The Office of the Press Secretary said Mrs. Arroyo will also conduct an aerial inspection on the towns of Cabatuan, Sta. Barbara and Pavia, which were severely affected by the typhoon.
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Albay provincial officials on Friday called on residents living near Mayon Volcano or in mountain slopes as well as in coastal areas to evacuate due to Typhoon Frank (international codename Fengshen).
The province has already been placed under Storm Signal Number 3 by the country’s weather bureau, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (PAGASA). The powerful typhoon is expected to hit the province early Saturday morning.
The pre-emptive evacuation, ordered by Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, have already resulted in 23,086 families or 117,963 persons going to evacuation centers across the province.
"We are doing pre-emptive evacuation of 176,802 persons due to risk of lahar, landslide and floods" earlier said Albay Gov. Joey Salceda.
He said that local government units of the province are leading the operations with support from the military – Army, Air Force and Navy – as well as from the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Provincial officials said there is still sufficient food supply for the evacuees.
BAGHDAD - A car bomb at a bus stop in north Baghdad killed at least 51 people and wounded 75 others on Tuesday, security officials told AFP.
The attack, the biggest in past eight weeks, took place in the mainly Shiite Al-Hurriyah neighborhood at around 5:30 pm (1430 GMT), they said.
Security officials said the victims were taken to several hospitals in the Iraqi capital.
The car bombing came hours after a bomb hidden on a motorcycle exploded at a checkpoint in north Baghdad, killing four fighters of a group battling Al-Qaeda militants.
That attack took place at around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) at a checkpoint run by the fighters in the Al-Sulek neighborhood, security officials said. Four other members of the group were wounded, along with two civilians.
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CEDAR RAPIDS - Rising flood waters swamped the river city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa Friday, forcing residents to flee their homes, and officials to abandon city hall amid a crisis that has left 15 people dead.
Nothing could stop the water. Not sandbags. Not levees. Not prayers.
"We've been in a major flood fight for about 10 days now," said Bret Voorhees, spokesman for the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
"Nine of our major rivers are at record or new record levels," he told AFP.
"We're designating it a 500-year flood."
The disaster began when a major tornado struck on May 25. Then the rain started. And didn't stop. On Wednesday another tornado struck, killing four Boy Scouts. And more thunderstorms are predicted for Saturday.
A total of 15 lives have been lost and thousands were left homeless, Voorhees said.
Ten counties were under mandatory evacuation orders and 83 counties had been declared federal disaster areas.
"We're trapped with nowhere to go," said Gloria Hines, who lives about a dozen blocks from where the river spilled over in Cedar Rapids.
NEW YORK - Oil surged $6 to over $128 a barrel on Thursday in the largest outright gain on record as signals the European Central Bank may raise interest rates this year pushed down the US dollar.
US crude traded up $6.08 to $128.38 a barrel after settling up $5.49 earlier at 127.79, erasing two days of sharp losses that had been triggered by worries high prices were starting to eat into global demand.
London Brent crude futures settled $5.44 higher at $127.54 a barrel, before trading up to $127.83 in post-settlement activity.
Oil prices have doubled in a year on growing Asian demand and as investors rushed into commodities as a hedge against the weak dollar and inflation, helping drive crude to a record $135 a barrel in May.
"The dollar had a reversal and that helped to support crude," said Tom Bentz, BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc.
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MANILA - The Philippines' state grain agency said on Monday it would hold auctions for private traders to import up to 200,000 tons of rice on June 11, 20 and 27.
Conrad IbaƱez, assistant administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA), said any volume out of the 200,000 tons that was not taken up in the June 11 auction would be offered in succeeding auction dates.
The Philippine private sector has largely shunned previous opportunities to import the national staple duty-free due to record-high international prices and difficulty competing locally with government-subsidized supplies of the grain.
But with overseas prices dropping from peaks ahead of an expected increase in world supply and the government holding off importing after a buying spree earlier this year, some market observers said demand would pick-up among the private sector.
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Former Batanes congressman Florencio “Butch” Abad described the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that jolted the province Sunday as “frightening" but not so surprising considering the history of the province.
“It also lasted a bit long. It was frightening but it's nothing new for this province because a month doesn’t pass by without earthquakes shaking the island. In fact, last month we had five in a day but this one was particularly strong. I understand there was no serious damage as a result of the earthquake,” Abad told ANC.
Abad believes that casualties and property damage would be unlikely from such a quake, noting that houses in the province are built to withstand not only typhoons but earthquakes as well.
He said so far the residents have not felt any aftershocks.
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