Asia

"Monsoon floods in Pakistan have killed 371 people and affected nearly 4.5 million, the government's disaster relief agency said on Friday."

"Speaking truth to power is never easy. In some places, particularly where valuable resources are pursued in places with limited governance, it can be deadly."

"Russan president Vladimir Putin, who has tracked a Siberian tiger and posed with a polar bear, on Wednesday took his love of wildlife to new heights by flying with cranes – to lead them on a migration route."

"NEW DELHI -- India's energy crisis cascaded over half the country Tuesday when three of its regional grids collapsed, leaving 620 million people without government-supplied electricity in one of the world's biggest-ever blackouts."

"NEELUM VALLEY, Jammu and Kashmir -- A journalist has been arrested by police and is being detained after the publication of photos he took of historic trees chopped down by government officials."

"BEIJING – The worst rainstorm to hit the Chinese capital in six decades has given rise to widespread anger against officials who are accused of censoring the scope of massive floods."

"Despite being orchestrated by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, novelist Kenzaburo Oe and other prominent figures, the Sayonara Nukes 100,000 Rally held on the July 16 national holiday in Tokyo often looked and felt like conventional old-left demonstrations.

The rally to demand a nuclear-free Japan drew a large number of labor union members, consumer and other old-time activists, waving flags of their organizations, among the estimated 170,000 participants in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.