[Environment] from [guardian.co.uk]
[Natural Disasters and Extreme Weather]
Deadly typhoon Morakot and tropical storm Etau pummel south-east Asia
Dozens killed and millions evacuated as storms devastate China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan
Tania Branigan in Beijing and Justin McCurry in Tokyo
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 August 2009 09.23 BST
Article history
At least 34 people have died and millions of others been affected in the Asia-Pacific region after a typhoon and a tropical storm battered China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan.
At least one child was killed as typhoon Morakot pummelled east China yesterday, with winds of up to 75mph destroying houses and flooding farmlands.
Authorities had evacuated around 500,000 people from Fujian province – where Morakot made landfall in late afternoon, bringing waves up to 8 metres (26ft) high – and the same number from neighbouring Zhejiang.
Tens of thousands of ships were called back from sea. But disaster relief officials said more than 3.4 million people were affected in Zhejiang alone as hundreds of villages were flooded and more than 1,800 houses collapsed.
In one city, Wenzhou, a four-year-old boy died when winds and torrential rain brought down his home.
Morakot claimed the lives of 11 people in the Philippines and another 12 in Taiwan, where 52 people remain missing.
In Japan, 10 people died as an approaching tropical storm triggered floods and landslides in the west of the country.
More than 47,000 people in western Japan have been told to leave their homes, NHK television reported.
The meteorological office warned that tropical storm Etau could bring "extremely heavy rain" to many parts of Honshu – Japan's main island – as it moved northwards later today. The agency said the storm, which is expected to strike Tokyo tomorrow, was forecast to produce winds of up to 78mph, heavy rain and stormy seas.
At least nine people died and eight others were missing in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan. Local reports said a 68-year-old woman was killed in a landslide while a nine-year-old boy was reported missing.
"Cars that were parked on the road got all washed away all the way to the station," one resident told NHK. Another said: "Everything toppled over in the house. It's a complete mess. Even the floor got pushed up by the water."
Parts of Taiwan saw the worst flooding for half a century. China's Xinhua state news agency said it had caused 2.2bn yuan (£193m) damage as 143,000 hectares (357,400 acres) of farmland was damaged and nearly 9,000 businesses stopped work.
The typhoon dumped 2.5 metres of rain on the island, causing at least 3.4bn Taiwan dollars (£62m) in agricultural damage.
Officials said 110,000 houses were left without power and 850,000 homes had no water.
In Kaohsiung county, a bridge collapse cut off access to a remote village of 1,300 residents. Local television reported 200 homes there had been buried in a mudslide.
"It is not clear what the residents' situation is, but we are sure that Hsiaolin elementary school has been fully destroyed," Kaohsiung county magistrate, Yang Chiu-hsin, told reporters.
[Peter Mandelson]
Climate change campaigners stage protest at Mandelson's home
Activists gather outside business secretary's London home in 'act of solidarity' for 625 workers set to lose their jobs at the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 August 2009 12.09 BST
Article history
Protesters against the closure of a wind turbine factory chained themselves to Lord Mandelson's home today as the business secretary jetted back from Corfu to take control of the day-to-day business of government.
Members of the Climate Rush campaign group gathered outside Mandelson's two-storey property in Regent's Park, north London, in an "act of solidarity" with 625 workers who are set to lose their jobs at the Vestas factory in Newport, Isle of Wight.
Ellie Robson, 21, a history undergraduate at Cambridge University, said she wanted to expose the government's hypocrisy over climate change as she chained herself to railings outside the business secretary's house.
She said: "Less than two weeks after announcing the government's plans for a low-carbon Britain, Vestas shut down because there's no demand for wind turbines in this country.
"Mandelson, the man in charge of the nation's purse strings, jets off to Corfu and ignores the Vestas workers' occupation.
"If we're going to have a low-carbon Britain then we need our government to support these workers, rather than forcing the closure of their factory and the loss of their jobs."
No one minister has officially been deputising for Gordon Brown over the weekend after Harriet Harman's foreign holiday overlapped with the business secretary's.
Downing Street was forced to issue a swift insistence that the PM remained "in charge" amid speculation that Mandelson would be running the show via mobile phone from the Greek island.
But a spokesman for Mandelson, who was flying back from the Greek island today, insisted it had been pre-agreed that he would be stand-in from his return today until 16 August, when he is expected to hand over to the chancellor, Alistair Darling.
The occupation of the Danish-owned Vestas factory ended last week when workers left the building after an 18-day protest.
One of the workers jumped 20 feet from a balcony before being led away by security guards, waving and smiling at the climate change activists and trade unionists who have been outside giving support during the protest.
The factory's owner, Vestas Wind Systems, had obtained a court order after six workers barricaded themselves into the plant, on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Newport, for more than two weeks in a bid to delay its closure and the loss of 625 jobs.
Mandelson was pictured at the weekend enjoying the hospitality of Nathaniel Rothschild, but appeared to have avoided the political furore sparked by his Corfu break last year.
In an interview published today by the Guardian, Lord Mandelson described himself more of a "kindly pussycat" than a "big beast" of politics.
"I don't really see myself as a big beast. More as a kindly pussycat. Yes, a kindly pussycat. I'm a kindly pussycat, with strong views about what we need to do," he said.
"I think 10 years ago, and also 15 years ago, I was a very hard-nosed, uncompromising figure who was manning the barricades of change in the Labour party, and prepared to take down anything or anyone who stood in the way," he said.
"I don't feel in that mode now. And secondly, I've learned from experience that you can defeat people without killing them."
Brown is expected to swap his constituency in Scotland for the Lake District this week as he opts for a so-called "staycation" – keeping up a record of always holidaying in the UK as prime minister.
Downing Street confirmed that Mandelson would be resuming work in London later today and would be dividing his time between his offices in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Cabinet Office.
[Natural Disasters and Extreme Weather]
Deadly typhoon Morakot and tropical storm Etau pummel south-east Asia
Dozens killed and millions evacuated as storms devastate China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan
Tania Branigan in Beijing and Justin McCurry in Tokyo
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 August 2009 09.23 BST
Article history
At least 34 people have died and millions of others been affected in the Asia-Pacific region after a typhoon and a tropical storm battered China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan.
At least one child was killed as typhoon Morakot pummelled east China yesterday, with winds of up to 75mph destroying houses and flooding farmlands.
Authorities had evacuated around 500,000 people from Fujian province – where Morakot made landfall in late afternoon, bringing waves up to 8 metres (26ft) high – and the same number from neighbouring Zhejiang.
Tens of thousands of ships were called back from sea. But disaster relief officials said more than 3.4 million people were affected in Zhejiang alone as hundreds of villages were flooded and more than 1,800 houses collapsed.
In one city, Wenzhou, a four-year-old boy died when winds and torrential rain brought down his home.
Morakot claimed the lives of 11 people in the Philippines and another 12 in Taiwan, where 52 people remain missing.
In Japan, 10 people died as an approaching tropical storm triggered floods and landslides in the west of the country.
More than 47,000 people in western Japan have been told to leave their homes, NHK television reported.
The meteorological office warned that tropical storm Etau could bring "extremely heavy rain" to many parts of Honshu – Japan's main island – as it moved northwards later today. The agency said the storm, which is expected to strike Tokyo tomorrow, was forecast to produce winds of up to 78mph, heavy rain and stormy seas.
At least nine people died and eight others were missing in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan. Local reports said a 68-year-old woman was killed in a landslide while a nine-year-old boy was reported missing.
"Cars that were parked on the road got all washed away all the way to the station," one resident told NHK. Another said: "Everything toppled over in the house. It's a complete mess. Even the floor got pushed up by the water."
Parts of Taiwan saw the worst flooding for half a century. China's Xinhua state news agency said it had caused 2.2bn yuan (£193m) damage as 143,000 hectares (357,400 acres) of farmland was damaged and nearly 9,000 businesses stopped work.
The typhoon dumped 2.5 metres of rain on the island, causing at least 3.4bn Taiwan dollars (£62m) in agricultural damage.
Officials said 110,000 houses were left without power and 850,000 homes had no water.
In Kaohsiung county, a bridge collapse cut off access to a remote village of 1,300 residents. Local television reported 200 homes there had been buried in a mudslide.
"It is not clear what the residents' situation is, but we are sure that Hsiaolin elementary school has been fully destroyed," Kaohsiung county magistrate, Yang Chiu-hsin, told reporters.
[Peter Mandelson]
Climate change campaigners stage protest at Mandelson's home
Activists gather outside business secretary's London home in 'act of solidarity' for 625 workers set to lose their jobs at the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 August 2009 12.09 BST
Article history
Protesters against the closure of a wind turbine factory chained themselves to Lord Mandelson's home today as the business secretary jetted back from Corfu to take control of the day-to-day business of government.
Members of the Climate Rush campaign group gathered outside Mandelson's two-storey property in Regent's Park, north London, in an "act of solidarity" with 625 workers who are set to lose their jobs at the Vestas factory in Newport, Isle of Wight.
Ellie Robson, 21, a history undergraduate at Cambridge University, said she wanted to expose the government's hypocrisy over climate change as she chained herself to railings outside the business secretary's house.
She said: "Less than two weeks after announcing the government's plans for a low-carbon Britain, Vestas shut down because there's no demand for wind turbines in this country.
"Mandelson, the man in charge of the nation's purse strings, jets off to Corfu and ignores the Vestas workers' occupation.
"If we're going to have a low-carbon Britain then we need our government to support these workers, rather than forcing the closure of their factory and the loss of their jobs."
No one minister has officially been deputising for Gordon Brown over the weekend after Harriet Harman's foreign holiday overlapped with the business secretary's.
Downing Street was forced to issue a swift insistence that the PM remained "in charge" amid speculation that Mandelson would be running the show via mobile phone from the Greek island.
But a spokesman for Mandelson, who was flying back from the Greek island today, insisted it had been pre-agreed that he would be stand-in from his return today until 16 August, when he is expected to hand over to the chancellor, Alistair Darling.
The occupation of the Danish-owned Vestas factory ended last week when workers left the building after an 18-day protest.
One of the workers jumped 20 feet from a balcony before being led away by security guards, waving and smiling at the climate change activists and trade unionists who have been outside giving support during the protest.
The factory's owner, Vestas Wind Systems, had obtained a court order after six workers barricaded themselves into the plant, on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Newport, for more than two weeks in a bid to delay its closure and the loss of 625 jobs.
Mandelson was pictured at the weekend enjoying the hospitality of Nathaniel Rothschild, but appeared to have avoided the political furore sparked by his Corfu break last year.
In an interview published today by the Guardian, Lord Mandelson described himself more of a "kindly pussycat" than a "big beast" of politics.
"I don't really see myself as a big beast. More as a kindly pussycat. Yes, a kindly pussycat. I'm a kindly pussycat, with strong views about what we need to do," he said.
"I think 10 years ago, and also 15 years ago, I was a very hard-nosed, uncompromising figure who was manning the barricades of change in the Labour party, and prepared to take down anything or anyone who stood in the way," he said.
"I don't feel in that mode now. And secondly, I've learned from experience that you can defeat people without killing them."
Brown is expected to swap his constituency in Scotland for the Lake District this week as he opts for a so-called "staycation" – keeping up a record of always holidaying in the UK as prime minister.
Downing Street confirmed that Mandelson would be resuming work in London later today and would be dividing his time between his offices in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Cabinet Office.
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