LA PAZ, Mexico, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - Hurricane Norbert struck Mexico's northwest Pacific coast Saturday, ripping off roofs, knocking down trees and leaving one person missing and more than 20,000 homes without electricity, local authorities said.

LA PAZ, Mexico, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - Hurricane Norbert, a Category 2 storm on the Saffir Simpson scale, crashed ashore in northwestern Mexico Saturday near Puerto Cortes, in Baja California Sur state, the National Weather Service said.

MEXICO CITY, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - Hurricane Norbert regained strength Friday to a category two storm as it approached Mexico's northwest Baja California peninsula, according to Mexican weather services.

'Norbert climbed in intensity to a category two (out of five on the Saffir Simpson scale),' the latest report from the Mexican meteorological service said.

MADRID, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - A British woman and her 14-year-old daughter have drowned in a flash flood in eastern Spain which has been lashed by torrential rains, officials said on Friday.

MIAMI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Norbert has grown into a dangerous category-four hurricane with winds near 215 kilometers (135 miles miles) per hour, as it churns towards Mexico's tourist destination of Baja, California, the National Hurricane Center said late Wednesday.

GENEVA, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - More people died from natural disasters in the first six months of 2008 than in the Asian tsunami of 2004 due mainly to the earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar, the United Nations said Wednesday.

MIAMI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Norbert has become a major hurricane with winds near 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour, as it churns towards Mexico's tourist destination of Baja, California, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.

MIAMI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Norbert has become a major hurricane with winds near 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour, as it churns towards Mexico's tourist destination of Baja, California, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.

MIAMI, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Tropical storm Marco was rapidly approaching Mexico according to US forecasters, who said the storm could reach hurricane status around the time it makes landfall later Tuesday.

Marco was in the Gulf of Mexico, 80 miles (125 kilometers) southeast of Tuxpan at 1200 GMT, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

MIAMI, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Tropical storm Marco made landfall in Mexico Tuesday, crashing ashore as the latest in a series of powerful storms to strike the region this hurricane season, US forecasters said.

Marco quickly traversed the Gulf of Mexico before barreling ashore about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north-northwest of Veracruz, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

MIAMI, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Hurricane Norbert is gradually strengthening off Mexico's Pacific coast, the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center (NHC) on said Monday.

At 2100 GMT the center of hurricane Norbert was 545 miles (875 km) southeast of the southern tip of Baja California, and moving in a west-northwest direction at 9 miles per hour (15km/hr).

YANGON, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - Four villagers were killed and another two injured when lightning struck a shop in Myanmar's administrative capital Naypyidaw, state media reported Sunday.

PORT-AU=PRINCE, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - Four major storms that pounded Haiti in August and September killed 793 people and left more than 300 others missing, authorities said Friday.

WASHINGTON, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - The US Justice Department has charged 907 people with cheating the federal government out of relief funds or other assistance following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, officials announced Thursday.

MIAMI, Oct 1, 2008 (AFP) - October should be more active than usual in the Atlantic hurricane belt, with three named storms expected to form -- including two hurricanes, one of them major -- forecasters said Wednesday.

Colorado State University forecasters said the tropical storm formation rate for the month was likely to be almost twice the October average.

MANILA, Sept 30, 2008 (AFP) - Nearly 2,000 people were stranded Tuesday at a seaport in the Philippines as tropical storm Higos pummelled the country's east coast with heavy rain, officials said.

HALIFAX, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - Hurricane Kyle made landfall in easternmost Canada late Sunday before being downgraded to a tropical storm as it headed inland, said the Canadian Hurricane Service.

TAIPEI, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - Typhoon Jangmi lashed Taiwan with heavy rain and strong winds Monday as it moved offshore, leaving two dead and forcing the closure of schools, offices and financial markets, officials said.

A further 58 people were reported to have been injured by Jangmi, which was downgraded to a tropical storm as it churned toward Japan.

HALIFAX, Canada, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - Hurricane Kyle made landfall in easternmost Canada late Sunday before being downgraded to a tropical storm as it headed inland, said the Canadian Hurricane Service.

HALIFAX, Canada, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - Hurricane Kyle knocked down power lines and trees in eastern Canada but authorities said Monday the weakened storm caused no injuries or major property damage as initially feared.

MIAMI, Sept 27, 2008 (AFP) - Freshly upgraded from a tropical storm, Hurricane Kyle is poised to strike the Atlantic coast at the US-Canada border late Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.

BOSTON, Massachusetts, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - Hurricane Kyle veered away from New England Sunday and sped its ripping winds and pounding rains straight toward southeastern Canada, the US National Hurricane Center said.

MIAMI, Sept 27, 2008 (AFP) - Tropical Storm Kyle, forecast to strike the Atlantic coast at the US-Canada border late Sunday, has become a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said.

MIAMI, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - Tropical Storm Kyle was churning Friday on a path that would take it west of Bermuda and could become a hurricane before it takes aim at the US coast, the National Hurricane Center said.

'A tropical storm watch is in effect for Bermuda,' the Miami-based center said in a bulletin at 1200 GMT.

MIAMI, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - Tropical Storm Kyle could strike the northeastern US coast and Canada as a hurricane by Monday, according to National Hurricane Center forecasts on Friday.

At 1800 GMT Kyle was still far away from land, its center swirling about 715 kilometers (445 miles) southeast of Bermuda and traveling towards the northwest at 19 kilometers (12 miles) an hour.

SINGAPORE, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - Torrential rain in Singapore Friday and more forecast for the weekend reinforced the prospect of Formula One's first night race being run in the wet, although drivers remain unfazed.

Rain could affect visibility and performance, with concerns over reflection and glare from the powerful lights shining onto water collecting on the Marina Bay circuit.

MEXICO CITY, Sept 24, 2008 (AFP) - Mexico's state-run oil consortium Pemex announced Wednesday that it would 'temporarily' reduce its crude oil output due to damage caused by Hurricane Ike on refineries in the United States.

'It was necessary to temporarily close 250,000 barrels of daily production of crude,' Pemex said in a statement.

SHANGHAI, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - Torrential rains left at least 14 dead in China as Typhoon Hagupit battered the south and another storm pounded quake-hit central Sichuan province, state media reported Thursday.

SHANGHAI, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - Torrential rains left at least 18 dead in China, including a Briton, as Typhoon Hagupit battered the south and another storm pounded quake-hit central Sichuan province, state media said Thursday.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sept 21, 2008 (AFP) - Haitian President Rene Preval announced Sunday three days of national mourning for victims of four hurricanes and tropical storms that have ravaged the Caribbean nation in recent months.

GALVESTON, Texas, Sept 17, 2008 (AFP) - Frustration mounted Wednesday over delays in returning to Galveston, the Texas coastal city hard-hit by powerful Hurricane Ike over the weekend, as the death toll caused by the storm continued to rise.

WASHINGTON, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - The Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, which was shut down as Hurricane Ike barreled toward the US Gulf Coast, will reopen next week, US space officials said Thursday.

Officials in a statement set a September 22 date for reopening the space center, which controls many systems aboard the orbiting International Space Station (ISS).

HAVANA, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - Bypassing its trade embargo on communist Cuba, the United States on Tuesday announced approving 250 million dollars in 'farm sales' to Havana after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike devastated Cuba's crops.

HOUSTON, Texas, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - Officials in Texas coastal communities flattened by Hurricane Ike begged residents to stay away Tuesday, insisting that it may be months before the area has basic services like clean water.

HOUSTON, Texas, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - The Houston Texans are still assessing damage at their home stadium in the wake of Hurricane Ike, the National Football League team said Tuesday.

HOUSTON, Texas, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Tuesday urged Americans to donate to relief funds for victims of Hurricane Ike and other deadly storms, fretting the public may have 'disaster fatigue.'

WASHINGTON, September 15, 2008 (AFP) - The US State Department said Monday it regretted that Cuba has rejected its offer of up to five million dollars in aid for the victims of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

The United States has tense and limited relations with its communist southern island neighbor, which has been under a US embargo for more than four decades.

WASHINGTON, September 15, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said Monday that deadly Hurricane Ike's trail of devastation through key US oil refining areas would bring 'upward pressure' on already soaring gasoline prices.