Climate Change & Environment
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Hurricane? Cyclone? Typhoon? Here's the difference

Typhoon Kalmaegi has killed at least 114 people in the Philippines with even more missing and then hit Vietnam Friday. A second typhoon, Fong-Wong, is forecast to hit the Philippines around Sunday and strengthen to a major storm by that time.

Some facts about typhoons:

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Brazil stumps up billions of dollars for its ambitious rainforest fund at UN climate summit

Brazil on Thursday unveiled long-awaited details of a plan to pay countries to preserve their tropical forests and announced it had already drawn $5.5 billion in pledges.

The fund is President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's flagship project as he welcomes world leaders to the edge of the Amazon for the United Nations annual climate summit — an effort to draw attention and money to the imperiled rainforest crucial to curbing global warming.

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At UN climate summit, world leaders say time running short to stop worst warming effects

World leaders warned Thursday that time is running short for urgent and decisive action to prevent the worst effects of climate change, and blasted the United States for its retreat from those efforts, as they gathered at the edge of Brazil's Amazon rainforest for the annual United Nations climate summit.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres opened a gathering of heads of state in Belem, Brazil, with harsh words for world powers who he said "remain captive to the fossil fuel interests, rather than protecting the public interest."

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Typhoon Kalmaegi rampages across Vietnam as Philippines prepares for new storm

Typhoon Kalmaegi brought fierce winds and torrential rains to Vietnam on Friday, killing at least five people, flattening homes, blowing off roofs and uprooting trees. In the Philippines, where the storm left scores dead earlier in the week, survivors wept over the coffins of their loved ones and braced for another typhoon.

As the storm moved on, recovery work began in battered towns and villages in both countries. Across central Vietnamese provinces, people cleared debris and repaired roofs on their homes.

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After battering Philippines, deadly Typhoon Kalmaegi moves toward Vietnam

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of emergency on Thursday after Typhoon Kalmaegi left at least 114 people dead and more than 100 missing in central provinces in the deadliest natural disaster to hit the country this year.

The deaths were mostly from drowning in flash floods and 127 people were still missing, many in the hard-hit central province of Cebu. The tropical cyclone blew out of the archipelago on Wednesday into the South China Sea.

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Hurricane Melissa leaves trail of destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa left at least dozens dead and caused widespread destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, where roofless homes, toppled utility poles and water-logged furniture dominated the landscape Wednesday.

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Residents of Swiss village swallowed by mudslide work to rebuild for return home

When a devastating landslide all but swallowed his Swiss village and toppled his three-generation family-owned hotel in May, Lukas Kalbermatten was overwhelmed by a sense of emptiness before the emotions hit. But he choose not to dwell on them long, and snapped into action to rebuild.

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25 people die in south Haiti after river flooded by Hurricane Melissa burst its banks

The mayor of a southern Haitian coastal town told The Associated Press that 25 people died after a river burst its banks and flooded nearby homes.

Dozens of homes in Petit-Goâve collapsed, and people were still trapped under rubble as of Wednesday morning, Mayor Jean Bertrand Subrème said.

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Wildfire risk spikes with high temps as winds whip up in Southern California

An autumn heat wave accompanied by gusty winds raised the wildfire risk for Southern California starting Tuesday, with forecasters warning that grass and brush are still dangerously dry despite recent rains.

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Deadly floods batter central Vietnam, killing at least 10

Floodwaters swept through central Vietnam this week after record-breaking rains, leaving at least 10 people dead and five missing, officials said, as cities, farmland and transport networks were battered by the onslaught.

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