Portal:Current events/2007 August 19

• Indonesia raises the level alert for Mount Karangetang on the resort island of Siau as authorities move to evacuate those most at risk. (Reuters)
• Rescue workers start pumping water from a flooded coal mine in Xintai, Shandong where 172 Chinese miners are trapped. (CNN)
• United States floods:
  • The Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty declares a state of emergency in six Minnesota counties as a result of flooding with six deaths reported. (AP via West Central Tribune)
  • At least two people die and another three are missing after the remains of Tropical Storm Erin hit Oklahoma. (Reuters via New Zealand Herald)
  • Twelve people have died in the midwest of the United States with Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio also badly affected. (AP via Forbes)
• A week long heatwave in the southeast and midwest of the United States has caused the deaths of 49 with 12 deaths in Memphis, Tennessee. (AP via Fox News)
• The Philippines army captures an Abu Sayyaf base on the island of Basilan following a heavy struggle with at least 35 soldiers and militants killed in the battle. (Reuters via Canada.com)
• Kazakhstani legislative election, 2007: President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party wins 88 per cent of the vote in yesterday's election and will be the only party represented in the Majilis or Kazakh parliament. (ABC News Australia) (AAP via News Limited)
• Typhoon Sepat spawns a tornado that kills nine people in Zhejiang Province, China. More than a million people have been evacuated as a result of the typhoon. (Reuters via CNN)
• Jamaica prepares for Hurricane Dean with the hurricane already responsible for at least eight deaths on Caribbean islands St. Lucia, Martinique and Dominica. It is expected to hit the Cayman Islands on Monday and the Yucatan peninsula on Tuesday with further impact on Mexico or Texas later in the week. (CTV) (AP via Forbes)
• Voters in Thailand go to the polls for a referendum to decide whether to accept or reject a new constitution. A majority of voters appear to have supported it.(BBC), (Xinhua)
• A German woman taken hostage yesterday in Kabul, Afghanistan is found during a police raid on a house. Multiple abductors arrested. (BBC)

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