From the very recent destructive floods occurring at the same time in several parts of the world - China, India, Nigeria, Belgium, Austria and Italy, among others - to the forest fires, also occurring at the same time in Turkey, Greece, Italy and the United States (US), the signs are ominous: years of neglect and lip service on issues of climate change are taking its toll on the world population and the environment.This increased frequency of extreme weather events is the cumulative effect of

Torrential monsoon rains hampered the hunt Sunday for anyone still buried alive under buildings flattened by a powerful earthquake on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, after the huge tremor killed at least 81 and left thousands homeless.Excavators and cranes were deployed across the devastated seaside city of Mamuju, where buildings were reduced to a tangled mass of twisted metal and chunks of concrete, including a hospital and the regional governor's office.It was unclear how many peopl

At least 10 people have died and thousands of shanty homes have been destroyed by monsoon rains in overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh's southeast, officials said Sunday.Bangladesh's meteorological department said the Cox's Bazar district – home to nearly one million Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar – has seen at least 58.5 centimetres (nearly two feet) of rain since 2 July. An International Organisation for Migration (IOM) sp