Mrs Sallibartan's English ressources

A clear-up operation is under way after a huge Atlantic storm ripped through parts of Western Europe at the weekend.

The French coast was worst affected and France has declared a natural disaster in the area after hurricane force winds tore down buildings and trees.

More than 50 people have died in the bad weather and around a million more were left without electricity.

The wild weather also smashed into Portugal, Spain, Belgium and Germany as the storms moved to the north east.

In France, the torrential rain and heavy winds brought down trees, destroyed power lines and flooded large areas.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has promised to release enough money to help people rebuild their homes and lives.

"The priority now is to make all the homeless people safe, all the people who are still threatened by the rising waters," he said.

Around 10,000 emergency workers are still searching for, and helping, survivors of the storms.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has visited two of the worst affected areas - the Vendee and Charente-Maritime regions on the west coast - and praised the efforts of the emergency services.

A map of where the earthquake struck

It's difficult to estimate because of the chaos there, but at least 120 people are said to have been killed.

It struck in the middle of the night off the coast of Chile, about 56 miles north-east of the city of Concepcion.

Buildings have fallen, telephone lines are down, some hospitals have been evacuated and the international airport is closed and all flights cancelled.

The President of Chile has declared a state of catatstrophe in the country, and she's asked people to be calm and to stay in their homes.

It's become very difficult to travel because lots of bridges near where the quake struck are down.

It's the biggest earthquake to hit Chile for 50 years.

Tsunami warnings

Earthquake experts warned that the tremor could trigger huge waves in the Pacific Ocean, affecting countries thousands of miles away from Chile like Australia and New Zealand.

They say the tsunami alerts are particularly serious for Hawaii and for Easter Island.

Earthquake history

Chile has a history of being affected by earthquakes.

The country saw the biggest earthquake of the 20th century when a 9.5 magnitude quake struck the city of Valdivia in 1960.

The earthquake that hit last night is stronger than the one that hit Haiti in January.

But Chile is a richer country and the emergency services are responding more quickly to the disaster.

 Australia's Great Barrier Reef is one of the greatest natural wonders of the world and is home to thousands of different species - including fish, seaweed, birds and turtles.

For a long time conservationists have been worried that this unique ecosystem is being destroyed - by overfishing and climate change. But now it looks as if rules that banned fishing in big areas of the reef - may be working.

Research shows that some fish species there have doubled in the six years since the rules were brought in. But the experts say the long-term survival of the Great Barrier Reef is not guaranteed, and think climate change still poses a big threat.

He's one of the most famous figures from Egyptian times but there's always been confusion over how the boy king Tutankhamen died.

Some claimed the pharaoh was murdered, others said he fell from his chariot - but now scientists reckon the ancient king died from Malaria!

For the last two years experts have studied the mummified remains of the 19-year old pharaoh - studying extracts of his blood and DNA.

The study revealed traces of the malaria parasite in his blood. 

We actually can say for the first time that we revealed the mystery of the family of the Golden Boy.

And finally - the video and CD for Simon Cowell's charity single have been released today.

Would you like to listen to it ?

All the money from the song will go to help earthquake victims in Haiti. Stars like Cheryl Cole, Leona Lewis and JLS all feature on the track , which is a cover of REM's 1993 hit Everybody Hurts.

To read the lyrics of the song.