Coastal cities ready for approaching Typhoon Kong-rey

China's coastal cities are making active preparations for the approaching Kong-rey, the 21st typhoon this year, which is expected to move towards China at a speed of 25 to 30 kilometers per hour.

The Central Meteorological Observatory issued an orange typhoon warning at 06:00 Thursday, the second most severe in China's four-tier, color-coded warming system, after red and followed by yellow and blue.

At 06:00 on Thursday morning, the center of Kong-rey was located on the northwest Pacific Ocean about 190 kilometers southeast of Taitung City, Taiwan. The maximum wind force scale near the center was level 16, reaching a super typhoon level.

Kong-rey is expected to move northwest at a speed of 25 to 30 kilometers per hour. It will land on the eastern coast of the Taiwan Island around Thursday noon, and enter the Taiwan Strait at night. After that, it will gradually move northeastward near the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang Province in east China, and gradually weaken into a temperate cyclone.

China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management organized relevant departments for a consultation meeting on Wednesday to analyze the heavy rainstorm trend in south China's Hainan Province and the evolution of the typhoon, while making further arrangements for the preparation work in the southeast coast.

Officials said at the meeting that there is still uncertainty in the movement path of the typhoon, which will have a strong impact on part of China's coastal areas. Relevant provinces should pay close attention to the the typhoon's movement and strengthen risk prevention in the areas likely to have heavy rains, with special focus on returning ships to port for shelter, evacuating offshore workers and relocating personnel in key areas.

Affected by the typhoon, there will be strong winds in the Taiwan Strait and coastal areas of Fujian Province. To ensure the safety of railway transportation, the Nanchang Bureau of the National Railway plans to suspend a series of passenger trains along the possibly affected areas from 14:00 Thursday to 12:00 Friday.

Coastal cities ready for approaching Typhoon Kong-rey

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel to pave the way for the country's independence and sovereignty during a solidarity visit to Lebanon.

Guterres arrived in Beirut on Friday for a visit of solidarity with the people of Lebanon, during which he met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and other senior Lebanese officials.

Declaring himself "a friend of the Lebanese people," Guterres called for an immediate end to the Lebanese suffering and an end to a "war they didn't choose."

"My appeal to both parties is: Let's do an immediate ceasefire. Let's stop this enormous suffering of the Lebanese people, and we will do our best to make sure that with a ceasefire, there will be serious negotiations to guarantee that Lebanon will see its sovereignty, its territorial integrity respected," he said.

Guterres announced on the same day a 325-million-U.S.-dollar emergency humanitarian appeal for Lebanon at a press conference in Beirut. The appeal aims to provide food, water, healthcare, education, and protection for displaced families over the next three months.

The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2 has reached 773, with 1,933 injuries, the country's Public Health Ministry said Friday.

Since the launch of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran on Feb 28, tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have sharply escalated, with Hezbollah firing rocket barrages at northern Israeli communities and Israel striking sites in southern and eastern Lebanon, which it says house Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure.

UN chief urges Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire during solidarity visit to Lebanon