TOKYO — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Sunday the country’s north-central region of Noto for the first time since the deadly Jan. 1 earthquakes to alleviate growing concern about slow relief work and the spread of diseases in evacuation centers. The magnitude 7.6 earthquake left 220 dead and 26 others still missing while injuring … Read more
TOKYO — Japan launched a rocket carrying a government intelligence-gathering satellite Friday on a mission to watch movements at military sites in North Korea and improve responses to natural disasters. The H2A rocket, launched by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, carrying the optical satellite as part … Read more
WAJIMA, Japan — Aftershocks threatened to bury more homes and block roads crucial for relief shipments, as the death toll from the earthquakes that rattled Japan’s western coastline last week reached 100 on Saturday. Among the dead was a 5-year-old boy who had been recovering from injuries after boiling water spilled on him during Monday’s … Read more
SUZU, Japan — His face hidden under a humble straw hat, the man stood silent, watching several helmeted rescue workers carefully lift his wife’s body from the rubble, wrapped in blue plastic on a stretcher. He wiped his weary face with a rag. His eyes were red. This scene in the city of Suzu was … Read more
LONDON — A storm that battered the U.K. with high winds and heavy snow and rain damaged houses, canceled trains and left thousands of people without electricity on Thursday across Scotland and parts of northern England. Workers faced wind speeds of 80 miles (128 kilometers) per hour in some coastal areas of Scotland as they … Read more
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s political battle over state media continued on Wednesday as the new pro-European Union government put them in a state of liquidation in response to the president’s rejection of funding for them. New Prime Minister Donald Tusk seeks to free the media from political control. President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the … Read more
BUCHAREST, Romania — The death toll from a massive fire at a guesthouse in Romania rose to seven people Wednesday morning, including at least two children, authorities said. Emergency intervention teams were deployed to the blaze that erupted Tuesday morning in the village of Tohani in Prahova county, where 26 people were staying at the … Read more
BRISBANE, Australia — More than 300 people were rescued overnight from floodwaters in northeast Australia, with dozens of residents clinging to roofs, officials said on Monday. Cairns Airport was closed on Monday due to flooding and authorities were concerned that the city of 160,000 people will lose drinking water. While rain was easing in Cairns, … Read more
LUSAKA, Zambia — A man has been pulled alive out of a Zambian mine nearly a week after dozens of informal miners were trapped under landslides caused by heavy rain, rescuers said Wednesday. The 49-year-old survivor was rescued Tuesday night, according to a statement by Zambia’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit. He told rescuers he … Read more
NEW DELHI — The rescue mission was expected to last only a few days. Instead, it took 17 days to reach 41 construction workers who were trapped when a landslide collapsed a mountain tunnel in northern India earlier this month. The excruciating wait finally ended at nightfall on Tuesday, as temperatures dropped near the accident … Read more