Manila - Australia said Thursday it will provide a 17-million-peso (346,940-dollar) grant to the Philippines to improve weather forecasting and help the disaster-prone country better prepare for natural calamities.

The Australian embassy in Manila said the fund will be provided to the country's weather bureau, which has often been criticized for inaccurate forecasts, through the Australian Agency for International Development.

"As a regional neighbour and key development partner, Australia is helping improve the Philippines' preparedness to manage and respond to disasters and emergencies," Australian Ambassador Rod Smith said. "The poor are the most affected by natural disasters."

Hanoi - Heavy rains and floods killed at least seven people and left one missing in central Vietnam, officials said Thursday.

"According to the updated figures as of 9 am (0200 GMT) Thursday, seven people have been killed, with one missing and one injured," said Hoang Hiep of the National Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control.

Dozens of homes had their roofs blown off, hundreds of hectares of crops were damaged, and landslides have blocked traffic in mountainous areas of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Ngai provinces.

Heavy rain on Wednesday night and Thursday morning caused rivers to rise 2 to 6 metres above sea level.

Forecasters said heavy rain and floods will continue Thursday and Friday.

Amsterdam - A "substantial" earthquake was felt in the north-eastern Dutch province of Groningen, the Dutch weather research centre KNMI said Thursday.

The spokesman for the KNMI, located in De Bilt in the central Netherlands, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa it was a "relatively substantial" earthquake "approaching 3.5 on the Richter scale."

The KNMI could not yet confirm the exact size of the quake.

Researchers of a recent study said that many patients are not satisfied with the care they receive at U.S. hospitals. In the study the authors studied the data collected by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey in an ongoing survey of patients at all hospitals that get Medicare payments. Six areas were covered which were communication with doctors, with nurses and about medications; and quality of nursing services, discharge information and pain management. Almost one-third of patients gave low ratings to pain management, and one-fifth gave low ratings to communication at discharge.

Melbourne, October 30 : ''Hannah Montana'' star Miley Cyrus has reportedly become a ‘nervous wreck’, fearing more of her pictures will hit the cyberspace.

The FBI had recently raided hacker Josh Holly’s home for reportedly leaking the young actress’ photos, reports Hollyscoop. com.

The 15-year-old, who shot to fame after the Disney’s TV show made its debut in March 2006, is said to be panicking after the FBI revealed that a hacker might have circulated her personal information in her email.

Rate begins to rally as ranges extend a bit to the upside; hook reversal showing from the toolbox suggests aggressive traders can buy the rate on dips. Rate possibly getting spillover effect from GBP. Overnight equities stronger also helping to lift the rate a bit. Support also from cross-spreaders as they unwind Yen. Official interest noted traders say.