21 killed in Japan rains
Tokyo, July 7 : At least 21 people have died and 47 were missing Saturday due to heavy rainfall in southern Japan.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued the highest possible alert for the prefectures of Hyogo, Okayama, Gifu Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Saga, Hiroshima and Tottori, reports Efe news.
The missing people were mainly from Okayama, Hiroshima and Ehime, where rescue teams have widened their search for trapped or injured people.
Over 650 members of the armed forces have been deployed for rescue operations, while an additional 21,000 were on standby, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters.
Authorities have issued evacuation orders affecting over four million people.
In a press conference, the JMA warned that the earth had softened due to the rainfall, increasing the risk of accidents related to landslides.
The Japanese archipelago has been pounded by heavy rain since Thursday.
The JMA has forecast record rainfall until Sunday and warned that in some regions, precipitation could reach up to 8 cm per hour.
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BJP names 9 candidates for RS polls, party chief Nitin Nabin to contest from Bihar
New Delhi (PTI): BJP national president Nitin Nabin was on Tuesday nominated as the party's candidate from Bihar for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released a list of nine candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, fielding its former West Bengal unit chief Rahul Sinha and Chhattisgarh unit vice-president Laxmi Verma from the respective states.
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Assam PWD Minister Jogen Mohan and MLA Terash Gowalla will be the saffron party's candidates for the elections to the Upper House of Parliament from the state.
The BJP has also nominated its Odisha unit president, Manmoham Samal, and leader Sujit Kumar, an incumbent Rajya Sabha MP, as candidates from the state for the upcoming polls.
BJP leader Shivesh Kumar will join the fray from Bihar and Sanjay Bhatia, a former Lok Sabha MP of the party, will be its candidate from Haryana. Kumar is Bihar BJP's general secretary.
The names of the candidates have been approved by the party's central election committee, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said.
