Islamabad, Pakistan
CNN
 — 

Relentless floods have claimed the lives of more than 170 people in eastern Pakistan, about half of them children, in the latest catastrophe that underscores the country’s vulnerability to the escalating climate crisis.

At least 54 of the deaths came in the past 24 hours, according to the National Disaster Management Authority, after torrential rains swept through the most populous province of Punjab, collapsing homes and destroying roads.

At least 85 children have been killed since flooding began on June 26, the NDMA said.

Fears are now mounting for children, who are particularly vulnerable to the risk of drowning and catching life-threatening illnesses from waterborne diseases, aid agencies warn.

A state of emergency has been declared in several districts across the province, authorities said, and the military has been deployed in the city of Rawalpindi to deal with rising flood levels.

Video shared by Punjab’s Disaster Management Authority shows dramatic rescues as floodwaters submerge entire fields and roads. In one, first responders can be seen carrying children to safety in an inflatable raft.

Heavy rainfall continues to batter Rawalpindi and the nearby capital Islamabad, with multiple areas recording more than 100 millimeters on Thursday, according to Pakistan’s Meteorological Department. More heavy rain is expected Friday, it added.

Mahar Hammad, a resident of Sargodha district in Punjab, told CNN he has been “severely affected” by the floods.

A daily wage worker who sells vegetables, Hammad said the floods have set him back financially. The roof of his house is broken and water has started seeping in because of the rain, he said.

“I’ve had huge losses. I was selling vegetables, and everything got submerged in water. I’m just a working person – I work all day just to earn 1,000 rupees ($4), and even that now goes into losses,” he said.

Seven flood relief camps have been set up across the country, providing food, water, medicine and shelter to those affected by the deluge.

Pakistan is on the front line of the human-induced climate crisis. The nation of more than 230 million is battered by two powerful weather systems – one that drives scorching heat and drought, and another that unleashes relentless monsoon rains.

“This is not just ‘bad weather’ – it’s a symptom of an accelerating climate crisis,” said Pakistani senator and former minister for climate and environment Sherry Rehman on X. “How many more wake-up calls before we build real resilience and readiness into our urban planning?”

Persistent heatwaves this year accelerated glacial melt in the country’s north, causing flash floods earlier this year.

Deadly floods from torrential rains in the monsoon months make frequent headlines in the South Asian nation. This year’s downpour has revived memories of record-breaking floods from three years ago.

Pakistan experienced the worst floods in its history in 2022 in which a third of the country was submerged from heavy rains, killing more than 1,000 people.

The force of the floodwater washed away homes, leaving tens of thousands on the road without any food to eat or clean water to drink.

As the floodwater began to recede, a plethora of water-related diseases began to infect thousands – many of them children. Parents desperately tried to seek help as their children became infected with dysentery, dengue fever and malaria.

Some four million children were still left without access to safe water a year later, according to UNICEF.

Seoul, South Korea
CNN
 — 

In a quiet corner of Seoul’s Hyuga Cafe, a warm, honey-toned space nestled inside what once served as the dormitory for K-pop megaband BTS, two young men sip iced americanos, sketching out their own dreams of superstardom.

A table away, tourists murmur over lattes, unaware that they’re seated beside what a new record label hopes will be the next big thing in K-pop.

Seok and Hyuk, members of the newly debuted group 1VERSE (spoken as “universe”), are modest in demeanor, almost reluctant to speak of themselves as anything more than trainees with a shot at something bigger. But their stories are unlike any other in K-pop’s history.

They are both North Korean defectors, turned highly trained K-pop dreamers, hoping to follow in the footsteps of K-pop megastars such as BTS and BLACKPINK who have in recent years taken K-pop global, topping US Billboard charts and amassing billion-dollar fan empires.

The 25-year-olds carved paths which speak to the resilience of individual artistry under extraordinary circumstances. As teenagers, both crossed North Korea’s border into China, reuniting with family members who had fled the authoritarian regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Both defectors settled in South Korea, and were later discovered and recruited in 2022 by new boutique music label Singing Beetle.

This month, their first album with 1VERSE officially released. The group’s debut international showcase is set for the United States, a move seen by industry observers as both bold and delicate – a new K-pop act launching in one of the world’s most competitive music markets.

Details of 1VERSE’s American performances have yet to be revealed, representatives for Singing Beetle noted. The group consists of five members who reflect K-pop’s global appeal – including Aito from Japan, Kenny from California, and Nathan from Arkansas.

“I never thought I’d be doing music in South Korea,” Seok began, his voice calm but steady. “I liked music when I was in North Korea. I used to write down lyrics of songs I liked, usually about mothers, about longing. I kept those notes. I still look at them sometimes.”

For Hyuk, music arrived later. He came to it not through childhood fascination, but through discovery. “Back in North Korea, I didn’t even have time to listen to music, and I wasn’t in an environment that allowed it either,” he said.

His path changed in a South Korean high school, where a teacher noticed him scribbling lyrics during class. “Why don’t you try rapping?” he recalled his teacher asking.

Hyuk joined a school rap club, wrote his first verses, and performed at a festival. The experience shifted his thinking. Music went from a private curiosity to a public pursuit. Then came a conversation with Singing Beetle’s CEO, Michelle Cho. She promised to help transform his hobby into a dream.

“I began learning step by step,” Hyuk reflected. “And began to dream of becoming an idol,” the term bestowed upon K-pop celebrities.

Tokyo
CNN
 — 

Japan has worked hard to attract foreigners to boost its sluggish economy but now the perception there are too many has prompted the creation of a new task force, as competition for votes heats up ahead of Sunday’s national election.

The issue is on the political agenda ahead of the upper house election, in part because of a fringe party promoting “Japanese first” policies, in a nod to the nativist rhetoric of US President Donald Trump.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba launched the task force – formally named the Office for the Promotion of a Society of Harmonious Coexistence with Foreign Nationals – on Tuesday, citing “crimes or nuisance behaviors committed by some foreign nationals,” as well as “inappropriate use of various” government systems.

The world’s fourth-largest economy has a long history of strict immigration policies, and a strong cultural strain of isolationism.

But with a rapidly aging population and plunging birth rates, Japan has been gradually opening up to foreign workers and seeking more international tourists.

Pulling up the drawbridge could exacerbate the demographic crisis and jeopardize the tourism industry, experts warn.

Here is what we know about the task force and why foreigners have become an election issue:

Ishiba described the new office as a “command center” coordinating policies for both Japanese citizens and foreigners. Among the areas it will cover are immigration, land acquisitions by foreigners, and unpaid social insurance, Ishiba added.

He pledged to “take strict action against those who do not follow the rules.”

There have been no more concrete details, but the government said last month it plans to revise policies to ban tourists and foreign residents with unpaid medical bills from getting a visa or returning to the country.

Though Japan’s population of foreign residents has jumped from 2.23 million to 3.77 million over the past decade, they still only account for 3% of the total population of more than 120 million people.

Much more notable is a surge in tourism over the past few years, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic.

A record 21.5 million foreign tourists visited Japan in the first half of this year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Last year, Japan was the world’s 8th most-visited country by tourists, according to UN Tourism, and the top in Asia.

The influx has irritated many residents, whose lives have been disrupted by tourists flocking to their neighborhoods for sightseeing, shopping or a scenic photo opportunity.

It prompted authorities to temporarily block a popular view of Mount Fuji from a convenience store due to a surge in residents’ complaints of overcrowding, and a hot spring resort area to warn against low water levels as visitors demanded private baths.

Some blame tourists for triggering inflation and contributing to shortages of certain supplies, including rice, Japan’s most cherished staple.

Others take issue with foreign residents reportedly evading public health insurance and investors snatching up properties in the country and pushing up prices.

A retiree in Tokyo who used to work for a trading company told CNN that he believed foreign workers were taking Japanese people’s jobs.

“They came to Japan because they couldn’t make a living in their countries,” said the 78-year-old man, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the discussion.

“Because the cultures are different, it is impossible to live together.”

Office worker Kouyama Nanami, 23, said she read on the news that a lot of welfare assistance goes to non-Japanese residents.

“I think the aids haven’t been prioritized for Japanese people,” she said.

Shunsuke Tanabe, a sociology professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, said many of the negative beliefs around migration – such as the idea of rising crime – stem from falsehoods and misleading claims from the campaign trail.

“There are visibly more foreigners around; they start to assume that public safety must be getting worse, too,” he told CNN.

“As a result, negative campaigns spread on social media resonate with many, leading them to think that parties promising to ‘protect’ society from these imagined threats are the better choice,” he added.

He noted that crime in Japan has declined in the past 20 years, despite an uptick in tourists and foreign residents. “There is virtually no difference between Japanese nationals and foreign nationals in terms of crime rates,” he said.

In 2023, 9,726 foreigners were arrested for alleged crimes, accounting for 5.3％ of total people arrested, according to a white paper by the Ministry of Justice. The figure includes both tourists and foreign residents.

Ishiba’s hand has been forced as the election campaign, entering its final stretch, has focused on anger over irresponsible foreign citizens and unruly tourists, according to political pundits.

Sanseito, a minor right-wing party that has been rallying against immigrants and advancing “Japanese first” policies, has been gaining traction and media coverage.

The upstart party is far from being able to compete for a majority, but is projected to win 10 to 15 seats, which could chip away at the majority of Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

The LDP and its coalition partner Komeito last year lost their majority in the lower house, for the first time in 15 years. Ishiba could face further pressure to step down if they lose the upper house this weekend.

“Anti-immigration parties such as the Sanseito are using this as an opportunity to take advantage of public misconceptions, public fears about immigration and about foreigners to take away votes from the LDP,” said Jeffrey Hall, a Japanese studies lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba.

While out campaigning Sunday, Sanseito Secretary General Sohei Kamiya said his party was “simply saying it’s unreasonable to spend public money to hire foreigners or hand over profitable businesses” to foreigners.

“This is not discrimination or hate speech,” he said.

Hall said setting up the new office could help the LDP demonstrate “they’re being tough on the issue,” though there will be a price to pay.

“If Japan becomes a society that strictly monitors foreigners to the point where they feel unwelcome, it could have a damaging effect on the ability of businesses to get the foreign workers they need,” Hall said.

The country’s birth rate plunged to another record low of 1.15 in 2024, well below the 2.1 needed to keep a population stable in the absence of immigration, meaning that the working population will continue to shrink in decades to come. This is worsening the outlook for a Japanese economy that has already suffered stagnation since the early 1990s.

To attract foreign workers, the government has been easing requirements for visas and trying to improve conditions.

The number of foreign employees hit a record high of 2.3 million last October, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The government has been granting “specific skilled workers” visas to work in a range of industries from nursing and hospitality to construction and aviation, the Foreign Ministry’s website shows.

During Tuesday’s announcement, Ishiba acknowledged the importance of Japan remaining open-minded.

“As Japan faces the challenges of a declining birthrate and aging population, it is essential for us to incorporate the vitality of the international community, through the acceptance of a certain number of foreign workers and the expansion of inbound tourism, to ensure a smooth transition to a growth-oriented economy,” he said.