TOKYO: A heatwave stifled Japan yesterday as the temperature topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit ) in two cities, leaving at least four people dead over the weekend, officials and reports said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the temperature reached 40.6 C in Kofu, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Tokyo, in mid-afternoon.
The weather agency had warned early yesterday that the temperature would soar past 35 C in 39 of the country’s 47 prefectures. It warned people to drink plenty of water and use air-conditioners.
On Saturday the mercury topped 40 C for the first time in Japan since August 2007, when it had reached an all-time high of 40.9 C in two separate cities.
An 84-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man in western Japan died from heat stroke on Saturday after they were found collapsed in fields, Kyodo news agency said.
Activist arrested for subversion
BEIJING: China has arrested an activist on a charge of subversion, his brother and a rights group said yesterday, the second such arrest in less than two months and the latest sign that the authorities are hardening their stance toward dissent.
Yang Lin, 45, a critic of China’s one-party system who lives in the southern province of Guangdong, was arrested on a charge of “inciting subversion of state power”, his brother, Yang Mingzhu, said by telephone.
In China, an inciting subversion charge is commonly levelled against critics of one-party rule. It carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail, though lengthier sentences have been handed down.
Soldier shot while on patrol
KUALA LUMPUR: The shooting of a soldier patrolling the Malaysia-Thai border here yesterday could be linked to smuggling syndicates.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said police had sought the help of their Thai counterparts in investigating the incident, which left soldier Azamruddin Azizan, 26, with five gunshot wounds. AGENCIES
