Chinese farmers count the damage of record heat and try to re-sow crops

Today's headlines: food, showers, haircuts: Filipino Catholics in aid of Manila''s poor; rains and floods of "historic" magnitude in Pakistan, more than 900 victims since June; Tokyo approves 2.5 million fund for funeral of former PM Abe; in Iran, women attended a men's top league soccer match for the first time since 1979. 

CHINA

Farmers in China are beginning to count the damage caused by record heat and drought as the government urges replanting seeds, accelerating growth or switching crops (such as sweet potatoes) to limit losses. More than 70 days of extreme temperatures have devastated the Yangtze Basin, which supports some 450 million people and a third of the country's output.

PHILIPPINES

Free haircuts, showers and food. This is the service, complete with a slogan printed on the vehicles of a mobile unit, on offer to the poor and marginalized in Manila. It is the initiative promoted by some Catholic associations in the FIlippines, which will start next September 8 and provide "basic and essential" services. Volunteer doctors and nurses will also be present. 

PAKISTAN

More than 33 million people in Pakistan have been affected in various ways by rains and floods, which Climate Minister Sherry Rehman calls "historic." More than 900 people have died since June from the monsoons and resulting floods, which continue at record levels. The government says it is fighting to avert a "humanitarian disaster" of "epic proportions." 

JAPAN

Tokyo has approved a 249 million yen (about 2.5 million euros) fund for the funeral on Sept. 27 of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was killed in "revenge" for his ties to that Unification Church. However, the total cost of the funeral, expected to be attended by 6,000 people, will be higher because the current estimate covers only logistics and transportation. 

IRAN

Women attended a men's national league soccer match for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Some 500 of them occupied a section of Azadi Stadium, in Tehran, in defiance of the dictates of the Shiite leadership, which "disapproves" of their presence. In the past, 29-year-old Sahar Khodayari set herself on fire in protest of the ban. 

RUSSIA

Security Adviser Nikolai Patrushev recommended strengthening propaganda on television and mobile devices in Karelia, a Russian region bordering Finland, The scopro, he said, is to "prevent the spread of the destructive informational influence of a hostile country, which has decided to join NATO to fight against us."

UZBEKISTAN

A new archaeological site with an ancient Zoroastrian temple has been discovered in Narynsk province, Namangan region in eastern Uzbekistan. According to the Ministry of Innovation in Tashkent, credit for the discovery goes to the team led by academic Akhmadali Askarov. Inside is the tomb of an ancient monarch and many valuable signs of the ancient tradition.

• AsiaToday