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weather conditions

At least 97 people have been killed by storms that hit Mexico earlier in the week, according to authorities.

In the village of La Pintada, near the Pacific coast, a landslide partially engulfed the town.

At least 15 bodies have been recovered and almost 70 residents are missing, the authorities said.

A helicopter involved in the rescue effort in the area has disappeared with three crew on board, according to Mexican media.

Officials are hoping that the helicopter had to land amid bad weather conditions and that the crew has been unable to update their base on their location.

Police and navy teams are to begin looking for the helicopter early on Friday when visibility improves, the Excelsior newspaper reports.

Meanwhile, President Enrique Pena Nieto has announced in a statement that he is cancelling a planned trip to the UN in New York next week to focus on relief efforts.

Tropical Storm Manuel, which on Thursday briefly became a hurricane, has now moved north, forcing hundreds from their homes in Sinaloa state.

As it hit land, Hurricane Manuel brought torrential rain and winds of up to 75mph and caused flash floods in Sinaloa.

Schools in the region have been closed and a fishing village of Yameto was evacuated as Hurricane Manuel approached.

At least 97 people have been killed by storms that hit Mexico

At least 97 people have been killed by storms that hit Mexico

More than 100,000 were affected by the hurricane, the State governor, Mario Lopez Valdez told reporters.

It then gradually began losing strength, according to the United States National Hurricane Center, going back to being a tropical storm.

Hurricane Manuel is now expected to dissipate before the weekend.

However, weather conditions are expected to remain poor over the coming days as a third storm is forecast.

With the Gulf Coast having been hit by Hurricane Ingrid, this week was the first time since the 1950s that Mexico has had to deal with two storms simultaneously.

The resort town of Acapulco and its surrounding areas were worst hit by Hurricane Manuel earlier in the week.

Since then, more than 10,000 stranded tourists have been airlifted by military planes out of the resort town of Acapulco.

Several stores have been looted and residents of the outskirts of Acapulco have complained about being left to fend for themselves.

Residents of La Pintada, a remote village of about 600 people north-west of Acapulco, described how the hillside buried their homes as they were holding independence day celebrations on Monday evening.

The landslide tore through the middle of the village, destroying the church, the school and the kindergarten.

“We were eating when it thundered, and when the mountain collapsed the homes were swept away and the thundering noise became louder,” Erika Guadalupe Garcia told AFP news agency.

Ana Clara Catalan, 17, described the noise as “ugly, worse than a bomb”.

“More than half of La Pintada was demolished, few homes were left,” Maria del Carmen Catalan said.

Most of the residents have been now been evacuated by helicopter.

Hurricane Ingrid made landfall on Monday in the town of La Pesca on Mexico’s Gulf Coast. It mainly affected the state of Tamaulipas, where thousands of people were moved from low-lying areas to higher ground.

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The UN food and agricultural body announces that global food prices sharply rebounded in July due to wild swings in weather conditions.

The rise has fanned fresh fears of a repeat of the 2007-2008 food crisis which hurt the world’s poorest.

Untimely rains in Brazil, drought in the US and production difficulties in Russia drove the rally, said the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Food prices jumped 6% in July from June after falling three months in a row.

The FAO food price index measures the monthly price changes for a basket of food commodities including cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar. The index reading in July was still well below the all-time high reached in February 2011.

The Rome-based organization took the surprise step of publishing the index this month – which it usually does not – due to the exceptional market conditions affected by unusual weather patterns.

The UN food and agricultural body announces that global food prices sharply rebounded in July due to wild swings in weather conditions

The UN food and agricultural body announces that global food prices sharply rebounded in July due to wild swings in weather conditions

Cereal prices surged 17%, while sugar leapt 12% to new highs in July from the previous month after rains hampered sugarcane harvesting in Brazil, the world’s largest producer.

Delayed monsoons in India and poor rains in Australia also contributed to higher prices.

“The severe deterioration of maize crop prospects in the US following extensive drought damage pushed up maize prices by almost 33% in July,” said the FAO.

The price of rice and dairy was unchanged, although meat fell 1.7% due to a slump in pork prices.

The surge in prices have renewed fears of a food crisis that plagued countries in 2007-2008, sparking violent street protests in countries like Haiti and Egypt.

“There is a potential for a situation to develop like we have back in 2007-2008,” said FAO senior economist and grain analyst Abdolreza Abbassian.

“There is an expectation that this time around we will not pursue bad policies and intervene in the market by restrictions, and if that doesn’t happen we will not see such a serious situation as 2007-2008. But if those policies get repeated, anything is possible,” he added.

Higher food prices hurt the world’s poorest countries because it means they will need to pay higher import bills as they do not produce enough food at home.

Oxfam said that since the beginning of the year, rising food prices and drought had caused a food crisis in the Sahel sub-region of west and central Africa, affecting more than 18 million people over an area of land as wide as the US.

“This is not some gentle wake-up call – it’s the same global alarm that’s been screaming at us since 2008,” said Hannah Stoddart, Oxfam’s head of economic justice policy, regarding the FAO data.

“These latest figures prove yet again that there is something fundamentally flawed in the way we produce and distribute food around the world. For too long our leaders have stood by complacently, while up to a billion people go hungry worldwide,” she said.

“The time to act is now.”

 

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The cold snap that hit Europe in the last week has already claimed more than 260 lives across the continent.

Ukraine continues to be hardest hit, with another 9 deaths overnight. According to officials, 131 have died up to now, most of them homeless people, and 1,800 people have been taken to hospital.

Eight people died in Poland overnight, police say, bringing the toll to 53.

In Romania, another 6 people died overnight rising the death toll to 34, the Black Sea is still frozen on the coastline and dozens of roads are closed due the freezing rain that hit the country after the snowfalls.

The cold snap that hit Europe in the last week has already claimed more than 260 lives across the continent

The cold snap that hit Europe in the last week has already claimed more than 260 lives across the continent

Transport hubs have also been hit, with London’s Heathrow airport expecting to run only 50% of services on Sunday.

At least 4 people have died in France since the Arctic spell began and 43 departments in France have been put on alert for “exceptional” weather conditions.

The Italian capital Rome has seen its heaviest snowfall in more than 25 years, with runs on essential goods at supermarkets reported.

“The snow is beautiful, but let’s hope spring comes soon,” Pope Benedict XVI told the small number of pilgrims who braved the cold to go to St. Peter’s Square.

The Italian national rail operator is facing class action lawsuits after hundreds of people were trapped in trains due to the weather, AFP news agency reports.

Three helicopters were being used over eastern Bosnia on Sunday to deliver food and pick up people who needed evacuation.

A state of emergency is in force in the capital, Sarajevo, where snow has paralyzed the city.

In neighboring Serbia, 70,000 people remain cut off and 32 municipalities throughout the country have introduced emergency measures, according to senior emergency official Predrag Maric.

The Netherlands marked temperatures of -21.8C in the town of Lelystad on Saturday, the lowest recorded in the country for 27 years.

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