Torrential New Zealand rains, floods force evacuation of 200 homes
WELLINGTON — Torrential rains hit New Zealand’s South Island on Wednesday, flooding rivers, houses and roads and forcing roughly 200 households to evacuate, media reported.
Around 70 homes in Nelson, at the north of the South Island, and a further 140 homes on the West Coast were evacuated, according to estimates by local television network 1News.
Media footage from the region showed flooded rivers, water washing over roads and teams using rescue boats to check on flooded areas.
New Zealand weather provider Metservice said that mountain ranges in the west and north of South Island could receive up to 500 mm (19 inches) of rain between Wednesday and Friday.
States of Emergency have been declared in Nelson and on the West Coast.
The civil defence controller for the Buller district on the West Coast, Al Lawn, said in a statement that some people in the town of Westport were being asked to evacuate before it gets dark because the Buller River was likely to reach peak levels on Thursday.
However authorities were not evacuating all of the town as forecast ranges for river levels have reduced.
The latest storms follow weeks of unseasonably wet weather to hit New Zealand. There are currently severe weather warnings in place for parts of the South Island, while the North Island is also experiencing bad weather.
Japan prosecutors arrest former member of Olympic panel over suspected graft
TOKYO — Japanese prosecutors arrested a former member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics board, Haruyuki Takahashi, on Wednesday on suspicion of receiving bribes, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office said.
Takahashi was not immediately available for comment and did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that he was suspected of receiving bribes amounting to hundreds of billions of yen from the clothing retailer Aoki Holdings.
Former chairman of Aoki Holdings, Hironori Aoki, and two other executives linked to the company were also arrested in connection with the case, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Reuters was not able to contact Aoki to ask for comment. Aoki Holdings said it was confirming the details and did not elaborate when asked for comment.
Media has reported previously that investigators were looking into whether payments of 45 million yen ($325,544), made between 2017 and 2021 to a company run by Takahashi, violated a law that prohibits public servants from taking money in relation to their positions.
As part of the investigation, prosecutors conducted a string of raids in late July, including at Takahashi’s home and the office of advertising giant Dentsu Group.
Takahashi is a former executive of Dentsu Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dentsu Group.
A spokesperson for Dentsu Inc said the company had no immediate comment.
Rohingya refugees in India to be given flats, security
NEW DELHI — Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in India’s capital will be allotted apartments and provided with police protection, a government minister said on Wednesday, signaling a change in the stance towards members of the Muslim minority.
“India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge,” Minister for Housing and Urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said on Twitter, outlining new provisions for Rohingya refugees in New Delhi.
“India respects & follows UN Refugee Convention 1951 & provides refuge to all, regardless of their race, religion or creed,” Puri said.
India is not a signatory to the convention which spells out refugee rights and the obligations of countries to protect them.
Puri did not elaborate on what he said would be “round-the- clock” police protection but there have been isolated incidents of violence towards Rohingya in India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has previously tried to send back members of the minority from predominately Buddhist Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled from persecution and waves of violence in their homeland over the years.
Bangladesh has sheltered nearly a million Rohingya.
As of early this year, around 1,100 Rohingya lived in Delhi and another 17,000 elsewhere in India, many of them working as manual laborers, hawkers and rickshaw pullers, according to estimates from Rohingya rights activist Ali Johar.
He said some 2,000 people went back to Bangladesh this year, amid fears many would be deported.
3 Syrian soldiers killed in Turkish air strike on military posts – state media
CAIRO — Three Syrian soldiers were killed and six wounded in a Turkish air strike on military posts in the Aleppo countryside on Tuesday, state media quoted a military source as saying.
Turkish warplanes targeted the posts from 14:37 p.m. to 15:00 p.m. (11:37-12:00 GMT); the Syrian state TV and news agency reported.
Syrian armed forces responded to the strike and caused material and human losses in some Turkish military sites, the report said without giving any further details.
There was no immediate comment form the Turkish side.
Turkey has carried out several military operations in northern Syria since 2016, seizing hundreds of kilometres of land and pushing some 30 km deep into the country, mainly targeting the Kurdish YPG militia, which it deems a terrorist Organization.
The country is also backing opposition sides in Syria’s war. Damascus accuses Ankara of supporting “terrorist” groups in Syria.
Ukraine nuclear power company says Russian hackers attacked website
Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom said Russian-based hackers launched a major three-hour attack on its website on Tuesday but had not caused significant problems.
“The Russian group ‘People’s Cyber Army’ carried out a cyber attack using 7.25 million bot users, who simulated hundreds of millions of views of the company’s main page,” Energoatom said in a statement. “(This) did not significantly affect operations of the Energoatom website.”