IN BRIEF

Sokor president vows ‘overhaul’

In Japan, authorities issued heatstroke alerts for tens of millions of people in 20 of its 47 prefectures as near-record high temperatures scorched large areas and torrential rain pummeled other regions.

National broadcaster NHK warned the heat was life-threatening, with the capital Tokyo and other places recording nearly 40 degrees Celsius.

Japan’s highest temperature ever -41.1C first recorded in Kumagaya city in 2018 -- could be beaten, according to the meteorological agency.

Some places experienced their highest temperatures in more than four decades Sunday, including Hirono town in Fukushima prefecture with 37.3C. AFP

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s president vowed Monday to “completely overhaul” the country’s approach to extreme weather from climate change, after at least 39 people were killed by recent flooding and landslides during monsoon rains.

Rescue workers waded through thick mud as they drained a flooded underpass in central Cheongju, searching for more victims after vehicles were trapped in the tunnel by flash floods, the interior ministry said, with nine people still missing nationwide.

South Korea is at the peak of its summer monsoon season and days of torrential rain have caused widespread flooding and landslides, with rivers bursting their banks and reservoirs and dams overflowing -- and there is more rain forecast this week.

“This kind of extreme weather event will become commonplace -- we must accept climate change is happening, and deal with it,” President Yoon Suk Yeol said Monday, ahead of a visit to flood-hit North Gyeongsang province. AFP

Boat carrying dozens sinks

DHAKA, Bangladesh—An unknown number of people were missing Sunday after a water bus carrying up to 40 passengers sank in a river in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, police said.

Police said the bus was ferrying people across the Buriganga at around 8pm when it was hit by a cargo vessel carrying sand near Sadarghat, Bangladesh’s largest river port.

Prothom Alo, the country’s largest Bengali daily, said that between 25 and 30 people were missing.

One woman who swam ashore told AFP her daughter had yet to be found.

“She does not know how to swim,” said Mokseda, who has only one name.

“Can you tell me what happened to her?” she asked from the marine police station at Sadarghat.

Police sub inspector Hasan Ali said that at least four bodies had been recovered and several survivors had been interviewed. AFP