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BHUBANESWAR: Strong winds and heavy rains pounded India's eastern coastline on Saturday, as hundreds of thousands of people took shelter from a massive, powerful cyclone expected to reach land in a few hours. The skies were dark - almost black - at midmorning in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha and about 60 miles (about 100 kilometres) from the coast. Roaring winds made palm trees sway wildly, and to the south, seawater was pushing inland. By Friday evening, some six lakh people had been moved to higher ground or shelters in Odisha, which is expected to bear the brunt of the cyclone, said Surya Narayan Patro, the state's top disaster management official. About 12 hours before Cyclone Phailin's landfall, meteorologists held out hope that the storm might hit while in a temporary weakened state, but no matter what it will be large and deadly. Ryan Maue, a meteorologist at Weather Bell, a private US weather firm, said even in the best-case scenario there will be a st...

http://www.google.org/crisisresponse/2013-phailin.html Emergency Operation Centres Orissa Balasore: +91-6782-262674 Bhadrak: +91-6784-251881 Cuttack: +91-671-2507842 Dhenkanal: +91-6762-221376 Gajapati: +91-6815-222943 Ganjam: +91-6811-263978 Jagatsinghpur: +91-6724-220368 Jajpur: +91-6728-222648 Kendrapara: +91-6727-232803 Keonjhar: +91-6766-255437 Khurda: +91-6755-220002 Mayurbhanj: +91-6792-252759 Nayagarh: +91-6753-252978 Puri: +91-6752-223237 Andra Pradesh Hyderabad: +91-4023-456005 / +91-4023-451043 ____________________________________________________________________ Railway Helplines Vizag-0891-2505793, 08935-249672 Vizianagaram-08922-225510 Srikakulam-08942- 28722 Naupada-08945-249728 Rayagada-06856-6222407 Koraput-06852-251802 Source:  aamjanata.com

Bulletin No.: BOB 04/2013/30 Sub: Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘PHAILIN’ over westcentral & adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal: Cyclone Warning for North Andhra Pradesh and Odisha Coast. The very severe cyclonic storm, PHAILIN over westcentral & adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards during past 6 hours with a speed of 15 kmph and lay centred at 0830 hrs IST of today, the 12 th October 2013 over westcentral & adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal near latitude 17.8 0 N and longitude 86.0 0 E, about 200 km southeast of Gopalpur, 200 km east-southeast of Kalingapatnam and 280 km southeast of Paradip. It would move northwestwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts between Kalingapatnam and Paradip, close to Gopalpur (Odisha) by evening of today i.e. the 12 th October, 2013 as a very severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 210-220 kmph gusting to 240 kmph. Estimated track and intensity of the system are give...

Singer Sinead O'Connor has written an open letter to fellow singer and actress Miley Cyrus warning her not to be exploited by the music business. The 46-year-old wrote to Cyrus, 20, after she cited O'Connor's video Nothing Compares 2 U as an inspiration for her explicit Wrecking Ball video. "Nothing but harm will come in the long run, from allowing yourself to be exploited," wrote O'Connor. "Please, in future, say no when you are asked to prostitute yourself." O'Connor said she was prompted to write, "in the spirit of motherliness" after "dodging phone calls from various newspapers" who wanted the singer-songwriter to comment upon similarities between the two videos. The video for Nothing Compares 2 U is principally a close-up of O'Connor, who sheds a single tear as she performs the Prince-penned break-up ballad. Cyrus cries in the promo clip for Wrecking Ball, which shares similar lyrical themes to O'...

Fifa will announce on Friday that Qatar faces no threat to its right to host the 2022 World Cup, sources close to the governing body have told BBC Sport. The Gulf state faces allegations about its treatment of migrant workers, while there are also fears that searing summer temperatures in Qatar of more than 40C could risk the health of players and supporters. But it appears Fifa will stick by Qatar, which saw off competition from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States to host the event. Fifa is expected to announce plans to monitor the issue of migrant workers on Friday following revelations last month in the Guardian. At the same time, it also intends to form a taskforce - likely to be led by Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa - to examine alternative dates for the tournament. The body will engage with all significant stakeholders, including domestic leagues across the world, before quickly reporting back to Fifa with a p...

Mr Mochtar was arrested at his home in Jakarta, officials say The chief justice of Indonesia's Constitutional Court has been arrested for alleged bribery, officials say. Akil Mochtar was arrested by anti-corruption officials late on Wednesday for allegedly accepting at least $250,000 (£154,000) in bribes. Officials say the arrest, the latest in a series of high-profile cases, was linked to a regional election. The Constitutional Court, established in 2001, holds the same legal standing as the country's Supreme Court. Its responsibilities include hearing cases concerning the constitution and making decisions on election-related cases. The court has developed a reputation as a respected judicial institution over the years, observers say. Mr Mochtar, 62, was elected for a five-year term to the constitutional court this year. He was previously a member of the Golkar party before joining the Constitutional Court. He was arrested at his home in Jakarta after a b...

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Swarms of aggressive hornets, in their fall mating season, are inflicting a deadly toll in a central Chinese province. Hornets have killed 42 people and injured 1,675 people in three cities in Shaanxi province since July, according to the local government. Thirty-seven patients remain in critical or serious condition. Over the summer and early fall, hornets have invaded schools full of children and descended upon unsuspecting farm workers in China. One of them is Mu Conghui, a woman who was attacked in Ankang City while looking after her millet crop. "The hornets were horrifying," she told Xinhua, the Chinese state-run news agency. "They hit right at my head and covered my legs. All of a sudden I was stung and I couldn't move. "Even now, my legs are covered with sting holes."Killer hornets sting nearly 600 people Two months, 13 dialysis treatments and 200 stitches later, Mu still remains hospitalized and unable to move h...

President Barack Obama has called off his trip to Malaysia to tackle the US government shutdown, the office of Malaysia's PM Najib Razak has said. Secretary of State John Kerry will represent him next week instead, the office said. The US government has partially shut down after the two houses of Congress failed to agree a new budget. More than 700,000 federal employees face unpaid leave, and national parks, museums and many buildings are closed. Mr Obama earlier vowed not to allow Republicans to undermine his signature healthcare legislation as a condition to restart the US government. "They demanded ransom," Mr Obama said. Four-nation trip Mr Najib's office said Mr Obama had called the prime minister on Wednesday to inform him that Mr Kerry would address an entrepreneurship conference in Kuala Lumpur on 11 October in his place. Mr Obama's visit would have been the first by a US president to Malaysia since Lyndon B Johnson in 1966. ...