Typhoons kill 51 in Taiwan, Japan, China and Philippine

BEIJING: A powerful typhoon killed eight people, toppled houses, flooded villages and forced nearly 1 million people to flee to safety on China's eastern coast before weakening into a tropical storm Monday.Named Morakot, the storm struck after triggering the worst flooding in Taiwan in 50 years, leaving dozens missing and bringing down a six-story hotel. It earlier lashed the Philippines, killing at least 22 people.....Full Story

1 million evacuated as typhoon hits China

BEIJING–A typhoon slammed into China's east coast Sunday, flooding entire villages, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of nearly a million residents, after lashing Taiwan with torrential rains that caused the island's worst flooding in 50 years.
Rescuers on rubber dinghies, wearing life jackets and crash helmets, helped stranded villagers in hard-hit areas of China, while officials elsewhere cycled through floodwaters to deliver food to residents trapped in their homes...Full Story

7.1 magnitude quake rocks off eastern Japan: USGS

TOKYO:A major 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Japan Sunday, the US Geological Survey said.The quake was felt from central to northern Japan, including Tokyo, at 19:56 (1056 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.The quake rocked buildings in the Japanese capital, but no damage was immediately reported in the city.Some local trains experienced moderate delays, East Japan Railway Co. said.The US agency estimated the quake to be extremely deep at 303 kilometers or 188 miles. Geo World

9 killed in NYC crash of tourist copter, plane

NEW YORK - A sightseeing helicopter and a small plane collided and crashed into the murky Hudson River off lower Manhattan on Saturday, killing all nine people on the aircraft and underscoring the perils of uncontrolled airspace in the busy corridor.Hours after the crash, which occurred about noon as sunbathers, bicyclists, joggers and tourists crowded the parks lining both sides of the river, divers and search boats were scouring the water for wreckage and victims. Though the water was only 30 feet deep where the aircraft plummeted, visibility was about 2 feet and the current was powerful, hampering recovery efforts, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. At a news briefing held on a pier of the Hudson, a somber Bloomberg said it appeared the crash was "not survivable."Three bodies had been recovered by the time recovery operations were called off for the evening, said National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman. It was not clear whether the bodies were from the helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350 run by the sightseeing company Liberty Tours, or the plane, which was a single-engine Piper PA-32R. Bloomberg said the helicopter victims included five Italian tourists and their pilot. The Piper victims, he said, were two passengers, including a child, and the pilot.The crash occurred about 30 blocks south of where a US Airways jet ditched into the Hudson in January. Full Story

Rivals bid to snatch green domain

Rival environmental groups are lining up supporters to try to take control of a new net domain aimed at green groups.

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At least two consortiums are known to be preparing bids to control .eco.
In March this year, former US vice president Al Gore backed a bid by the California group Dot Eco to operate the so-called "top level domain" (TLD).
But now a Canadian environmental group known as Big Room has launched a competing bid to manage the TLD, which is similar to .com or .uk.
Both firms plan to apply to Icann - the regulatory body that oversees domain names - for the creation of .eco early in 2010. Full Story