BEIJING: Heavy rains brought by a typhoon triggered landslides in southern China that buried homes and vehicles and killed at least 15 people following days of heavy rain fed by a typhoon. This brings up the total number of people dying due to floods and landslides to 105 with another 115 missing in recent days, state media said Monday.
Flooding in the northeast which left 72 people dead was described as "the worst in decades" by state news agency Xinhua, while another 33 people died in the south as a result of the weather, it said citing the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Nine people were reported killed in Hunan province, and six in Guangxi, where vehicles were covered in mud and rocks along a mountain highway, local flood control offices said.
The deaths come after three people died Sunday in a landslide near the Guangxi city of Wuzhou.
Rains brought by last week's Typhoon Utor have caused severe flooding across Hunan, Guangxi and neighboring Guangdong province, where 22 people have died and eight were missing in flooding since Friday.
In China's northeast, separate flooding has affected millions of people, with torrential downpours Saturday causing the Nei River to overflow near the city of Fushun, sweeping away homes, roads, and utilities and leaving 54 people dead.
Flooding hits China each summer, but heavy rains have brought greater than usual levels of destruction in some areas.
Liaoning, the worst-hit province, had 54 fatalities and another 97 people missing, Xinhua said.
The worst-hit province in the south, battered by Typhoon Utor last week, was Guangdong where 22 people were dead and eight missing, it added.
Transport links were severely crippled, affecting tens of thousands of travellers.
Some services from Guangzhou railway station, Guangdong's most important transport hub, were suspended due to rain and landslides.
State media said 80,000 passengers were stranded over the weekend because of the disruption.
Services were beginning to return to normal from Monday, the station said in a statement on its website.
More than 2,800 soldiers have been drafted in to help with the relief efforts, Xinhua reported earlier.
Landslides buried vehicles
An officer with the Guiping city traffic police said six vehicles were covered in mud and rocks, but it wasn't clear how many people were inside them. The woman declined to give her name as is common with Chinese police.
Three people died Sunday in a landslide near the city of Wuzhou.
Rains brought by last week's Typhoon Utor have caused severe flooding across Guangxi and neighboring Guangdong province.
In China's northeast, separate flooding has affected millions of people, with torrential downpours Saturday causing the Nei River to overflow near the city of Fushun, sweeping away homes, roads, and utilities and leaving 54 people dead.
Flooding hits China each summer, but heavy rains have brought greater than usual levels of destruction in some areas.
15 more killed in China flooding, landslides; toll hits 105
15 more killed in China flooding, landslides; toll hits 105
GCC, India relaunch negotiations on free trade deal
- India’s trade with GCC was valued at more than $178 billion in 2024-25 fiscal year
- FTA will benefit infrastructure, petrochemicals sectors, Indian minister says
NEW DELHI: The Gulf Cooperation Council and India relaunched negotiations for a free trade agreement by signing the terms of reference for the talks on Thursday, about two decades after a first attempt stalled.
India already has a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with two GCC members, Oman and the UAE, signed last year and in 2022, respectively.
Its trade negotiations with the GCC — members of which also include Saudi Arabia — stalled following a framework agreement signed in 2004 and two rounds of talks held in 2006 and 2008.
“It is most appropriate that we now enter into a much stronger and robust trading arrangement which will enable greater free flow of goods, services, bring predictability and stability to policy, help encourage greater degree of investments and take our bilateral relations between the six-nations GCC group and India to greater heights,” India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
GCC-India bilateral trade was worth more than $178 billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year, accounting for more than 15 percent of India’s global trade. The region is also home to about 10 million Indians who live and work in the Gulf.
The relaunched negotiations with Gulf countries came as Delhi accelerated discussions to finalize several trade agreements in recent months.
Earlier this week, India reached a trade deal with the US after months of friction, following recent conclusions of similar negotiations with New Zealand and the EU.
“As, I believe, the GCC and India come closer together, we will become a force multiplied for global good,” Goyal said.
Food processing, infrastructure, petrochemicals and information and communications technology are sectors that will benefit from India-GCC FTA, he added.
The free trade negotiations are taking place at a time when globalization was “under attack,” said GCC’s chief negotiator, Dr. Raja Al-Marzouqi.
“It’s a message, a signal for the whole globe and it’s important for us at this time to try and be more cooperative,” he told reporters in New Delhi, adding that the first round of talks was likely to take place at the GCC headquarters in Riyadh.
“When we agree, we will contribute as long as possible to the stability of the global economy.”
