TOKYO (Reuters) - The death toll from torrential rains that caused flooding and mudslides in eastern Japan rose to eight on Saturday, with a further four missing, public broadcaster NHK reported, just two weeks after the region was hit hard by a powerful typhoon.Landslides ripped through waterlogged areas in Chiba and Fukushima prefectures, in eastern and northeastern Japan, which were inundated by their third rainstorms in six weeks. In some places, a month’s worth of rain unleashed by a

A popular children’s song became a rallying cry in Lebanon after protesters in Beirut spontaneously sang the hit to calm a toddler caught in the midst of a noisy demonstration. When driver Eliane Jabbour was surrounded by a rally in the capital last weekend, she asked protesters if they could stop shouting as her young son, Robin, was asleep in the front passenger seat. On the spot, Eliane relates, the crowd spontaneously broke out into a rendition of the song “Baby Shark,” com

Pulling with smooth, steady strokes along a rowing course on an artificial lake, South Korean Paralympic hopeful Ha Jae-hun is the picture of calm determination, but it has taken him four years and 21 rounds of surgery to find this peace.Ha lost his legs when he stepped on a landmine just inside the Demilitarized Zone along the border with North Korea. He was just 21.The South Korean staff sergeant had volunteered to lead an early morning patrol after a colleague was assigned to training. That m

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Crew of a suspected North Korean ship fell overboard in the East Sea near Noto Peninsula, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday, citing government sources.It was not clear if the broadcaster was referring to a member of the crew, more than one member of the crew or the vessel's entire crew. No further details were available in the NHK report. Japan's Coast Guard could not immediately confirm the report when contacted by Reuters.This month, Japan rescued about 6

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russian border guards detained three North Korean fishing vessels and 262 crew members for poaching in waters that Moscow considers its exclusive economic zone, the Interfax news agency reported on Friday. The vessels have been delivered to Russia's port of Nakhodka and border guards have seized 30,000 squid as well as illegal fishing equipment, the report said.It is the second such incident this month. Russia on Sept.17 detained two North Korean boats in Russian territorial

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Additional tests may add at least $500 million to Japan’s price tag for two US-built ballistic missile interceptor stations that could struggle to shoot down the latest North Korean missile types, four government and defense sources said.“Japan is waiting to hear back from the US Missile Defense Agency about what tests will be required,” said one of the sources. “Those tests haven’t been budgeted for.”As part of a major defense upgrade, Japa

WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) - The United States believes the attacks that crippled Saudi Arabian oil facilities last weekend originated in southwestern Iran, a US official told Reuters on Tuesday, an assessment that further increases tension in the Middle East.Three officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the attacks involved both cruise missiles and drones, indicating that they involved a higher degree of complexity and sophistication than initially thought.The officials d

HONG KONG (Reuters) -- Hong Kong's leader said on Tuesday that she would engage directly with her governing team in a dialogue with the community next week, while reiterating calls for an end to the violence that has roiled the city for over three months.Carrie Lam said the first session of a dialogue would be held next week, adding added the sessions would be as open as possible, with members of the public able to sign up to attend.The protest movement opposing a contentious extradition bi

WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump on Monday declined to comment on a newspaper report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had invited him to visit Pyongyang and said conditions were not ready yet for such a visit."The relationship is very good but I don't want to comment on that," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked whether Kim had invited him to North Korea.A South Korean newspaper on Monday cited diplomatic sources as saying Kim had invited

Greenpeace campaigners climbed a 40-metre billboard advertisement for Hyundai Motor's near its head office in South Korea to post a sign reading "No more internal combustion engines", the environmental group said on Monday.Police said they were investigating the group on suspicion of defacing the advertisement for a sedan next to a busy expressway in the capital, Seoul.Greenpeace spokesman Sean Lee said the group wanted to send a message to Hyundai Motor that eliminating internal combu

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- North Korea has told the United Nations to cut the number of international staff it deploys in the country because the world body's programs have failed "due to the politicization of UN assistance by hostile forces," according to a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday.The United Nations estimates 10.3 million people - almost half the country's population - are in need and some 41 percent of North Koreans are undernourished, while Pyongyang said in February it

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho will not attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations later this month "due to his schedule," the country's mission to the UN told Reuters on Wednesday.Ri has attended the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York for the past three years. North Korea was initially listed on a tentative speaking schedule - dated July10 - to again be represented at ministerial level, but a rev

South Korean workers fed up with bullying are being increasingly emboldened by a new tougher labour law to secretly record alleged abuse or harassment by their bosses, boosting sales of high-tech audio and video devices.Gadgets disguised as leather belts, eyeglasses, pens and USB sticks are all proving popular with employees in a country where abusive behaviour by people in power is so pervasive that there is a word for it - "gabjil". Several incidents have made international headlines

North Korea denied on Sundayallegations that it had obtained $2 billion through cyber attacks on banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, and accused the United States for spreading rumours.A United Nations report seen by Reuters last month said North Korea had used "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyber attacks to steal from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, amassing $2 billion which it used to fund weapons of mass destruction programmes. "The United States and other host