Briefly

UNITED STATES

Storms roll eastward after killing 10 people

Storms producing tornadoes and heavy rains rolled through parts of the southern United States on Friday, killing at least 10 people and leaving more than 1 million customers without power, authorities said. The National Weather Service said the storm had mostly left the South by late Friday and was moving to the Northeast, where it was forecast to cause heavy snow and sleet from southeastern Michigan east to New York state. Parts of New York and New England were tipped to have more than 30 centimeters of snow by Saturday afternoon.

VANUATU

State of emergency declared over cyclone

The Pacific nation of Vanuatu was under a state of emergency on Friday, after two earthquakes and two cyclones hit in as many days. As the country cleared roads and restored power lines cut by Cyclone Judy, residents were jolted early on Friday by twin earthquakes and told to hunker down for a second approaching storm, Cyclone Kevin. "It's crazy, Vanuatu is used to natural disasters, but I think this is the first time it has had two cyclones back to back," UNICEF's Eric Durpaire said.

JAPAN

H3 rocket launch rescheduled again

Japan's space agency on Saturday postponed the launch of its flagship H3 rocket by a day to Tuesday due to bad weather, after aborting a launch last month due to technical trouble. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency had halted the initially planned launch moments before liftoff on Feb 17 when the secondary booster engines on the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rocket failed to ignite.

Agencies Via Xinhua