Death toll rises

JAPAN QUAKE: Hopes fade for survivors, toll rises to 18

Japanese rescue workers with bulldozers and sniffer dogs yesterday scrabbled through the mud to find survivors from a landslide that buried houses after a powerful quake, as the death toll rose to 18.

Century’s worst flood leaves 324 people dead in India

More than 300 people have been killed in the Indian state of Kerala by the worst flooding to hit the region in a century, authorities say, as troop reinforcements stepped up rescue efforts.