Beijing, July 30 (IANS) Beijing Meteorological Observatory renewed a yellow alert for rainstorms at 2:55 p.m. local time on Tuesday, warning of heavy rainfall and secondary disasters in the city.

There has already been heavy rainfall in Beijing since Tuesday morning, Xinhua news agency reported.

Due to the impact of new rain clouds, the rainfall will intensify again from the afternoon to Tuesday night. Most parts of Beijing will see cumulative rainfall exceeding 100 millimetres, with some areas in Huairou, Miyun and Pinggu districts reaching over 250 millimetres.

Secondary disasters such as flash floods, mudslides and landslides may occur in mountainous and hilly areas, while low-lying areas may experience waterlogging. Citizens have been requested to take precautions.

The average rainfall in Beijing registered 70.8 millimetres from 0 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, with the highest level of 266.1 millimetres recorded in Dongshaoqu of Miyun, data shows.

In response to the upcoming rainfall, the municipal emergency management bureau advised citizens to keep updated with weather warnings, reduce travel, and use public transportation if needed. The public should avoid disaster-prone areas, high-voltage lines, river channels, low-lying areas and outdoor activities.

China has a four-tier, colour-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

–IANS

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Yangon, July 30 (IANS) Myanmar authorities have seized 37.8 kilograms of raw opium in the Sagaing region, according to a statement from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Tuesday.

Acting on a tip-off from the sources, a joint police force intercepted a passenger bus in the region’s Sagaing town on Monday and confiscated the drugs from a passenger on the bus, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the operation, one person was arrested and charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law of the country, according to the CCDAC.

Further investigation into the case is underway.

–IANS

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Ankara, July 30 (IANS) The Turkish security forces detained 103 suspects for manufacturing and trafficking drugs in operations across the country, the country’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Tuesday.

The gendarmerie teams seized more than 1.3 tonnes of narcotics, 9.25 million roots of hemp, and 4,481 narcotic pills in raids across 17 provinces, Yerlikaya said on social media platform X, without specifying the timing of the operations, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We are determined to clean our country from poison dealers and street vendors,” the minister said.

Yerlikaya posted on X, “Under the coordination of the Gendarmerie General Command KOM Department; By Provincial Gendarmerie Commands; “NARKOCELİK-29″ operations were organised by Diyarbakır, Ordu, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Sakarya, Antalya, Malatya, Edirne, Erzurum, Bingöl, Aydın, Samsun, Konya, Kilis, Siirt, Van and Adana Provincial Gendarmerie Commands.”

Turkey, often used by illegal drug dealers as a transit hub, has been ramping up efforts to crack down on drug smuggling since last year.

–IANS

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Tehran, July 30 (IANS) Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers, and other senior leaders of various countries have reached Iran to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday evening.

According to Iran, 10 delegations headed by the Presidents and Prime Ministers, 15 delegations headed by the presiding officers of Parliaments, 16 delegations headed by Vice Presidents, Deputy Prime Ministers, Vice Presidents of Parliaments and Ministers, 17 delegations headed by special envoys, as well as Secretary Generals and Ambassadors and 12 delegations, headed by resident or non-resident ambassadors of the countries, will participate in the inauguration ceremony in the hall of the Islamic Council.

Among the dignitaries that have arrived were Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidzem Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Ahmed Mohamed Abdel Ati, and European Union’s deputy foreign policy chief Enrique Mora.

India is being represented by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Among other foreign leaders that are participating are Qatar’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad bin Sultan Al Muraikhi, Kazakhstan Senate Chairman Ashimbayev Maulen Sagathanuly, Malaysia’s House of Representatives Speaker Tan Sri Dato Johari bin Abdul, and Senegal National Assembly’s President Amadou Mame Diop,

Hamas’ Head of the Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem, Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhalah, and Yemen’s Ansarullah spokesman Mohammad Abdul Salam are also in Tehran to participate in the ceremony.

Most of the visiting foreign leaders have held meetings with Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei, President Pezeshkian, and Majles Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

–IANS

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Seoul, July 30 (IANS) South Korea and Australia on Tuesday agreed to launch an “economic security dialogue” aimed at enhancing communication and cooperation in the economic security field between the two countries, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

The agreement was reached during bilateral talks in Seoul between Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yu and his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong, the ministry said in a release.

The chief secretary for economic security from the presidential office and the deputy secretary from Australia’s Foreign Ministry will serve as chief representatives for the new dialogue, it said.

The inaugural meeting is scheduled to be held in Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported.

The two sides also agreed to pursue a “climate dialogue” led by the climate change ambassadors of their respective foreign ministries and to explore joint projects in the infrastructure sector of the Indo-Pacific region.

The ministerial meeting comes two months after the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries held a “two plus two” meeting in Melbourne in May.

Before the meeting, Wong paid a visit to the Demilitarised Zone separating the two Koreas, condemning North Korea’s military pact with Russia as “destabilising and risky for the world.”

She made the remarks while speaking to reporters about the deepening military and other cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

“I also want to address the security pact between North Korea and Russia. Once again, this is destabilising and risky for the world,” Wong said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new treaty on partnership during their summit in Pyongyang in June. The mutual defence pact calls for them to provide military and other assistance “without delay” if either country is invaded or enters a state of war.

“Once again, we see Russia acting in ways that are not conducive to peace, but rather escalatory,” Wong said, adding that North Korea’s weapons supplies to Russia for Moscow’s war in Ukraine are a flagrant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Pyongyang and Moscow have denied conducting any arms transactions.

Wong also called for further cooperation with South Korea in various sectors, ranging from economics to defence.

“We see South Korea as being very important in enabling the strategic balance in the region,” she said.

Regarding South Korea’s potential participation in the AUKUS security partnership, Wong said such interest “is a reminder that we need a strategic balance in the region.”

The AUKUS partnership, launched in September 2021, has drawn attention in South Korea after a US official in March mentioned South Korea and Japan as potential partners under consideration by AUKUS members to cooperate in high-tech areas, known as Pillar 2, which covers quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and hypersonics.

Wong arrived in Seoul after attending a ministers’ gathering in Laos of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc and joining a meeting of Quad foreign ministers in Tokyo with counterparts from the United States, Japan and India.

–IANS

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