Most of the estimated quarter of a million people who fled flooding in south-west Japan were able to return home today, although the danger has not fully passed from record rainfall that led to at least 28 deaths.

Troops yesterday airlifted supplies to thousands of people cut off by landslides and torrential downpours that have killed at least 24 in south-west Japan as further heavy rain was forecast.

A DISGRUNTLED worker slammed his car into employees at a Mazda factory in south-west Japan yesterday, killing one and injuring 10.

A high-speed passenger ferry hit a suspected whale in south-west Japan, and 49 people were injured, an official said today.