China’s behaviour disturbing: US on India border row

NEW DELHI: Cyclone Amphan roared into West Bengal around 20km east of Sagar Island in the Sunderbans on Wednesday, packing winds gusting to a top speed of 185 kmph, triggering torrential rain and leaving a trail of devastation across a wide swath of the state, from deltaic regions to the urban neighbourhoods of Kolkata.

Amphan, the most severe storm in the Bay of Bengal since the Odisha super cyclone of 1999, made landfall between 3.30pm and 5.30pm, flattening houses, uprooting trees and electric pylons, causing rivers to swell and breach their embankments, and killing at least three people in two states according to initial reports. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was assessing the situation from the state secretariat, said least 10-12 people have died. “Area after area has been ruined. I have experienced a war-like situation today,” she said.

In neighbouring Odisha, at least two deaths were reported. A two-month-old baby was killed in a wall collapse on Wednesday morning after heavy overnight rains in Bhadrak district. In another incident, a woman died in Balasore after an electric pole, uprooted by the storm, fell on her.

“It’s an intense and devastating storm. It is a multi-hazard scenario with heavy rain, strong winds and tidal surge all at the same time. It must have inundated large areas,” said M Mohapatra, director general of the

India Meteorological Department (IMD).

At least 658,000 people were evacuated in West Bengal and Odisha before the cyclone struck.

WASHINGTON: A senior US diplomat on Wednesday sided with India on recent clashes on the border with China and said they were a reflection of a pattern of “provocations and disturbing behaviour” by China and a reminder of the threat it posed to the international order.

Alice Wells, the outgoing head of the state department’s South and Central Asia bureau, also said, addressing reporters, it was for India to decide on whether or not it wants to open talks with the Taliban, contrary to Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad’s recent suggestion that it should, but it may not have a choice if the Taliban are a part of the political governing structure that is being sought through the peace talks.

The recent border flare-ups are a “reminder that Chinese aggression is not always just rhetorical”, Wells said in response to questions.

Whether it is on the South China Sea or along the border with India, “we continue to see provocations and disturbing behaviour by China that raises questions about how China wants to use its rising power”, she said.