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BRUSSELS (Belgium) Dec 26 (AP): The European Union Monday earmarked $195 million (euro165 million) for 10 crisis centres in Africa, saying droughts, floods and armed conflict ravage the continent like 'silent tsunamis.'
Sudan is the biggest beneficiary and will receive euro48 million ($57 million) while Congo has been allocated euro38 million ($45 million). Burundi, Chad, Liberia, Tanzania and Uganda will each receive over euro10 million ($12 million) in aid.
"We remember the victims of the tsunami in South East Asia. But millions of vulnerable people in Africa are exposed to natural disasters like droughts, floods and insect infestations as well as armed conflicts," said EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel. "These are silent tsunamis."
In Sudan's western Darfur region, at least 180,000 people have died and 2 million have been displaced during two years of fighting, which began when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin.
35 rebels, one peacekeeper dead in operation-part of week-long sweep
KINSHASA (AP): Thousands of Congo troops backed by UN peacekeepers battled Ugandan rebels hiding in Congo's restive east, leaving dozens of insurgents and one UN soldier dead, the UN said.
Some 3,500 Congo troops supported by 600 Indian peacekeepers fought the Ugandan rebels Sunday near the eastern city of Beni, said UN spokesman Hans-Jakob Reichen. He said 35 rebels and one UN peacekeeper died in the operation-part of a weeklong sweep by Congo government forces in the east, a region still roiled by violence and largely out of state control after the 1998-2002 war.
Mystery gas hits Russian shoppers
ST PETERSBURG (Agencies): More than 78 people were taken ill after gas was released in a shop in St Petersburg and boxes with glass containers attached to wires were found in three other branches of the same chain.
Police said they believed that a commercial dispute or blackmail attempt was behind the incidents.
Viktor Beltsov, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, said 78 people sought medical care and 66 of them were taken to hospital, but none was assessed as being in a life-threatening condition.
World recalls fury of tsunami
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) : The world remembered the fury of the Indian Ocean tsunami that one year ago Monday swept away at least 216,000 people in 12 countries and laid waste to entire communities in one of the worst natural disasters in memory.
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