WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund member countries on Wednesday canceled the $268 million debt Haiti owed to the IMF and approved a new loan worth $60 million to boost international reserves in the earthquake-hit nation.

The IMF said in a statement that both steps will help Haiti's reconstruction efforts following the devastating Jan. 12 quake, which destroyed the capital Port-au-Prince and left 1.5 million people homeless.

The new three-year loan carries zero interest rate...

(AlertNet) - Haiti's government and donors are now shifting their main focus from emergency work to reconstruction, but they face many challenges in rebuilding the Caribbean nation more than six months after the January 12 earthquake struck.

Potent symbols of Haiti's slow pace of recovery are the vast makeshift camps sheltering 1.5 million survivors, and the presidential palace which still lies in ruins while government ministers work out of tents.

WHY HAS HAITI'S RECONSTRUCTION BEEN SO SLOW?

A...

Tropical storm Bonnie struck the Bahamas at about 03:00 GMT on 23 July. Data supplied by the US National Hurricane Center suggest that the point of landfall was near 23.4 N, 76.5 W. Bonnie brought 1-minute maximum sustained winds to the region of around 64 km/h (40 mph). Wind gusts in the area may have been considerably higher.

The information above is provided for guidance only and should not be used to make life or death decisions or decisions relating to property. Anyone in the region who is...

July 21 (Reuters) - Southern China braced for its second powerful storm in less than a week, as the death toll from floods and landslides caused by torrential rain climbed beyond 700 with hundreds of others reported missing.

But officials predict the Three Gorges dam will hold as the Yangtze River swells.

BEIJING, July 22 (Reuters) - Southern China was lashed on Thursday by its second typhoon in a week, with shipping and flights disrupted by heavy rain and strong winds, state media said.

Chanthu was upgraded from a tropical storm after gathering strength over the South China Sea.

It hit the Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong province, close to the northeastern tip of the resort island province of Hainan, in the early afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Shipping between Hainan and the...

* Local authorities urge evacuation of 300,000 in Japan

* Typhoon Conson expected to hit China, Vietnam late Friday

* Power restored in Manila, minimal damage to crops (Updates death toll, adds power restored in Philippines)

By Ben Blanchard and Manny Mogato

BEIJING/MANILA, July 15 (Reuters) - Heavy rains and powerful winds battered East Asia on Thursday, pressing authorities to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in Japan and putting China on alert for its worst floods in...

(Adds higher toll, inclement weather in China)

* Twenty-two dead in typhoon; more than 50 missing

* Power out across metro Manila and surrounding provinces

* Conson heads towards south China

* Stock market closes at highest since January 2008

By Manny Mogato

MANILA, July 14 (Reuters) - Typhoon Conson sliced through the Philippines' main island of Luzon, killing 22 people, felling trees and snapping transmission lines that could leave millions without power for at least two days, officials said on...

Situation Heavy tropical rains have caused flooding in northeastern Brazil, severely affecting rural areas in the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas. The flooding has caused severe damage to more than 100 communities.

Most affected: the town of Santana do Munda�, in Alagoas state. The city has been totally destroyed and will need to be rebuilt in another area, away from a riverbank, authorities said.

At least 72 persons have died and some 157,000 people are displaced in the flooding of Pernambuco...

A man rides his electric bicycle to transport ducks on a flooded street in Nanjing, Jiangsu province July 12, 2010

BEIJING, July 13 (Reuters) - Torrential rains in southwestern China triggered landslides that have killed 17 people and left 44 missing, Chinese media reported on Tuesday, with forecasts for more heavy rains in the days ahead.

Xinhua news agency said provincial rescue workers had been dispatched to a region north of Kunming in Yunnan province and in three areas in Sichuan province.

The...