BEIJING:Massive floods in China's Yangtze river valley has so far killed at least 240 people and affected about 60 million residents, the ministry of civil affairs said on Tuesday. Flooding has affected 3.5 million hectares and totally destroyed crops in 66,00,00 hectares. More than 480,000 houses have been destroyed and an additional 1.67 million units have sustained heavy damage, the official Xinhua news agency said, quoting a press release from the civil affairs ministry. The government has launched rescue and relief operations on a massive scale and some 1.84 million people have been evacuated from the flood-hit areas.

Austrian city pays beggars to stay off its streets

VIENNA:Austria's second biggest city of Graz will pay foreign beggars 3,500 Austrian schillings (260 dollars) each per month to stay off its streets, officials has said. Instead of preying on passers-by in the picturesque city centre with its weaving cobbled alleys, up to 40 beggars will be sentby Graz's social services department to local parishes where they will receive financial help in return for performing odd jobs. ``We're not talking about regular work. Legally that's not possible since foreigners would need a work permit,'' Gernot Wippel, head of Graz social services, said on Monday. The project started on Friday and is to run for several months before its effectiveness is reviewed. Most of Graz's beggars are believed to be gypsies from neighbouring Slovakia.

Murdoch rules out his children as successors

SYDNEY: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch said in remarks published on Tuesday that News Corp's American-born president Peter Chernin is formally in line to succeed him as chief executive, not one of his three children as widely expected. Murdoch nominated Chernin, 48, as the man to lead the US $32.8 billion company in an interview with Newsweek magazine. ``It would certainly be a matter for the board,'' Murdoch said. ``I would think Peter would probably be chief executive officer. Maybemy older son Lachlan would become chairman.'' He said his children -- Lachlan, Elisabeth and James -- would not be ready to succeed him any time soon. `They all have to prove themselves first.''

Cat made into curry for killing pet parrots

COLOMBO:A man angered when his two pet parrots were killed by his neighbour's cat killed the animal, fried it and offered it as a side-dish to his boozing pals in a remote village in Sri Lanka, a news report said on Monday. The man had initially decided only to kill the animal but, unable to control his temper, then fried the cat with chilli powder and salt and offered it to his friends, who were drinking at an illegal liquor shop, the Sinhala-language daily Divina reported. Two of them ate the flesh, mistaking it for beef, before another neighbour alerted them. Both then fell ill and were taken to hospital, the daily said. The cat-killer has fled his village.