Typhoon Kong-rey hits Taiwan's east coast, leaving 1 dead
Taipei (AP/PTI): A powerful typhoon made landfall in Taiwan on Thursday, killing one person and bringing high winds and floods to much of the island's east coast and northern areas, after barrelling past the northern Philippines.
Flights and train service were suspended in Taiwan and 8,600 people moved to shelters.
Typhoon Kong-rey was blowing at 184 km (114 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) as it moved over the eastern county of Taitung. Parts of Yilan and Hualien counties were inundated by heavy rain, but many farmers in the largely rural areas had already brought in their crops in anticipation of damage from the storm.
Taiwan authorities reported one death and 73 injuries from the storm as of Thursday afternoon. The fatality occurred after a tree fell on a vehicle. Officials also said they were trying to contact a pair of Czech tourists who had been hiking in Hualien's Tarako National Park, famed for its steep cliffs and mountain trails. Other travellers were advised to stay where they were.
The capital, Taipei, was largely shut down as it was hit by high winds and heavy rains. Offices and schools across the island were closed. Off the north coast, a tugboat was dispatched to tow away a Chinese-registered freighter that floundered and had been abandoned by its crew amid heavy seas.
Earlier Thursday, the typhoon's eye blew about 110 km (68 miles) east of the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes, a cluster of islands and islets of about 19,000 people. Villagers in northern Philippine provinces evacuated to shelters on Wednesday.
The Philippines weather agency had warned the the storm could blow away roofs and shatter windows and wreak extensive damage to farmland, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
“It's so, so powerful and we haven't seen the extent of the damage yet because the wind outside is still so strong,” Batanes Governor Marilou Cayco told The Associated Press by cellphone before the line was cut off.
Kong-rey, the 12th weather disturbance to hit the Philippine archipelago this year, lashed the Southeast Asian nation while it's still recovering from a storm last week that left 179 dead and missing. Hundreds of thousands of people are still in emergency shelters from Tropical Storm Trami.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and regularly sends planes and warships around the island, largely suspended its patrols, with just eight planes detected around the island between Wednesday and Thursday, according to Taiwan's Defence Ministry.
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PM Modi is winning elections through 'fraud', alleges Mallikarjun Kharge
Bengaluru, Oct 31: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is winning the elections by resorting to "fraud" and questioned the authenticity of EVMs.
The Congress veteran also referred to business tycoon Elon Musk's statement questioning the genuineness of EVMs to support his claim.
"Modi hasn't won any election. Everything is fraud. He gets 10,000 names removed from the voter list or get 10,000 to 20,000 new names added. This is the truth but the question is how to prove it," Kharge said at the Congress Bhavan here.
He was speaking at an event to pay tribute to former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi and Congress stalwart and first Deputy Prime Minister of India Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
Kharge said Musk, who is a tech expert, has said EVMs can be altered and hacked through computers.
He added that no major western nation such as the US, Canada, Britain, Germany, France or Italy use EVMs.
The Congress chief took a dig at the BJP leaders for defending EVMs everytime.
"They (BJP) say when we win we don't blame EVMs and don't demand ballot papers as in Telangana and Karnataka, but when the BJP wins we blame EVMs," Kharge said.
The veteran leader said, "We know their programme (strategy). They (BJP) know what to do, where and to whom."
The MP said there is a consistent effort to snatch and separate Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel from Congress which cannot happen because he staunchly believed in Congress ideology and had banned RSS post Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.
Kharge also accused Modi of "dividing" people instead of uniting them on the basis of religion and caste.
He also flayed the PM for not appreciating the Congress leaders such as Indira Gandhi and former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi for sacrificing their lives for the country.
