 200 villages were damaged, some flattened. Barani said hospitals in Doroud and Boroujerd were filled to capacity.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting northern England, expressed her "deep sympathy" to the Iranians and offered assistance. The U.S. military provided aid after a devastating quake in southern Iran in 2003.

Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations and currently are at a stalemate over U.S. accusations that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies those charges.

After the first quake struck, police in the city of Boroujerd and the town of Doroud toured the streets with loudspeakers, urging people to leave their homes before more temblors hit.

The measure is believed to have contributed to a lower death toll than usual in Iran for quakes of this magnitude.

Many people ran into the streets in panic and refused to return to their homes.

"We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night," Doroud resident Mahmoud Chaharmiri told The Associated Press by telephone.

Television showed survivors standing next to their destroyed houses in villages north of Doroud. The ground was strewn with the carcasses of sheep and goats killed by the quake.

Such quakes have killed thousands of Iranians in the past, especially in the countryside, where construction is often flimsy and many houses are built of mud bricks. But initial reports suggested the devastation was not so widespread this time.

Officials called doctors and nurses on leave back to work. Iranians are celebrating Nowruz, or new year, and most government offices are closed and their staff on holiday.

Barani told IRNA rescue teams had been sent to the region. He said survivors urgently needed blankets, tents and food.

State-run television said 66 bodies had been recovered from houses destroyed in Silakhor, a region north of Doroud.

The broadcast said 1,200 people were injured. Most people had been sleeping.

In February 2005, a 6.4-magnitude quake in southern Iran killed 612 people and injured more than 1,400.

A magnitude 6.6 quake flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam in the same region in December 2003, killing 26,000 people.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. On average, it experiences at least one slight earthquake every day.

The area had been hit by a 4.7-magnitude quake the day before, according to the USGS, which monitors earthquakes around the world.

Djiboutians


Boat Capsizes Off Djibouti; 69 Dead

By CHRIS TOMLINSON
Associated Press Writer
Published April 6, 2006, 11:27 AM CDT

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A small boat carrying passengers to a traditional festival overturned Thursday off the coast of Djibouti, killing at least 69 people, an adviser to the president said. More people were feared missing or dead, said Ismael Tani, the presidential adviser.

"There were many dead," he said, adding that 69 was the provisional death toll. He said it overturned in the harbor at about midday and "was probably overloaded."

There was no manifest for the boat, so officials do not know how many people were on it when it overturned, he said.

"It was a small boat headed for a traditional fair," he said.

Heh, the number 69 and the word Djibouti go well together.

Some white people died

yeah but that's soooo last week

All white people go to heaven.

Ghanians

120 feared dead as Ghana boat capsizes: police
By Orla Ryan
Mon Apr 10, 9:44 AM ET

ACCRA (Reuters) - Some 120 people were feared drowned after a boat packed with passengers and goods capsized on Ghana's Lake Volta, one of the world's largest reservoirs, police in the West African country said on Monday.

"There were 150 passengers on board but only 30 have been rescued. The rest are feared dead," police spokesman Kwesi Ofori said. He said the accident happened on Saturday and a search party was still looking for survivors.

Ofori said the boat was probably overloaded. He said it hit a stump as it traveled across the lake, which covers 8,500 square km (3,275 square miles), more than three times the size of Luxembourg.

He said the boat had been traveling from Dudzome, in the Afram Plains region, to Abotoase further east. The bodies of three young children had been recovered from the accident site.

Local media reported that the passengers were being moved after settling illegally in a forestry reserve in Dudzome and had been forced with their property and livestock onto a boat that should only carry 70 people.

The lake's dam produces electricity for most of the nation.

Many of the vessels plying trade and passenger routes on lakes and off Africa's shores are poorly maintained, with accurate passenger manifests a rarity.

An overloaded wooden boat carrying three times the number of passengers it was built for sank off Djibouti last week, killing at least 109 people in one of the Red Sea nation's worst disasters.

At least 127 people drowned last month after a wooden boat traveling from Nigeria to Gabon broke up in high seas and sank off Cameroon's Atlantic port of Kribi. Survivors said more than twice the registered 150 passengers had been onboard.