- Angry questions in Germany after Christmas market attack
- China's Zheng pulls out of season-opening United Cup
- Minorities fear targeted attacks in post-revolution Bangladesh
- Tatum's 43-point triple-double propels Celtics over Bulls
- Tunisia women herb harvesters struggle with drought and heat
- Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal
- India's architecture fans guard Mumbai's Art Deco past
- Secretive game developer codes hit 'Balatro' in Canadian prairie province
- Large earthquake hits battered Vanuatu
- Beaten Fury says Usyk got 'Christmas gift' from judges
- First Singaporean golfer at Masters hopes 'not be in awe' of heroes
- Usyk beats Fury in heavyweight championship rematch
- Stellantis backtracks on plan to lay off 1,100 at US Jeep plant
- Atletico snatch late win at Barca to top La Liga
- Australian teen Konstas ready for Indian pace challenge
- Strong quake strikes off battered Vanuatu
- Tiger Woods and son Charlie share halfway lead in family event
- Bath stay out in front in Premiership as Bristol secure record win
- Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1
- Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack railed against Islam, Germany
- MLB legend Henderson, career stolen base leader, dead at 65
- Albania announces shutdown of TikTok for at least a year
- Laboured Napoli take top spot in Serie A
- Schick hits four as Leverkusen close gap to Bayern on sombre weekend
- Calls for more safety measures after Croatia school stabbings
- Jesus double lifts Christmas spirits for five-star Arsenal
- Frankfurt miss chance to close on Bayern as attack victims remembered
- NBA fines Celtics coach Mazzulla and Nets center Claxton
- Banned Russian skater Valieva stars at Moscow ice gala
- Leading try scorer Maqala takes Bayonne past Vannes in Top 14
- Struggling Southampton appoint Juric as new manager
- Villa heap pain on slumping Man City as Forest soar
- Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack railed against Islam and Germany
- At least 32 die in bus accident in southeastern Brazil
- Freed activist Paul Watson vows to 'end whaling worldwide'
- Chinese ship linked to severed Baltic Sea cables sets sail
- Sorrow and fury in German town after Christmas market attack
- Guardiola vows Man City will regain confidence 'sooner or later' after another defeat
- Ukraine drone hits Russian high-rise 1,000km from frontline
- Villa beat Man City to deepen Guardiola's pain
- 'Perfect start' for ski great Vonn on World Cup return
- Germany mourns five killed, hundreds wounded in Christmas market attack
- Odermatt soars to Val Gardena downhill win
- Mbappe's adaptation period over: Real Madrid's Ancelotti
- France's most powerful nuclear reactor finally comes on stream
- Ski great Vonn finishes 14th on World Cup return
- Scholz visits site of deadly Christmas market attack
- Heavyweight foes Usyk, Fury set for titanic rematch
- Drone attack hits Russian city 1,000km from Ukraine frontier
- Former England winger Eastham dies aged 88
Japan orders evacuations as heavy rains trigger floods in quake-hit area
Japanese authorities told tens of thousands of people to evacuate the quake-hit region of Ishikawa on Saturday as "unprecedented" rains triggered floods and landslides.
A dozen rivers in the region, on the west coast of central Japan, had burst their banks by 11:00 am (0200 GMT), land ministry official Masaru Kojima said.
Three people were missing in Ishikawa, public broadcaster NHK reported, two of them carried away by strong river currents.
At least one person was missing further north in Wajima, and rescue workers were trying to confirm a report of another person missing, a local official told AFP.
Many buildings were inundated, with landslides blocking some roadways, the Ishikawa government said in a statement.
The cities of Wajima and Suzu, as well as Noto town, ordered about 44,700 residents to evacuate, officials said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said it issued its highest-level warning for Ishikawa, cautioning of a "life-threatening situation".
The areas under the warning were seeing "heavy rain of unprecedented levels", JMA forecaster Satoshi Sugimoto told reporters, adding "it is a situation in which you have to secure your safety immediately".
More than 120 millimetres (4.7 inches) of rainfall per hour was recorded in Wajima in the morning, the heaviest rain since comparative data became available in 1929.
Footage on NHK showed an entire street submerged in Wajima.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed the government "to do its best in disaster management with saving people's lives as the first priority", top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.
Self-Defense Forces personnel have been sent to the Ishikawa region to join rescue workers, he said.
At least one house was hit by a landslide, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said, without giving further details.
Another 16,700 residents in Niigata and Yamagata prefectures north of Ishikawa were also told to evacuate, the agency said.
Some 6,600 households in the region were without electricity by Saturday afternoon and communication services were cut for some people, operators said.
Wajima and Suzu, in central Japan's Noto peninsula, were among the areas hardest hit by a huge New Year's Day earthquake that killed at least 236 people.
The region is still reeling from the magnitude-7.5 quake that toppled buildings, ripped up roads and sparked a major fire.
Parts of Japan have seen unprecedented rainfall in recent years, with floods and landslides sometimes causing casualties.
Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in the country and elsewhere because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
M.Carneiro--PC