Seven people have died after heavy rain triggered landslides and floods in Japan, according to reports.

The conditions in the Ishikawa prefecture also left seven people missing as waters engulfed many homes, said public broadcaster NHK.

Some buildings were swept away by the overflowing rivers.

© APA house hangs over the banks of a river in Suzu.

Rescue workers are continuing to search for missing people in a number of towns and cities.

Several cities in the prefecture were issued with the highest alert level for heavy rain at the weekend.

In Suzu, the authorities said one person died and another was missing after being swept away in floodwaters.

At least 236 people have been confirmed dead after Typhoon Yagi caused severe flooding in several regions of Myanmar.

Some 77 people remain missing, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Tuesday, citing official figures.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicated the toll could be even higher.

"Multiple sources indicate that hundreds of people have died, with many more missing," it said in an update on Monday, saying an estimated 631,000 people might have been affected by the floods.

Typhoon Yagi, one of the strongest storms to hit the region this year, swept across southern China, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar last week bringing torrential rain. Hundreds have already been confirmed dead in northern Vietnam.

In Myanmar, flooding has affected at least nine regions and states including the capital Naypyidaw, as well as the central Mandalay region as well as Kayah, Kayin and Shan States.

The death toll from Myanmar's floods has risen to 293, with 89 people still missing, as of Thursday morning, state-run daily The Mirror reported on Friday.

The floods have affected dozens of townships in regions and states across the country, including Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory, according to the report.

As of Thursday morning, a total of 161,592 flood victims from 47,019 households were taking shelter at 425 relief facilities, the report said.

The floods have also submerged over 300,000 hectares of crops and killed 129,150 animals, the report added.

The widespread flooding in the Southeast Asian country was caused by heavy rains triggered by Typhoon Yagi and a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal.

The death toll in Myanmar in the wake of Typhoon Yagi has climbed to 384, with 89 people missing, the junta said on Saturday.

Yagi swept across northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar more than a week ago, triggering floods and landslides that have killed hundreds of people across the region.

Severe floods in Myanmar have caused significant devastation with a death toll of 419 as of Tuesday morning, according to the State Administration Council.

Over 140,000 people were affected by the floods, which have devastated over 750,000 acres of paddy fields and killed over 100,000 animals.

Additionally, the floods have destroyed 253 religious buildings, 926 roads and bridges, lamp posts and communication towers.

(16:20 GMT) 'No northern Israel resident returning home after explosions'

Amir Oren, a columnist at Israeli publication Haaretz focusing on military and government affairs, says "not one Israeli hostage" and "not
one Israeli resident is going back home in the north after the exploding pagers".

Speaking to Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem, he said: "What Israel should have done - and many in the Israeli defence establishment have recommended - is to get a ceasefire in Gaza, which will bring about the ceasefire in the north and then let diplomacy take effect."

Oren said "hopefully" the incident in Lebanon will be "a substitute for a ground manoeuvre" and "not a precursor", noting that it's in Israel's interest "to get the war over both in Gaza and in Lebanon".

But he added: "Netanyahu for his personal, political and even judicial reasons - he is, of course, standing trial for bribery and other offences and is supposed to testify on his own defence come December 2 - would like to prolong the war and probably to broaden it.

"Whether he has the power within the cabinet, within the Israeli political system to do it, I doubt it. He has veto power over others but up to now he has not managed to provoke anything in regards to Hezbollah where he can later leapfrog from there to Iran. [US] President [Joe] Biden has been adamant not to let him do it for very good reasons of American national interest," Oren continued.

"So there is a delicate balance Netanyahu and others in the Israeli decision-making elite - hopefully he will not prevail."

(16:10 GMT) 'New brand' of communication devices heated, then exploded: Report

It remains unclear at this time how the communication devices used in Lebanon were rigged to explode.

A Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the new brand of handheld pagers used by the group first heated up, then exploded.

A source close to the group, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told AFP news agency the blasts were an "Israeli breach" of its communication system. He didn't elaborate. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

(15:10 GMT) 'A very sophisticated attack'

We have some more comments from military analyst Elijah Magnier on the near simultaneous pager explosions in Lebanon.

• This is a very sophisticated attack, and normally at this scale, it requires the collaboration of more than one entity.
• If Israeli intelligence managed to compromise the pagers that have been supplied to Hezbollah, this [does not exclude] that they have managed to access the supply by Iran because Iran supplies Hezbollah with most of its equipment.
• An operation of this scale needs the presence of high explosives, even in small quantities, and an awfully long time to sit at every single pager and manually insert 1 to 3 grammes [0.4 to 0.11oz] of highly explosive material and yet conserve the functionality of the pager, the screen and all the electronics without all of this being affected.
• That requires the work of more than one intelligence service and a break in the channel of supply.
• That can also indicate that there is an explosive because batteries don't explode on their own in Beirut, in th Bekaa Valley, in the south of Lebanon and in Syria and everywhere there is a pager at the same instant.
• This is not something related to the malfunction of the pager, but it is something that is implemented in it and exploded by a frequency, most likely a radio frequency.
• In this case, we understand Israeli intelligence has placed this explosive with the support of a third country before they reached Hezbollah
• This means that they have not only taken their time but they also sat on this supply for a long time before it reached its final destination and most probably the Iranians will now be examining all their products and equipment to make sure that nobody has tampered in what they have acquired.

Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon's south and in Beirut's southern suburbs, a security source and a witness said, further stoking tensions with Israel a day after similar explosions launched via the group's pagers.

Three people were killed in Lebanon's Bekaa region, the state news agency reported, and dozens of people were wounded in the latest device blast.

At least one of the blasts took place near a funeral organized by Iran-backed Hezbollah for those killed the previous day when thousands of pagers used by the group exploded across the country and wounded many of the group's fighters.

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The hand-held radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time that the pagers were bought, said a security source. Israel's spy agency Mossad, which has a long history of sophisticated operations on foreign soil, planted explosives inside pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.

The death toll from Tuesday's blasts rose to 12, including two children, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday. Tuesday's attack wounded nearly 3,000 people, including many of the militant group's fighters and Iran's envoy to Beirut.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for an independent investigation into the events surrounding exploding pagers.

Flames rise up a building in Lebanon amid the explosions in Lebanon, September 15, 2024 Thousands of walkie talkies used by Hezbollah fighters have detonated across Lebanon, killing three and wounding hundreds of people including mourners at a funeral, witnesses and security sources have reported.

The second wave of carnage comes a day after thousands of exploding pagers used by the group left almost 3,000 people injured and a dozen dead, including civilians and children.

Security sources have now confirmed that hand-held radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, at around the same time as the compromised pagers.

© Social mediaPictures purportedly showing exploded hand-held radios have been circulating online

The latest explosions this afternoon have hit the country's south and the capital Beirut, where dramatic time-lapse video shows multiple plumes of smoke rising above the skyline in different locations almost simultaneously.

Multiple explosions occurred at the site of a funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before, according to reports.

The attacks amount to the biggest security breach in Hezbollah's history, with the group and its backers Iran condemning Israel and labelling it 'mass murder'.

The repetition of the clandestine attacks, which Israel has not taken responsibility for, will raise already spiking tensions in the region to fever pitch, with Lebanon's foreign minister today warning that the blasts are an omen of a widening war.

[...]

It has been alleged that Mossad, working in collaboration with Israel's Defence Forces (IDF), was behind yesterday's pager attacks, with Hezbollah officials already laying blame for the latest attacks with Israel.

Officials in Jerusalem have thus far declined to comment on yesterday's pager blasts, but Axios reports that two sources 'with knowledge of the operation' confirmed Israel's involvement.

The unnamed sources allege that the walkie-talkies were booby-trapped in advance by Israeli intelligence and then delivered to Hezbollah as part of its emergency communications system, which the group had planned to use during a war with Israel.

As well as security sources, weapons experts and regional analysts have also suggested that Israeli intelligence would have been capable of staging the pager attacks.

It has been widely theorised that intelligence services could have infiltrated the supply chain to plant a small quantity of high explosives within the pagers before they were delivered to Lebanon in the spring.

These rigged devices were subsequently distributed to thousands of unsuspecting members across the political, military, operational and medical branches of Hezbollah before they were eventually detonated on Tuesday afternoon.

The death toll rose to 12, including two children, according to the Lebanese health ministry, while nearly 3,000 people were injured, including many of the militant group's fighters and Iran's envoy to Beirut.

A Taiwanese pager maker denied that it had produced the pager devices which exploded in the audacious attac.

Gold Apollo said the devices were made by under licence by a company called BAC, based in Hungary's capital Budapest.

Full text:

BREAKING: THE COMPANY RESPONSIBLE FOR PAGER EXPLOSION IN LEBANON HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED

The AR-924 pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary's capital, according to a statement released Wednesday by Gold Apollo.

According to Hsu, payments from BAC had been "strange" and came through the Middle East.

BAC's website, filled with generic images, lists its CEO and founder as Cristina Arcidiacono-Barsony, and claims the company specializes in consulting across various fields including environment, development and international relations. The official address provided is a private residence in Budapest.

The website of the company is now offline.

Full text:

The company in question appears to be a suspicious entity with *Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono* listed as the owner and sole employee, according to the website. While Cristiana holds a PhD and has a LinkedIn profile created in 2019, her online presence is minimal and unusual, with only 3-4 photos available and no presence on platforms like Facebook or Instagram. Moreover, her LinkedIn account contains irrelevant or unusual content for a professional platform. Other employees associated with the company seem to have fake names or profiles, and some are listed under real names of people who do not actually work there. Additionally, Cristiana's photo is linked to another potentially fraudulent company, whose phone number is disconnected, raising concerns about the legitimacy of both companies. This morning, the company's website was blocked behind a username and password.

All attempts to contact the company or Cristiana by phone have gone unanswered.

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The UK's 'flagship' TV news anchor for almost 40 years, the BBC's Huw Edwards, seen here advising children on what it takes to become a man of such outstanding moral authority as himself, trusted by multiple millions of people to believe whatever he tells them, has just been convicted of paying for child rape images. (Mind you, he's not going to prison, and he's still getting his TV licence-funded pension.)

Heavy rains and floods have hit large swaths of Central Europe, with authorities urging people to follow emergency evacuation orders.

At least 17 people are dead across Central Europe from the floods, according to Reuters. Poland and the Czech Republic are especially hard-hit. While the floodwaters are receding in some areas, others are still bracing as rivers rise and residents of some of the regions already hit in Poland are describing the damage.

Polish resident Szymon Krzysztan, 16, standing in the town square of Ladek Zdroj, described losses from the floods as "unimaginable."

"It's a city like in an apocalypse. ... It's a ghost town," Krzystan told Reuters.

Jerzy Adamczyk, 70, told Reuters the scene was like "Armeggedon."

"It literally ripped out everything because we don't have a single bridge," Adamczyk said. "In Ladek, all bridges have disappeared. We are practically cut off from the world."

Flood conditions were seen in 207 locations across the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said in a post on social media.

"Evacuations are underway in Opava, Krnov, Ostrava, Jeseník, Frýdlantsk and other places. Over 12,000 people were evacuated. A state of danger was declared in Frýdlantska," Fiala said on X, adding that firefighters had intervened in 7,884 incidents since the floods began.

Fiala visited the town of Jesenik, one of the hardest hit places, and said the worst was behind them. In his social media post, he said the rain had decreased on Sunday evening and weakened temporarily.

Mass evacuations are underway across the region. Fiala urged people in the Czech Republic to listen to instructions from their mayors and local authorities.

"The situation is really dangerous and cannot be underestimated. Unfortunately, we encounter cases where people refuse to evacuate. Then there are problems and situations that are very difficult to solve. I also ask everyone not to take unnecessary risks," he said in the post.

Following an emergency government meeting, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a state of natural disaster in the flooded areas to facilitate evacuation and rescue operations, as well as to expedite financial support for the victims.

Tusk told a news conference that the Finance Ministry has so far earmarked 1 billion zlotys (US$258,000) for immediate payouts.

Water levels have subsided, leaving streets covered in debris and mud, damaged bridges and some burst dams and embankments. Schools and offices in the affected areas were closed Monday and drinking water and food were being delivered by trucks. Many Polish cities, including Warsaw, have called for food donations for flood survivors.

Experts are warning of a flood threat in Opole, a city of some 130,000 residents, where the Oder River has reached high levels and started bursting its banks at some points. Concerns have also been raised in the city of Wroclaw, home to about 640,000 residents, where the flooding was expected on Wednesday. The city suffered a disastrous flood in 1997 and the trauma is still present there.

In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán cancelled his planned foreign engagements.

The mayor of Budapest warned residents close to the Danube of rising water levels and of road and public transit closures in the area.

"According to the latest forecasts, the water level of the Danube will rise by one metre per day from Monday," Mayor Gergely Karácson said in a Facebook post.

He added that a parking ban was in place in low-lying areas near the Danube, with the city using sandbags to curtail the flooding.