NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Typhoon victims: Japan’s government said Wednesday that the death toll from a weekend typhoon that caused widespread flooding has climbed to 63, with 11 others presumed dead. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that another eight people were missing in typhoonhit areas in central and northern Japan. At least 200 people were injured, 30 of them seriously. Typhoon Hagibis hit Japan on Saturday with historic rainfall that caused rivers to overflow and left thousands of homes flooded, damaged or without power. More than 200 rivers overflowed, and more than 50 of those now have damaged embankments.
2 Swine fever: South Korea is deploying snipers, installing traps and flying drones along its border as it ramps up efforts to stop wild boars from spreading swine fever from rival North Korea. African swine fever, fatal to hogs but no threat to humans, has wiped out pig herds in many Asian countries. Feral hogs are thought to be a main reason for its spread, and North Korea has been snubbing the South’s repeated calls for joint quarantine efforts, officials say. South Korea has culled about 154,500 pigs in the past month, all in farms near the North Korean border.
3 Kashmir conflict: Pakistani and Indian troops traded fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir on Wednesday, killing four civilians and wounding nearly a dozen others, officials from both sides said, as tensions remain high between the two South Asian countries. Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India and claimed by both countries in its entirety. They have fought two wars over the province. India sparked a new round of tensions in August, when it downgraded the autonomy of its side of Kashmir and imposed tighter controls on the area.
4 Brexit talks: The European Union and Britain inched ever closer to a Brexit deal on Wednesday, with the leaders of France and Germany saying they expected an agreement could be sealed within a day at an EU summit. Differences between the two sides remained but were narrowing. But with Britain’s Oct. 31 departure date looming and just hours to go before the EU leaders’ summit, hopes were increasingly turning toward getting a broad political commitment, with the full legal details to be hammered out later. That could mean another EU summit on Brexit before the end of the month. Positive vibes radiated from French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a joint news conference in Toulouse, France. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, likened Brexit to climbing Mount Everest, saying the summit was in sight, though still shrouded in cloud.
5 Angry farmers: Dutch farmers drove their tractors in slowmoving convoys to a massive demonstration Wednesday to protest their treatment by the government as it seeks to rein in carbon and nitrogen emissions. It is the second major protest this month by Dutch farmers who say the government is unfairly targeting them as it seeks to slash emissions. Hundreds of drivers on tractors gathered in the central town of De Bilt to protest near the headquarters of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, which is responsible for measuring nitrogen emissions. Farmers accuse the institute of inaccurately calculating nitrogen levels as the Dutch government struggles to meet European Union emissions targets in part by offering to buy up farms voluntarily.