Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.
Rescuers assist a child getting off a boat along a flooded road following heavy rains brought by Typhoon Gaemi, in Marikina City, Metro Manila, Philippines, July 24, 2024. /Reuters
The powerful Typhoon Gaemi has torn through Southeast and East Asia, causing at least 40 deaths and injuring hundreds. In the Philippines, at least 33 people have died and more than 600,000 have been displaced due to the typhoon, which flooded Manila and nearby cities on Wednesday, forcing authorities to shut schools and offices, cancel flights, and declare a state of calamity in a region that is home to 13 million people. The typhoon then turned towards China's Taiwan region where it made landfall early on Thursday, killing seven and injuring 785. On the Chinese mainland, the National Meteorological Center issued a blue alert for the storm, prompting authorities in Fujian Province to relocate 156,800 residents. Seventy-three passenger ferry routes along the province's coast were suspended and 97 flights were canceled.
Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar salutes the guard of honor at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, January 31, 2024. /Reuters
Malaysia's billionaire king Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar was installed on Saturday, six months after he was sworn in for a five-year term under a unique rotating monarchy system. Nine ethnic Malay state rulers take turns as Malaysia's king for five-year terms under the world's only such system, which began when Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957. Malaysia has 13 states, but only nine have royal families. Sultan Ibrahim, one of the country's richest men, has an extensive business empire ranging from real estate to telecommunications. The 65-year-old monarch is from the southern Johor state.
Students leave for their homes after schooling on a hot day in Karachi, Pakistan. /Reuters
Summer holidays for school children in southern Pakistan have been extended by two weeks due to high temperatures affecting more than 100,000 schools, according to an education official's announcement on Tuesday. "We decided to close schools for an additional 14 days for the children's well-being," Atif Vighio, a spokesman at the education department in Sindh province, told AFP news agency. Pakistan struggled through a series of heatwaves in May and June, with temperatures touching more than 50 degrees Celsius. The country's Dawn newspaper stated, "The decision was taken by the Sindh School Education and Literacy Department in view of the heatwave.”
People enter the Suitengu Shrine, a popular place to pray for a safe pregnancy and childbirth, in the Ningyocho district of Tokyo, Japan, March 28, 2023. /CFP
The number of Japanese citizens fell at the fastest rate in 2023 since data collection began in the 1960s, marking the steepest decline ever and dropping for the 15th year in a row, a government survey showed on Wednesday. This adds pressure on the nation's social security system and shrinking labor market. The population of Japanese nationals dropped by more than 800,000 to 121.6 million last year, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A diminishing population poses multiple challenges for the country, including a labor shortage.
(Cover: Violent seas at Zhanqiao Beach, which was closed to visitors due to Typhoon Gaemi, in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, July 26, 2024. /CFP)