Climate Change & Environment
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Death toll from devastating Maui fire reaches 106

Federal officials sent a mobile morgue with coroners, pathologists and technicians to Hawaii to help identify the dead, as Maui County released the first names of people killed in the wildfire that all but incinerated the historic town of Lahaina a week ago and killed at least 106 people.

A week after the fires started, some residents still had with intermittent power, unreliable cellphone service and uncertainty over where to get assistance.

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'No more water': Iraq drought claims lakeside resort

Iraqi merchant Mohamed has never seen such a grim tourist season: years of drought have shrunken the majestic Lake Habbaniyah, keeping away the holidaymakers who once flocked there during summer.

"The last two years, there was some activity, but now there's no more water," said 35-year-old Mohamed, asking to be identified by his first name only.

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Powerful typhoon approaches western Japan ahead of holiday week

A powerful typhoon was approaching Japan's main archipelago of Honshu on Monday, threatening to hit large areas of western and central Japan with heavy rain and high winds, as many people were traveling for a Buddhist holiday week.

Typhoon Lan was packing winds of up to 126 kph (78 mph) as it headed northwest over the Pacific Ocean south of Cape Shionomisaki in the central Japanese prefecture of Wakayama, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

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Crews search for possible missing after mudslide in Italian Alps

Rescue crews in an Italian Alpine city were searching Monday for any possible missing people and clearing mud-caked roads after a mountain mudslide sent water and debris pouring into town, bursting riverbanks. Authorities said all residents were accounted for.

The streets of Bardonecchia, a city near Turin in the Val di Susa mountain valley, were coated in thick gray mud following the violent mudslides late Sunday. Witness video showed a huge wave of dirt and debris toppling a gate and residents running away as the muck rushed down a city street; other videos showed thick mud coursing through the river banks that pass through town.

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Floods and landslides in India's Himalayan region leave at least 22 dead

Heavy monsoon rains triggered floods and landslides in India's Himalayan region, leaving at least 22 people dead and many others trapped, officials said Monday.

A cloudburst in mountainous Himachal Pradesh state's Solan district on Sunday night killed nine people in the area, and nine more bodies were pulled out from under mud and debris after two landslides in Shimla, the state's capital, authorities told the Press Trust of India news agency.

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Hawaii offers prayers for dead and missing in devastating Maui wildfires

Parishioners mourned the dead and prayed for the missing Sunday in Hawaii churches as communities began looking ahead to a long recovery from last week's wildfire that demolished a historic Maui town and killed more than 90 people.

Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina was spared from the flames that wiped out most of the surrounding community, but with search-and-recovery efforts ongoing, its members attended Mass about 10 miles up the road, with the Bishop of Honolulu, the Rev. Clarence "Larry" Silva, presiding.

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UAE's al-Jaber urges more financing to help fight climate change

The head of this year's U.N. global climate summit has urged more availability of funds to fight climate change in the Caribbean during a regional meeting in Barbados.

Sultan al-Jaber, the United Arab Emirates' minister of industry, noted that high costs have prevented island nations from quickly adopting renewable energy as they face what he said was some of the world's harshest climate impacts.

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More evacuations considered in Norway where level in swollen rivers continues to rise

Authorities were on standby to evacuate more people in southeastern Norway Friday, where huge amounts of water, littered with broken trees, debris and trash, were thundering down the usually serene rivers after days of torrential rain.

The level of water in swollen rivers and lakes continued to grow despite two days of dry but overcast weather, with houses abandoned in flooded areas, cars coated in mud and camping sites swamped.

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Flash droughts and climate change fuel Maui's devastating fires

Hawaii went from lush to bone dry and thus more fire-prone in a matter of just a few weeks — a key factor in a dangerous mix of conditions appear to have combined to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in Hawaii particularly damaging.

Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of these flash droughts as well as other extreme weather events like what's playing out on the island of Maui, where dozens of people have been killed and a historic tourist town was devastated.

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Tropical Storm Khanun drenches South Korea as it churns toward Seoul

Tropical Storm Khanun was pouring intense rain on South Korea on Thursday, turning roads into chocolate-colored rivers and leaving at least one person dead as it advanced north toward major urban centers near the capital.

More than a foot of rain fell in eastern and southern areas after the storm made landfall on the mainland in the morning. Emergency workers responded to increasing reports of flooding and landslides by the afternoon.

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