Typhoon Leaves behind Crushed Vehicles, Beached Whale in China

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, residents walk against strong wind and rain as Typhoon Talim approaches in Macao in southern China on Monday, July 17, 2023. (Cheong Kam Ka/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, residents walk against strong wind and rain as Typhoon Talim approaches in Macao in southern China on Monday, July 17, 2023. (Cheong Kam Ka/Xinhua via AP)
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Typhoon Leaves behind Crushed Vehicles, Beached Whale in China

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, residents walk against strong wind and rain as Typhoon Talim approaches in Macao in southern China on Monday, July 17, 2023. (Cheong Kam Ka/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, residents walk against strong wind and rain as Typhoon Talim approaches in Macao in southern China on Monday, July 17, 2023. (Cheong Kam Ka/Xinhua via AP)

Trees fell on moving vehicles, a whale washed ashore and a freezer full of ice cream floated off in floods as Typhoon Talim made its way across China's southern provinces on Tuesday.

On Chinese social media, videos showed pedestrians falling over and struggling against the winds, flooded roads and onlookers gathering around the beached whale in the dark, Reuters reported.
Talim, the first typhoon to make landfall in China this year, struck the coast late on Monday night in Guangdong province, quickly weakening into a tropical storm. Overnight it moved into Beibu Gulf, and by early Tuesday, it had made a second landfall and moved into southern Guangxi region.
Wind speeds had fallen to a maximum 25 m/s (90 kmh or 56 mph) near Talim's center, as of 8 a.m. (0000 GMT), China's Meteorological Administration said. The storm is expected to further weaken and dissipate as it moves northwesterly into northern Vietnam later on Tuesday, it said.
In Guangdong, after Talim's passing, firefighters rescued passengers pinned in vehicles by fallen tree branches as they cleared roadblocks and assisted other motorists to safety, according to state media.
Nearly 230,000 people in Guangdong were evacuated on Monday before the storm struck, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Local authorities in Guangdong had also ordered the closure of 68 coastal tourist destinations, called back 2,702 fishing vessels and ordered 8,262 fish-farming workers to be evacuated ashore, Xinhua said.
In Guangxi's Nanning city, state media reported 35 passenger train services have been disrupted and 26 flights cancelled since Monday. In Hainan, an island province to the south of Guangdong, railway services were gradually being restored on Tuesday morning after being suspended the previous day.
The effects of the typhoon were felt more then 1,000 km to the northeast in Fuzhou city in Fujian province.



Iran Says Will Not Hesitate to Defend its Nuclear Program

HANDOUT - 10 February 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during a rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square. Photo: Mehdi Bolourian/Iranian Presidency/dpa
HANDOUT - 10 February 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during a rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square. Photo: Mehdi Bolourian/Iranian Presidency/dpa
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Iran Says Will Not Hesitate to Defend its Nuclear Program

HANDOUT - 10 February 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during a rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square. Photo: Mehdi Bolourian/Iranian Presidency/dpa
HANDOUT - 10 February 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during a rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square. Photo: Mehdi Bolourian/Iranian Presidency/dpa

Iran has defended its nuclear program and will not be hesitant to continue doing so, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, a day after Israel and the US vowed to counter Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"Iran's peaceful nuclear program is ongoing, and has been for the last three decades, based on Iran's rights as a member in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons... definitely we will not show any weakness in this regard," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Israel and the United States are determined to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions and its influence in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem.
Rubio said: "Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people that call this region home, is Iran."