Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Pounding rain that already caused deadly floods in southern Japan was moving northeast Wednesday, battering large areas of Japan’s main island, swelling more rivers, triggering mudslides and destroying houses and roads. At least 58 people have died in several days of flooding.

By Wednesday morning, parts of Nagano and Gifu in central Japan were flooded by massive downpours.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s disaster management agency said the death toll from recent flooding has risen to 50 and at least a dozen others are still missing.

Pounding rain since late Friday in Japan’s southern region of Kyushu has triggered widespread flooding.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 49 of the dead confirmed as of Tuesday morning were from riverside towns in the Kumamoto prefecture. One person was found dead in another prefecture of Fukuoka as the heavy rain spread across the southern area. At least a dozen people are missing.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are conducting exercises in the contested South China Sea within sight of Chinese naval vessels spotted near the flotilla, the commander of one of the carriers, the USS Nimitz, told Reuters on Monday.

“They have seen us and we have seen them,” Rear Admiral James Kirk said in a telephone interview from the Nimitz, which has been conducting flight drills in the waterway with the Seventh Fleet carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, that began on the U.S. Independence Day holiday of July 4.

Tokyo, Jul 5 (AP/PTI) Deep floodwaters and the risk of more mudslides that left about 20 people confirmed or presumed dead hampered search and rescue operations on Sunday in southern Japan, including at elderly home facilities where more than a dozen perished and scores are still stranded.

Rescue helicopters plucked more people from their homes in the Kumamoto region. Up to 10,000 defense troops, the coast guard and fire brigades are taking part in the operation.

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike is poised to be reelected in Sunday’s polls, buoyed by public support for her coronavirus handling despite a recent rise in infections that has raised concerns of a resurgence of the disease.

The first woman to head the Japanese capital, Koike. 67, is also viewed as a potential candidate to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when his term ends in September 2021. For now, she says she’s focused on protecting the lives of the 14 million people in Tokyo, a megacity with a $1 trillion economy.

Tokyo, Jul 4 (AP/PTI) Heavy rain in southern Japan triggered flooding and mudslides on Saturday, leaving more than a dozen missing and others stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued.

More than 75,000 residents in the southern prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima were asked to evacuate following pounding rains overnight.

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo prosecutors said Friday that a request for extradition of two Americans arrested in the U.S. for allegedly helping Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman of Nissan, flee Japan while he was out on bail has been filed.

“We express our deepest gratitude for the cooperation the U.S. authorities have shown to our request,” the Tokyo District Prosecutors Office said in a statement.

“We plan to cooperate in all ways possible so the extradition procedures for the two can be carried out quickly,” it said.

TOKYO, July 2. /TASS/: Japan’s government refrains from commenting on the voting on constitutional amendments in Russia but stresses that its position on the issue of South Kuril Islands and the peace treaty with Russia remains the same, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters at a regular press conference on Thursday.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday after Wall Street capped its best quarter since 1998, shrugging off continued signs of global economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2% to 22,187.27. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.0% to 2,130.14. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 gained 0.9% to 5,953.50. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.5% to 24,427.19, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.3% to 2,993.60.

TOKYO, June 30 (NNN-NHK) – The unemployment rate in Japan increased in May from a month earlier, as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to firms laying off staff, as businesses stall, the government said, in a report, on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan’s unemployment rate climbed 2.9 percent in the recording period, with the figure coming on the heels of a 2.6-percent increase, logged a month earlier.