TOKYO — The mayor of Nagasaki called for a global ban on nuclear arms at a ceremony marking the 64th anniversary of the devastating U.S. attack on the Japanese city that killed about 80,000 people.

In a speech given just after 11:02 a.m. — the time when a plutonium American bomb flattened Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945 — Mayor Tomihisa Taue said some progress toward eliminating nuclear weaponry had been made but more needed to be done.

The atomic attack on Nagasaki came three days after one on Hiroshima, in which 140,000 people were killed or died within months. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945 ending World War II.

CHINA LIFTS BLOCKADE ON PLAGUE-HIT TOWN

BEIJING — A blockade around a remote northwest Chinese town where deadly pneumonic plague killed three people and sickened nine was lifted after no new infections were reported, an official said today.

The blockade of Ziketan, a farming town of 10,000 people in Qinghai province, ended last night after 10 days, a government spokesman said.

Pneumonic plague is the least common and most deadly form of the disease. It can be directly spread between humans since the bacteria is airborne and can easily be inhaled by those in close contact with infected patients. But if treated early with antibiotics, it is curable.

STORM PROMPTS CHINA EVACUATIONS

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Tropical storm Morakot churned toward China forcing the evacuation of nearly 1 million people today, a day after lashing Taiwan as a typhoon with torrential rains that caused the worst flooding on the island in 50 years.

Twenty-nine people were missing in southern Taiwan, the Disaster Relief Center said.

Morakot was centered 42 miles off China's southeastern Fujian province this morning. Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said the storm had winds of up to 67 miles per hour and was headed northwest toward China at a speed of 7 mph.

DENGUE CASES AT 264 IN AMERICAN SAMOA

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — A hospital official says American Samoa has recorded 264 confirmed cases of dengue fever through July this year, up from 51 in the same period last year.

LBJ Medical Center chief medical officer Dr. Aloiamoa Anesi says the number of cases jumped at the end of 2008 and in early 2009 before falling sharply since March. Fifteen cases were confirmed in July.

For all of 2008, the Pacific island territory recorded 667 confirmed cases and one death, a 10-year-old boy.

93 STILL MISSING IN TONGA FERRY SINKING

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga — Ninety-three people were missing and feared dead today after their ferry flipped and sank off Tonga, as divers continued to try and locate the sunken vessel in the deep waters off the South Pacific nation.

Police Chief Inspector Sokopeti To'ia said today the latest count of those aboard the ill-fated ferry was 149, up from an earlier count of 141. Of those, 54 were rescued and two bodies recovered, leaving 93 missing. The confirmed dead were a British man living in New Zealand and a Polynesian woman.

AUSTRALIA CONSIDERS CAMEL MASS KILLING

SYDNEY — Thousands of camels in Australia's remote Outback could be killed by marksmen in helicopters under a government proposal aimed at cutting down the population of the havoc-wreaking creatures.

First introduced into Australia in the 1840s to help explorers travel through the Australian desert, there are now about 1 million camels roaming the country, with the population doubling every nine years.

They compete with sheep and cattle for food, trample vegetation and invade remote settlements in search of water.

Last month, the federal government set aside $16 million for a program to help slash the population. Officials are also considering proposals to turn some of the creatures into tasty treats such as camel burgers.