460,000 evacuated in China

Beijing, Sept. 15: More than 4,60,000 people have been evacuated from eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang and Fujian due to fears of approaching tropical storm ‘Sinlaku’, as heavy rains lashed these regions on Monday.

Close to 230,000 people had been evacuated till Sunday and the process is still underway, the Fujian provincial headquarters for flood control said on Monday. In another province Zhejiang, 230,000 residents have been evacuated and 30,000 fishing boats have been recalled to harbour.

Typhoon Sinlaku weakened into a tropical storm at 8 am (local time) on Monday, while its eye was reported to be about 203 km to the south-east of Wenzhou in south-eastern Zhejiang, according to the local weather authorities.

Heavy rains were reported in eastern and northern parts of Zhejiang and central and northern parts of Fujian on Monday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Sinlaku which has passed over Taiwan injuring 13 people there, is the 13th tropical storm so far this year in China.

According to local authorities at least 130,000 households in Taiwan suffered a power blackout while 800 lost their water supply. Shelters have been built for 782 typhoon victims.

—PTI

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Maoists put stop to beauty show

Kathmandu, Sept. 15: The new Maoist regime in Nepal, it seems, does not take kindly to beauty pageants or modelling.

Communists believe that their brave new world is being debased by such activities, which they describe as tawdry and bourgeois.

Organisers of the Miss Nepal competition here have had to cancel their show after the Maoists simply made it impossible for them to go ahead with it.

From the moment the Maoists secured a surprise victory in the April’s elections, the organisers of the competition have been in trouble, with their traditional venue being used as a temporary home for the country’s new Parliament.

Now they are desperately searching for somewhere else to hold the contest, after being forced to postpone the show for a second time in the face of a concerted campaign against them.

The contestants were hoping to compete for the honour of representing their country at the Miss World finals in Ukraine on October 4, the Scotsman reports.

The Communist Party of Nepal says that the competition is socially unacceptable and a tool to exploit contesting women for commercial gain.

The Maoists have warned other venues not to consider offering the contest a new home.

—ANI