Monsoon Floods in India's Gujarat Kill at Least 28 People

A man carries his belongings through a flooded street after heavy rains on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on August 28, 2024. (Photo by Sam PANTHAKY / AFP)
A man carries his belongings through a flooded street after heavy rains on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on August 28, 2024. (Photo by Sam PANTHAKY / AFP)
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Monsoon Floods in India's Gujarat Kill at Least 28 People

A man carries his belongings through a flooded street after heavy rains on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on August 28, 2024. (Photo by Sam PANTHAKY / AFP)
A man carries his belongings through a flooded street after heavy rains on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on August 28, 2024. (Photo by Sam PANTHAKY / AFP)

Intense monsoon rains and floods in India's Gujarat state killed at least 28 people in the past three days, some drowning and others hit by falling trees, government officials said.
The weather department warned more heavy rain is expected on Thursday in the western coastal state, reported AFP.
Rivers have burst their banks and more than 30,000 people fled their homes.
The state government said late Wednesday that 13 people had died from drowning and the rest from houses or trees collapsing on them.
The Indian Express newspaper said 35 people had died so far across the state.
Some 1,856 people were rescued by disaster and army officials deployed for relief operations.
Vadodara was among the worst affected cities, the press release said.
Electricity connections were badly affected, with some 1,000 villages grappling without power.
Images and video released by disaster officials showed them using inflatable boats and tyres to rescue people stranded by surging waters.
Rains cause widespread destruction every year, but experts say climate change is shifting weather patterns and increasing the number of extreme weather events.
The northeastern Indian state of Tripura was hit by floods and landslides last week, with more than 20 people killed.
In neighboring Bangladesh, downriver from India, floods killed at least 40 people over the same period, with nearly 300,000 residents taking refuge in emergency shelters.



The US National Security Adviser Talks With a Top Chinese Military Official in Beijing

Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, right, shakes hands with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan before a meeting at the Bayi building in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, Pool)
Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, right, shakes hands with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan before a meeting at the Bayi building in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, Pool)
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The US National Security Adviser Talks With a Top Chinese Military Official in Beijing

Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, right, shakes hands with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan before a meeting at the Bayi building in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, Pool)
Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, right, shakes hands with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan before a meeting at the Bayi building in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, Pool)

United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Thursday with a top Chinese military official as the two countries strengthen communication in an effort to prevent differences over the South China Sea and Taiwan from spiraling into conflict.
The meeting came one day after the White House said that both countries would plan for a phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in the coming weeks.
Sullivan was wrapping up a three-day trip to China, his first as national security adviser and one aimed at stabilizing bilateral relations to avoid conflict. His main talks were held over the past day and a half with Wang Yi, the foreign minister and the ruling Communist Party’s top foreign policy official, The Associated Press said.
The meeting Thursday was with Gen. Zhang Youxia, one of two vice chairs of the Central Military Commission, an organization that Xi personally heads. It was a rare meeting with a US official that came at a time when both sides are eager to keep relations on an even keel ahead of a change in the US presidency in January.
“Your request to meet with me shows the value you attach to military security and the relationship between our militaries,” Zhang told Sullivan in opening remarks.
A White House statement after the talks said the two had “recognized the progress in sustained, regular military-military communications over the past ten months” and noted the agreement announced Wednesday to hold a telephone call between commanders at the theater-level in the near future.
China suspended communication between the two militaries and in a few other fields after a senior US lawmaker, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan in August 2022. Talks were only gradually resumed more than a year later, after Xi and Biden met outside San Francisco in November.
A theater-level call would be between Adm. Samuel Paparo, who heads the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, and his Chinese counterpart, said Danny Russel, a vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York.
“This theater command-level dialogue is critical for crisis prevention but something the Chinese military has been resisting,” Russel said.
A White House statement after talks with Wang concluded Wednesday said both sides would keep lines of communication open, including planning for a “leader-level call” in the coming weeks. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wang and Sullivan discussed “a new round of interactions between the two countries’ heads of state to take place in the near future.”
There was no indication whether the two leaders might meet in person before Biden leaves the Oval Office.