The compensation sum of around Rs 19 lakh allotted by the state government for re-building the houses flattened by storms were returned to the state government. The district administration is reported to have failed to use the amount for the purpose.

Phoenix residents awoke on Wednesday to a thick layer of dust on their cars, their streets and just about everything else outside after a giant sandstorm more than a mile high roared through the city.

The storm on Tuesday evening grounded airplanes, led to traffic tie-ups and set off a wave of coughing across the Valley of the Sun.

Pollution control board

A severe storm injured at least 10 people and razed to the ground over 100 dwelling houses in seven villages under Galachipa upazila early Tuesday.

Of the injured, Aklima, 35, wife of Monir Mridha of Bauria village has been admitted to Galachipa upazila health complex.

The other injured who took first aid are Rezaul Karim, 28, Al-Amin Sikder, 38, Maya Rani, 25, Jamena Bibi, 45, Pervez, 8, Ma

Large parts of central Mexico face torrential rains once Arlene, the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, makes landfall early on Thursday.

Mexican emergency services recommended communities in the storm's direct path evacuate and state oil monopoly Pemex was on alert for possible impact to refineries and other facilities in the storm's path.

Still, the storm -- likely to s

Too close for comfort: fires burn in the hills above the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a nuclear site in New Mexico

Firefighters on Tuesday battled a wildfire that threatened a government nuclear facility in New Mexico, raising fears about the safety of radioactive materials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

On Monday, a spot fire at the laboratory was quickly contained and officials

Four men died in flash floods while fishing and two people were crushed to death in northern Vietnam as a weakening storm approached from the Gulf of Tonkin, state media said on Friday, while 11 fishermen were missing after storms in the Philippines.

Rescuers in Vietnam located one body after the four were swept away on Thursday following two days of strong rain in Yen Bai province, the Vietnam

Sunspot cycles -- those 11-year patterns when dark dots appear on the solar surface -- may be delayed or even go into "hibernation" for a while, a U.S.

Tom Bogdan doesn

After the heavy and incessant rains on Saturday which led to water-logging and traffic congestion across the city, minor showers continued to lash the city on Sunday.

While the suburban Santacruz weather station recorded a rainfall of 26 mm, the Colaba weather station recorded a rainfall of 12 mm.

According to the Indian Meteorological department (IMD), the next 24 hours will also see some s