Evening Standard (London): Levees designed for minor storms

QUESTIONS have been raised about New Orleans' flood defences, after it emerged that they had not been designed to withstand the strongest hurricanes.

Democratic congressman David Obey accused the authorities of "playing Russian roulette with people's lives" by only planning for moderate-strength storms.

Katrina victims get UK rations

AN operation akin to the Asian tsunami relief effort was gearing up in the UK this morning to supply ration packs to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Half a million military ration packs worth Pounds 3m were being loaded on to civilian charter planes at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to be flown to Little Rock in Arkansas.

From there, they were being flown to refugees evacuated from the disaster area.

Typhoon Nabi threatens Japan

A POWERFUL category four typhoon bore down on southwestern Japan today.

Typhoon Nabi was threatening the country's heavily populated main islands with torrential rain and strong winds and disrupting transport and oil refineries.

Weather officials in South Korea also warned of flooding, while eastern China braced itself for Nabi's arrival after a previous storm killed at least 84 people.