Six In The Morning Friday February 14

Climate change is here now and it could lead to global conflict

Extreme weather events in the UK and overseas are part of a growing pattern that it would be very unwise for us, or our leaders, to ignore, writes the author of the influential 2006 report on the economics of climate change

• • 
    Nicholas Stern
  • The Guardian, Friday 14 February 2014

The record rainfall and storm surges that have brought flooding across the UK are a clear sign that we are already experiencing the impacts of climate change.

Many commentators have suggested that we are suffering from unprecedented extreme weather. There are powerful grounds for arguing that this is part of a trend.

Four of the five wettest years recorded in the UK have occurred from the year 2000 onwards. Over that same period, we have also had the seven warmest years.

That is not a coincidence. There is an increasing body of evidence that extreme daily rainfall rates are becoming more intense, in line with what is expected from fundamental physics, as the Met Office pointed out earlier this week.

Indonesia volcano erupts: 100,000 flee Mount Kelud eruption that could be heard 200km away

NINIEK KARMINI

 Friday 14 February 2014

A major volcanic eruption in Indonesia shrouded a large swath of the country's most heavily populated island in ash on Friday, triggering the evacuation of more than 100,000 people and the closure of three international airports after killing two people.

The explosive overnight eruption of Java island's Mount Kelud could be heard up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) away, Indonesia's disaster agency said.

The ash cloud reached 30 kilometers (18 miles) into the atmosphere and fell to earth in towns and cities across the region, including Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, and even farther afield in Yogyakarta, where motorists switched on headlights in daylight.

Kediri, a normally bustling town about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the mountain, was largely deserted as residents stayed indoors to avoid the choking ash.

More than a third of French voters agree with National Front ideas

Marine Le Pen increases support for far-right but is more popular than her party

Lara Marlowe

 A record 34 per cent of French people now agree with the ideas of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front (FN), according to the annual TNS-Sofres barometer, published this week.

Acceptance of the FN has zigzagged dramatically since the poll was launched in 1984 to assess acceptance of the party, which was founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen in 1972. But approval of the Front’s ideas has risen steadily since his daughter Marine took over the party, from 22 per cent in 2011 to 31 per cent the following year, 32 per cent last year and 34 per cent at present.

Fifty-eight per cent of respondents believe Ms Le Pen is “capable of rallying support beyond her camp”, while 56 per cent said she “understands the daily problems of the French”.

The Krypton Temple: China's Surging Tech Start-Up Scene

By Bernhard Zand in Beijing

A decade ago, the tech scene in China was grim. But these days young start-ups are turning heads and attracting investors from overseas. As their products find success abroad, Chinese entrepreneurs are acting locally, but thinking globally.

It's a private party in The Basement, a club in Beijing's Sanlitun nightlife quarter: "We Will Rock You" blares from the speakers as about 100 young Chinese gyrate on the dance floor. The women are wearing glowing red, green and blue headbands. The men are filming them with their iPhones.

The Internet firm 36Kr is throwing the party for customers and employees to bid farewell to the year of the snake. The company's third year, and its most successful, is just coming to an end.

Kenya's e-waste soldiers of ill fortune

14 FEB 2014 00:00 CHRISTINA GOSSMANN

Electronic waste processing has become a priority in Kenya as it strives to become the "silicon savannah" of Africa, despite the health risks.

A cloud rises above the hills of Dandora, Nairobi's largest rubbish dump. The hills are the result of decades of the city's trash, piled up endlessly every day, truck by truck. The cloud is made up of smoke from burning plastic, other fumes and slowly circling birds on the lookout for tasty morsels.

An estimated 6 000 people climb the municipal dump site every day in search for sellable items. The scavengers consist mostly of women, old men and children. The younger men in the recycling business tend to serve on one of many informal rubbish trucks, collecting waste from households and establishments in town. Dandora's sorters weave through heavy piles of grey rubbish, sometimes using a tool, but usually their bare hands.

14 February 2014 Last updated at 00:19

Tea industry's future depends on corporate collaboration

By Richard AndersonBusiness reporter, BBC News

Life without tea is unthinkable for the countless number of people who rely on their cherished cuppas to get them through the day.

But tea crops the world over are facing multiple threats, from climate change and water shortages to rural de-population and low wages.

So serious are these threats, that some of the world's biggest tea companies are joining forces to combat them.

Unilever, which owns Lipton, Brook Bond and PG Tips, Twinings, Finlays, and Tata Global Beverages, which owns Tetley, are laying to one side competitive instincts to protect the long-term future of their business and ensure that tea remains as accessible and affordable as it is today.