NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

WORLD/ TENSION PERSISTS IN TUNISIA: Nearly 50 people are reported to have been killed in shooting and rioting at 2 Tunisian prisons today, amid continuing unrest following the removal of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. There was looting and gunfire in the capital, Tunis, after the celebrations marking his flight to Saudi Arabia. Troops are patrolling the city centre and a state of emergency is in force. Tunis Carthage International Airport, which was closed amid Friday's unrest, re-opened on today. The violence came as the Speaker of parliament, Foued Mebazaa, took over as interim president. He said he had asked Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, who had earlier said he was in temporary charge, to form a national unity government.  In a televised address, Mebazaa said all political parties including the opposition would be consulted. "All Tunisians without exception and exclusion must be associated in the political process," he said after taking the oath. In the past 4 weeks, protests have swept the country over unemployment, food price rises and corruption. Security forces used live ammunition against protesters and dozens of people died.

WORLD/ SUDAN INDENDENCE VOTING ENDS: Voting has ended in Sudan in the south's historic independence referendum, with a large turnout for the week-long poll. The vote is widely expected to see the south choose overwhelmingly for separation from the north. The referendum was a condition of a 2005 peace deal which ended a 21 year civil war. Official results of the vote, which was largely peaceful, are not expected until early next month.

WORLD/ BRAZILIAN MILITARY DEPLOYED TO FLOOD AREAS: Brazilian soldiers have arrived in Teresopolis and other cities that were affected by deadly mudslides this week in the state of Rio de Janeiro, to assist with the rescue efforts. Officials say at least 600 people are known to have died in the floods. The military had been given a threefold mission: to support the rescue efforts, to help recover and identify bodies, and to guard against looting. The military will also try to clear some of the blocked roads which have forced rescuers to reach some of the worst-hit areas on foot. The flooding and mudslides were caused as the heaviest downpours in 44 years tore through the mountainous area near Rio de Janeiro. 

WORLD/ MANY MISSING IN QUEENSLAND FOUND ALIVE: Queensland Police have released 2 lists of names: one of the 14 people missing, and one of the 16 thus far confirmed dead in the massive floods this week. On paper, they have little in common, ranging in age from 4 to 88, from country folk to city dwellers. The one thing these people, some pictured above, share is tragedy: they were all killed by the floodwaters that resulted from a massive downpour that struck on Monday, January 10. The remaining missing are all from the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley region, where a wall of water destroyed homes and buildings also on Monday. The numbers of dead and missing flucuated greatly all week, with numbers as high as 68 missing, due to reports from different cities and jurisdictions. Now that that the floodwaters have receded, officials have been able coordinate information and to locate many people listed as missing. The biggest defence deployment for a natural disaster since Cyclone Tracy has been sent into Queensland, where the epicentre of the state's floods disaster resembles a war zone. In all, 86 communities in Queensland were affected by the flooding, with some towns deluged 3 times by floodwaters.

WORLD/ UN CALLS FOR SRI LANKA AID: The UN is to launch an appeal for emergency flood aid for Sri Lanka, where at least 32 people have died and more than 300,000 have been displaced. Flood waters are now receding in the worst-hit areas in eastern and central Sri Lanka. But aid agencies are warning of the danger of water-borne diseases.

US/ GIFFORDS OFF VENTILATOR: US Rep Gabrielle Giffords has been taken off a ventilator and is breathing on her own through a tracheotomy tube, the University Medical Center of Tucson, Arizona announced this afternoon. Surgeons also inserted a feeding tube so the congresswoman could get nutrients. In addition, 1 other person injured last Saturday's Arizona shooting was released from hospital today, leaving 3 people still at the hospital.

US/ REAGAN MAY HAVE HAD ALZHEIMERS WHILE PRESIDENT: Ronald Reagan's son suggests in a new book that his father suffered from the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease while he was in the White House. The memoir quotes excerpts from Ron Reagan's book "My Father at 100," just published by Viking.  Reagan's son writes that he believes his father would have left office before his 2nd term ended in 1989 had the disease been diagnosed then. "I've seen no evidence that my father (or anyone else) was aware of his medical condition while he was in office," Reagan writes. "Had the diagnosis been made in, say 1987, would he have stepped down? I believe he would have." Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1994, 5 years after leaving office. The Republican president died in 2004 at age 93 from complications of the disease. The younger Reagan recalls how his father became uncharacteristically lost for words and looked "lost and bewildered" during the 1984 presidential debates with Democratic rival Walter Mondale. He says his father may have suspected the onset of Alzheimer's in 1986 when he was flying over familiar canyons north of Los Angeles and became alarmed that he could no longer remember their names.