Briefly

PUERTO RICO

1.5 million lose power after series of quakes

More than half of Puerto Rico's 3 million people remained without power on Wednesday and thousands slept outdoors after earthquakes toppled homes on the Caribbean island and raised fears more could collapse. Tuesday's quakes, including the most powerful one to strike the US territory in 102 years, killed at least one person and destroyed nearly 300 homes. A state of emergency was declared. Tremors shook the island on Wednesday and thousands slept outdoors or in their cars, fearful their homes would collapse in the event of another major event. Power was not expected to be restored to the whole island until the weekend after quakes knocked out its main generating plant and damaged energy infrastructure.

NIGERIA

Attack kills 20 soldiers, displaces 1,000

About 20 soldiers were killed and nearly 1,000 people made homeless in a militant attack on a town in northeastern Nigeria, two residents and a military source said on Wednesday. The militants entered Monguno in Borno state posing as a convoy of soldiers on Tuesday evening, the sources said. They then attacked troops already inside the town, destroying at least 750 homes in the process. Resident Gumati Sadu said people fled into the bush for safety during the fighting and that three civilians were killed by stray bullets. A military spokesman declined to comment. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. A decadelong insurgency campaign by Boko Haram has killed thousands and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria.

AUSTRALIA

New evacuation alerts as fires pick up

Australian authorities issued new warnings and evacuation notices across the country's heavily populated southeast on Thursday as a return of hot weather fanned huge bushfires threatening several towns and communities. A disaster notice in Victoria state, already in place for the past week, was extended by two days and people in danger zones were told to leave. In neighboring New South Wales state, authorities told residents to prepare for worsening weather conditions on Friday. Twenty-six people have died, thousands have been made homeless and thousands of others have had to evacuate repeatedly as the monster fires scorched through more than 10.3 million hectares of land, an area the size of South Korea.

MALAYSIA

Owls seen as best bet for plantation rats

Malaysian palm oil companies should try to boost the numbers of barn owls living on their plantations to tackle a rat problem rather than using snakes or macaques, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said on Wednesday. A headache for the world's second biggest producer and exporter of palm oil after Indonesia, rats thrive in palm plantations and can reduce oil yields by 5 percent to 10 percent by feeding on the palm fruit, according to industry estimates.

NORWAY

Country to take 600 evacuees from Libya

Norway this year will take in 600 people evacuated to Rwanda from Libyan detention centers, the Nordic country said on Wednesday as it sought to discourage the smuggling of refugees across the Mediterranean Sea. Rwanda, from where more than 2 million people were displaced amid a genocide in 1994, signed a deal with the United Nations in September meant to help resettle people detained in Libya while trying to reach Europe. The migrants evacuated to Rwanda have been given asylum-seeker status there while the UN Refugee Agency determines whether they are refugees.

Agencies - Xinhua