thestar.com

A blustery sand storm, accompanied by thunder and lightning, struck Aswan province in southern Egypt. The thunderstorms triggered a power failure in the capital city of Aswan, and all commercial flights to Cairo were cancelled for several hours. In neighboring Sudan, two hours of torrential desert rains unleashed flash floods that swept away two people and flattened several houses.

When trick-or-treaters took to the streets of the northernmost town in the U.S. on Halloween, a team of experts was on patrol to protect them from some even scarier creatures - hungry polar bears. The Department of Public Safety in Barrow, Alaska, assembled a team of police officers, veterinarians and rescue workers to prevent the bears from mingling with the youngsters. In early October, the town was invaded by the dangerous animals, drawn to the Inupiat town by the debris of an unusually successful fall whaling season. Firecrackers, sirens and snowmobiles had gfailed to scare them away.