Flood forced 3,700 residents in east China to relocate

More than 3,700 residents in east China's Jiangxi Province have been relocated due to flood risks triggered by massive rainfall.
Over 200,000 people have been affected by continuous rainstorms in the area, and nearly 300 houses have been destroyed.
Over 30,000 hectares of crops have been damaged.
Authorities are also strengthening embankments and preparing for disaster relief.
Chinese vice premier arrives in Belgium for official visit

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang has arrived in Brussels, Belgium.
Li is there at the invitation of the European Union and the Belgian government.
During his visit, he will meet with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, as well as top Belgian leaders.
He will also attend a high-level urbanization forum and an energy meeting.
Belgium is the third leg of Li's European visit, which has already taken him to Russia and Hungary.
Obama signs strategic agreement with Afghanistan

US President Barack Obama has signed a strategic agreement with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai on a surprise visit to Afghanistan.
The 10-year agreement is designed to pave the way for the long term presence of US troops in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2014.
Agreements had already been signed between the US and Afghanistan concerning handing over the controversial Bagram Air Base to Afghan forces and the implementation of security procedures.
Obama's visit coincides with the first anniversary of the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
UN observers reporting that both sides in Syria violating cease-fire

The UN peacekeeping chief says UN military observers in Syria are reporting cease-fire violations from both government and opposition forces.
However, Herve Ladsous, the peacekeeping chief, refuses to say which side is responsible for the most violations.
Ladsous also discloses that observers have recorded a number of heavy weapons, including armored personnel carriers and Howitzers, deployed in populated areas.
The UN reports that so far over 9,000 people have been killed in the 13-month uprising.
Palestinian hunger strikers health deteriorating: Israeli prison doctor

A doctor for the Israeli prison service warned on Tuesday that four Palestian prisoners on hunger strike for nearly two months were in serious danger of their health and should be removed to a public hospital.
The group is in part protesting against Israel's practice of so-called administrative detention – where a prisoner can be held in jail for extended periods without the need for a trial.
The four are part of a broader protest by some 2000 Palestians hunger striking against what they say are Israel's harsh detention procedures, such as solitary confinement and removal of jail privileges, like mobile phones and televisions in their cells.
Rescuers continue to look for survivors of doomed ferry in northeast India

Searchers are still scowering the water, looking for any possible survivors of a deadly ferry sinking in northeastern India.
At least 100 people are dead, and 200 others are missing, after the ferry sank on the Brahmaputra River, which flows from Tibet into India.
The double-decker British-era steamer is believed to have been caught up in a strong storm and harsh tidal conditions on the river.
Most of the victims are believed to be locals who lived off the river's resources.
The provincial authorities in northeastern India have launched a full probe.
Rupert Murdoch exhibits "willful blindness" over phone-hacking: report

Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch has been labeled an unfit person to run a major international company by a UK parliamentary committee report into phone-hacking, released on Tuesday
The report also claimed that the 81 year boss of News Corp chief "turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness" to phone hacking at a number of his publications, including the now defunct "News of the World".
However, the committee was split down party lines, with the four Conservative Party members refusing to back the conclusions.
News Corp released a short statement acknowledging the wrong doing at the News of the World and apologizing to those whose privacy was invaded.
Landslide disrupts road traffic in Tibet

More than 60 vehicles have been stranded on a highway in Tibet due to a landslide.
The accident happened yesterday morning when falling rocks damaged a section of the road that runs from the region's capital Lhasa to Kathmandu, capital of Nepal.
No casualties have been reported so far.
The road is expected to be reopened this morning.
China's railways see record traffic in Labor Day holiday

China's Ministry of Railways says that the country's trains carried a record number of nearly 30 million passengers during the Labor Day holiday.
The ministry says the number is 1.3 million more than the same period last year.
On Tuesday alone, train passengers rose 6.2 percent from a year earlier to 8 million.
This year's Labor Day holiday in China ran from Sunday to Tuesday.