Over 100 feared dead in tsunami-hit Samoa

Sydney, Sep 30 (ANI): The tsunami death toll triggered by an 8.3 magnitude earthquake, which rocked Samoa and other Pacific islands, could reach 100, according to Red Cross and media reports.

Locals in Samoa have been told more than 100, and possibly "hundreds", may have been killed in the tsunami that hit the island this morning.

The confirmed death toll from the South Pacific earthquake and tsunami is at 36, with a minimum of 14 reported dead in both Samoa and American Samoa; The Sydney Morning Herald quoted reports, as saying.

But media in Samoa says the tsunami had devastated villages on the south of the island, and the number of people feared dead was far higher.

"It's like nothing we've ever experienced before," said Tasi Uesele, who in the Samoan capital, Apia.

"There's unconfirmed reports that are on TV right now that up to 100 people, including tourists, that are missing right now because of the waves that hit hard," she said.

A large number of the dead were believed to be from Lalomanu, a village on Samoa's southeastern tip popular with tourists, she said.

"We don't know if the 100 are from people swept out [to sea] or from when tremors shook and people were buried in their own houses. We just saw some footage of dead people being brought into the hospital ... we've only seen about three or four dead and a lot of people wounded," Tasi added.

A Samoan schoolgirl whose village was evacuated to the mountains around Apia also said local radio reported hundreds of people were killed when the tsunami hit Lalomanu.

"They're still looking for other people, missing people, they said hundreds. There are no houses, clothes, and stuff is all everywhere," said Sulu Bentley, who lives in Leauvaa, 15 minutes from Apia.

Tasi said the first wave hit so quickly after the tremor that locals had little time to react. (ANI)

Chandrayaan-1 finds water on moon - report

           Chandrayaan-1, India's first lunar mission, has found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface, The Times newspaper reported on Thursday.

Data from the spacecraft also suggests water is still being formed on the moon, the British newspaper said.

"It's very satisfying," the newspaper quoted Mylswamy Annadurai, the mission's project director at the Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore, as saying.

The newspaper said the breakthrough would be announced by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Thursday.

NASA's website says it will hold a media briefing at 1440 EDT on Sept. 24 to "reveal new scientific findings about the moon" from data collected during national and international space missions.

The unmanned Indian craft was equipped with NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper.

(Reporting by Daniel Fineren; editing by Andrew Roche)

World Bank approves $4.3 billion in loans to India

The World Bank on Tuesday approved $4.3 billion in loans for India to help finance infrastructure building and to shore up the capital of some state banks as the economy recovers from the global financial crisis.

"The logic of these four loans is that they should support India's economic recovery by enabling enterprises to get access to credit and ... enabling investment in infrastructure," Roberto Zagha, World Bank country director for India, told Reuters.

The loans are part of the World Bank's $14 billion in crisis-related lending for Asia's third-largest economy over three years through 2012.

Zagha said while the worst of the crisis was over, there was uncertainty about the pace of the recovery.

He said economic growth in India of between 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent in 2009/10 was realistic, but cautioned that the country's economic prospects hinged on a broader global recovery.

"If we don't see a (global) recovery, then India will not be able to grow at the rates it used to grow in the past of around 8 percent," Zagha told Reuters.

India's reserve bank cut its main lending rate by 425 basis points (4.25 percentage points) between October and April, and added massive liquidity to markets as the global downturn hit the economy harder than expected.

As part of its response, the World Bank said it would provide $2 billion to India's banking sector designed to expand the volume of credit available to firms.

A global credit squeeze prompted banks to cut back on lending, but Zagha said tight credit conditions now appeared to be easing in India.

Also, the global crisis put added demands on public sector banks, as lending and deposit-taking by private and foreign banks have slowed.

"This loan will help maintain credit growth levels, support social banking and employment growth, and help strengthen the economic recovery ahead," the World Bank said.

The Bank also approved $1.2 billion for the India Infrastructure Finance Co Ltd to spur private financing for public-private partnerships in infrastructure, and to stimulate the development of a long-term local currency debt financing market.

In addition, the World Bank approved $1 billion to address India's acute power shortages by assisting the Powergrid Corp of India, the national electricity company, with its investment program after a freeze in lending from overseas.

The Bank also provided $150 million to Andhra Pradesh state to improve water supply and sanitation services for 2,600 villages across six districts.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Leslie Adler, Phil Berlowitz)