In Brief

* TSUNAMI REPORT – Three times as many women as men died in the vast tsunami that struck about a dozen Asian countries just after Christmas last year, a report by the Global Fund for Women said on Tuesday.

The San Francisco-based foundation said women also bore the brunt of key disasters this year, from Hurricane Stan in Guatemala to the massive earthquake in Kashmir and Hurricane Katrina in the United States. “The best estimates reveal that approximately three times as many women as men died in last year’s tsunami, and according to early reports from Pakistan, more women than men were killed in the October 2005 earthquake,” according to the report ‘Caught in the Storm: The Impact of Natural Disasters on Women.’ * MORE SETTLEMENTS – Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has approved more than 290 new settlement homes in the West Bank despite Israel’s obligation to freeze such construction under a United States-backed peace plan, a newspaper report said yesterday.The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported Mofaz authorised the settlement construction shortly before he pulled out of a right-wing Likud party leadership race and bolted to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s centrist Kadima party.It quoted Mofaz’s office as saying “there was no political significance or any political connection to these approvals”.* EARLY BRITS – Researchers said yesterday that flint tools discovered in eastern England suggest early humans were living in Britain almost 700 000 years ago – 200 000 years earlier than was previously known.A team of scientists from Britain, Canada and Italy, wrote the report in the journal Nature.* BIRD FLU COMING – China should prepare for bird flu outbreaks this winter and spring, even though it has gone 15 days without new cases, the country’s chief veterinary official said yesterday.The upcoming Chinese New Year Holiday at the end of January will pose a special challenge, as millions of people travel to see relatives.* INDIAN EARTHQUAKE – A mild earthquake shook parts of northern India yesterday and left cracks in some buildings, but no casualties were reported, an official said.The magnitude 4,6 quake’s epicentre was in Uttaranchal state’s district of Uttarkash, said D.K.Kotia, the state government’s information secretary.Kotia said no casualties had been reported, but that some houses had developed cracks in Uttarkashi.* STILL UNIDENTIFIED – As the first anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami approaches, 805 of the 3 750 bodies received by Thailand’s victim identification centre remain unidentified, officials said yesterday.Still listed as missing are 708 people.Officials say 5 395 people – about half of them foreign tourists – died as the tsunami struck the Andaman Sea coast resort area of Thailand on December 25 last year.”The best estimates reveal that approximately three times as many women as men died in last year’s tsunami, and according to early reports from Pakistan, more women than men were killed in the October 2005 earthquake,” according to the report ‘Caught in the Storm: The Impact of Natural Disasters on Women.’ * MORE SETTLEMENTS – Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has approved more than 290 new settlement homes in the West Bank despite Israel’s obligation to freeze such construction under a United States-backed peace plan, a newspaper report said yesterday.The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported Mofaz authorised the settlement construction shortly before he pulled out of a right-wing Likud party leadership race and bolted to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s centrist Kadima party.It quoted Mofaz’s office as saying “there was no political significance or any political connection to these approvals”.* EARLY BRITS – Researchers said yesterday that flint tools discovered in eastern England suggest early humans were living in Britain almost 700 000 years ago – 200 000 years earlier than was previously known.A team of scientists from Britain, Canada and Italy, wrote the report in the journal Nature.* BIRD FLU COMING – China should prepare for bird flu outbreaks this winter and spring, even though it has gone 15 days without new cases, the country’s chief veterinary official said yesterday.The upcoming Chinese New Year Holiday at the end of January will pose a special challenge, as millions of people travel to see relatives.* INDIAN EARTHQUAKE – A mild earthquake shook parts of northern India yesterday and left cracks in some buildings, but no casualties were reported, an official said.The magnitude 4,6 quake’s epicentre was in Uttaranchal state’s district of Uttarkash, said D.K.Kotia, the state government’s information secretary.Kotia said no casualties had been reported, but that some houses had developed cracks in Uttarkashi.* STILL UNIDENTIFIED – As the first anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami approaches, 805 of the 3 750 bodies received by Thailand’s victim identification centre remain unidentified, officials said yesterday.Still listed as missing are 708 people.Officials say 5 395 people – about half of them foreign tourists – died as the tsunami struck the Andaman Sea coast resort area of Thailand on December 25 last year.