Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.

A scorching heatwave in two of India's most populous states has overwhelmed hospitals, filled a morgue to capacity and disrupted power supplies, forcing staff to use books to cool patients, as officials investigate nearly 170 related deaths. 

In the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 119 people have died from heat-related illnesses over the past week while neighboring Bihar state reported 47 fatalities, according to local news reports and health officials. Reuters reported that, "India has an average of five to six heatwave events annually over its northern parts between March and June and sometimes until July, according to the World Health Organization.”

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have announced the restoration of diplomatic representation, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Monday. Qatar's embassy in Abu Dhabi and its consulate in Dubai, as well as the UAE's embassy in Doha, reopened on Monday. 

In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed all ties with Qatar over accusations that it supported terrorism, and that it had forged closer ties with Iran. Doha denied the allegations.

At least 628 people have fallen ill after being displaced to shelters due to the eruption of the Mayon Volcano, the most active volcano in the Philippines. 

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council recorded at least 10 kinds of sickness affecting the evacuees aged between 2 and 64, including coughs, colds, fever, gastroenteritis, acute respiratory infection and skin disease. The agency said nearly 39,000 people have been affected by Mayon's eruption, which started on June 8.

Malaysia will roll out reforms later this year to make it easier for companies to list on the national stock exchange in a bid to attract more investors, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday.

The securities regulator and the stock exchange will expedite the process for initial public offerings and reduce time-to-market to ensure Malaysia's competitiveness and attractiveness, the prime minister said.

South Korea will freeze electricity rates in the July-September quarter after raising prices twice in the first half of the year, state power company Korea Electric Power (KEPCO) announced on Wednesday.

Reuters reported that, "South Korea has hiked electricity rates by about 40 percent since last year, as a previous mismatch between global energy prices and local electricity rates caused KEPCO's debt to snowball to 197.9 trillion won ($153.40 billion) as of the end of March.”

(Cover: People outside on a hot day in New Delhi, India, June 18, 2023. /CFP)