Hurricane Gustav swept across the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, forcing the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, the shutdown of offshore oil production and the cancellation of most of the programme on th

A storm lashed six villages of Omar Majid union in Rajarhat upazila Saturday night damaging 216 houses in the affected areas.

The storm-hit villages are Dangrahat, Delapara, Fulkhahat Hazari, Dhanipara, Balakandi, Sarkar Para and Pangkha Para.

Tens of thousands of people in New Orleans and the US Gulf Coast fled their homes on Sunday as Hurricane Gustav moved within 24 hours of striking land, possibly with a weaker punch than 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

The oil industry from Texas to New Orleans was taking no chances either, shutting down nearly all offshore platforms and many refineries as Gustav threatened the region that pumps a quarter of the US oil supply.

Is global warming causing more extreme weather? Many people seem to think that the last decade's heat waves, hurricanes and droughts did not happen just by chance, but were linked to the phenomenon of global warming.

In 2003, for instance, a ferocious heat wave settled unexpectedly across Europe and killed 35,000 people. Nobody saw it coming.

HONG KONG: Businesses, government offices, financial markets and schools were closed on Wednesday in Hong Kong and Macau with the approach of severe Tropical Storm Kammuri, but Olympic officials said that the storm was not affecting horses and riders here for the start of the Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong on Saturday.

A mini tornado hit Lunama in Ambalantota last afternoon completely damaging three houses and partially damaging three houses.

According to the Disaster Management Centre, the tornado hit last afternoon around 12.30 p.m. travelling a distance of 50 km.

A tree was uprooted blocking the road but it was cleared in the evening by the Disaster Management Centre.

The Disaster Management Centre said the tornado had come from the direction of the sea and had later returned towards the seaside.

The Saharan duststorms help sustain life over large regions of the North Atlantic Ocean, according to a latest study.

Liverpool University researchers found that plants are able to grow in these regions because of their ability to take advantage of iron minerals in Saharan duststorms.

This allows them to use organic or recycled material from dead or decaying plants when nutrients such as phosphorous, which is an essential component of DNA in the ocean are low.

A 5-year-old was killed when strong winds blew over a row of tents at an Alabama air show during storms that stretched across the South on Sunday while severe weather caused airport delays in the East, officials said. The winds that toppled the tents and canceled the air show in Huntsville came during an isolated strong thunderstorm that developed just west of the airport with gusts of 48 mph, said Tim Troutman of the National Weather Service. Witnesses told The Huntsville Times that a generator fell on the child Sunday. The death was confirmed by the Madison County coroner's office.