Central America floods and landslides 'leave 80 dead'

 The number of people killed by a week of torrential rains, triggering floods and landslides across Central America, has reached at least 80, officials say.

El Salvador is the worst-affected, with 32 people killed, mostly buried in their houses by mudslides.

The number of dead in Guatemala has risen to 28, while the total rose to 13 in Honduras, and eight people have died in Nicaragua.

Rain generated by a tropical depression continues to fall across the region.

International highways have been washed out, villages isolated and thousands of families have lost homes and crops.

The United Nations has classified Central America as one of the parts of the world most affected by climate change.

The UN estimates that more than 100,000 people have been affected by the flooding.

El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes said the country was "really being put to the test".

"The situation has got even worse, it's still raining heavily in various parts of the country," Mr Funes, said in an address to the nation, late on Sunday.

He said more than 20,000 people had been evacuated and entire communities had been cut off due to impassable roads.

The government launched an appeal for international humanitarian aid, with the rains forecast to continue through Monday.

In Ciudad Arce, 40 km (24 miles) northwest of the capital, San Salvador, a landslide swept away five houses, killing at least nine people, officials said.

Rainfall was so strong around the municipality that rescue operations had to be suspended for a time.
Bridge damaged 160 km south of Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa Flooding has damaged bridges and highways across the region

Authorities were also moving people away from the area around a volcano near San Salvador, where hundreds died in landslides in 1982.

Similar action was being taken in Nicaragua, where the civil defence agency ordered the evacuation of the slopes of the Casita volcano, which experienced deadly landslides in 1998, after the passage of Hurricane Mitch.

Guatemala issued a "red alert" and President Alvaro Colom has declared a "state of calamity".

In one of the most recent incidents, a mudslide buried five members of a single family inside a house in Boca del Monte, Villa Canales, 18km (12 miles) south of Guatemala City.

In Honduras, 2,500 homes, eight bridges and 29 roads had been damaged.

President Porfirio Lobo declared a state of emergency in the southern part of the country and dispatched medical teams to the worst-affected areas.

"The worst is yet to come," said Rodolfo Funez, deputy director of the Honduran emergency commission.

The rain has also hit southeastern Mexico, where swollen rivers have affected thousands of people, notably in Tabasco state.

Last week, Hurricane Jova hit Mexico's Pacific coast, leaving at least eight dead.

Powerful Typhoon Roke hits Japan

A powerful typhoon has struck disaster-ravaged Japan, bringing heavy rains and floods that have killed four people.

Typhoon Roke is on course to hit Fukushima, where engineers are still struggling to bring a nuclear plant under control after the March tsunami.

There are concerns that rain could force radioactive water into the sea.

Across Japan more than a million people were urged to evacuate their homes; an advisory was later lifted in one area but 330,000 people remain at risk.

The typhoon made landfall on Wednesday afternoon (0500GMT), scouring its way up the main island of Honshu, bringing high winds and torrential rain.

The storm is tracking a path across Tokyo towards Fukushima prefecture and is then expected to travel up along the north-east coast, which was battered by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

Tokyo says pools of radioactive water remain at the Fukushima nuclear site, and there is concern that a heavy downpour could cause them to overflow into the sea or groundwater.

Four people have been found dead after heavy rain and flooding in central and western Japan due to the storm's approach.

Two people are missing in the central prefecture of Gifu, including a nine-year-old boy.

Several motorways have been closed and hundreds of flights cancelled. Car maker Toyota is suspending production at 11 of its 15 factories.

Japan's Meteorological Agency has urged "the highest level of caution be used because of the heavy rain, strong wind, and high waves."

The agency has warned of downpours over a wide area of the country on Wednesday, saying some places could be deluged by as much as 50mm of rain in an hour.

This is the second time in less than a month that Japan is being lashed by a typhoon. Talas ripped through the west of the country, leaving about 90 people dead or missing.

Bomb attacks in NW Pakistan

Eight people were killed and 37 others were injured, many of them were policemen, in two bomb attacks in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar earlier Today morning.

In morning, a roadside bomb planted under a pile of fruits along the street in the Lahori Gate area of Peshawar hit a police van carrying an estimated 20 police officers to duty places.

A few hours later after the first blast, two female suicide bombers attacked a checkpost temporarily set up near the first blast site. They first threw a hand grenade, causing a stampede among the people gathering there, before they committed suicide attack.

Local reports quoted police sources as saying that Today's serial bomb attacks in Peshawar could be a retaliation for a large- scale search operation launched by the police Wednesday night at the outskirts of the city, during which one Taliban leader was arrested.

Six people including five policemen on the bus and one child were killed on the spot while 17 other police officers on board were injured. Hospital sources said some of the injured are in critical condition.

A few hours later after the first blast, two female suicide bombers attacked a checkpost temporarily set up near the first blast site. They first threw a hand grenade, causing a stampede among the people gathering there, before they committed suicide attack.