The United Nations Security Council held a rare Sunday evening session to discuss rebel efforts in Chad to overthrow the government. But as VOA's Margaret Besheer reports from U.N. headquarters in New York, the emergency meeting ended without any formal action.

Firefighters from across the western United States continue efforts to contain massive wildfires in southern California. Forecasters say the strong winds, commonly known as the Santa Ana winds, which have been gusting at speeds of nearly 100 kilometers an hour, should begin letting up later Wednesday, giving firefighters a better chance at putting out the fires.

Towering wildfires burning out of control across southern California have claimed the lives of at least five people, three of them elderly evacuees from the San Diego area.

The last body of a worker was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed multi-story building in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, bringing the death toll to 25, a spokesman for the emergency situations ministry said.

U.N. agencies say millions of people displaced by flooding in South Asia face a looming health crisis unless they receive emergency aid within days.

Continued rain has brought more misery to survivors of landslides and floods in in central Indonesia, where weather-related disasters have killed at least 65 people.

A major heat wave continues today across Southeastern Europe after record temperatures on July 24 that killed at least 12 people in Romania.

Ukrainian officials say toxicity levels at the site of a train crash are much higher than the norm -- but that there is no threat to the public.

When disaster strikes, getting care to the victims is at the top of everyone's attention. But who will provide that care" In two studies to be presented at the 2007 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Annual Meeting, researchers examined the factors that might affect whether healthcare workers and support staff would report to work during a disaster.

Ten people have been found dead after an explosion and fire in a cafe in the Russian city of Orsk, emergency officials said Monday. Authorities were trying to determine the cause of the late-night blast and fire in the city about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) southeast of Moscow, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said.