Flooding in central Thailand's Chao Phraya river basin is expected to continue until next month, as the run-off moving south is still rising, Royal Irrigation Department (RID) chief Samart Chokkanapitak said on Friday.

Vice Chairman of Pakistani Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) Nadeem Ahmed said Friday that out of 3.5 million people affected due to last year's Oct. 8 earthquake in northern Pakistan, 90 percent have been shifted to mid term and good quality shelters.

The nationwide anti-polio immunization campaign for children below five years is taking place on Saturday and Sunday in Nepal, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

At least four persons have died while more than 40 others have fallen ill following an outbreak of cholera in Myagdi district in western Nepal, the National News Agency, RSS, reported on Friday.

Female deaths due to HIV/AIDS had quadrupled in the period from 1997 to 2004, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Friday.

The Dutch authorities said on Friday that the number of bluetongue disease cases was growing, but simultaneously announced they would ease cattle transport restrictions because they were ineffective.

Malaysian Scandinavian International Conference on Infectious and Tropical Diseases 2006 will kick off in Sabah state in eastern Malaysia next month.

The development of China's ethnic medicines is being thwarted by a lack of industry standards and new practitioners, say experts, who are calling for protection of the traditional craft.

Chinese archaeologists have discovered a warriors cemetery dating back to the Warring State (475-221 B.C.) in central China's Henan Province.

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed seven large tombs, including a grave of aristocrats, dating back 2,000 years in North China's Hebei Province.