Floods along river Thousands of soldiers, armed police, civil servants and members of the public are battling floods in several provinces along the Yangtze River, which have killed at least 31 people over the past few days and forced the evacuation* of tens of thousands more. In Hunan Province, the water level at the Changsha monitoring station in the Xiangjiang River, a major Yangtze tributary, reached a record high of 39.51 meters on Monday, higher than the previous record of 39.18 meters set by a massive flood in 1998. US ambassador The new U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad on June 28 pledged to work with the Chinese side for the benefit of the people of both countries as well as the rest of the world. “We recognize it is an important relationship between the two greatest economic powers in the world,” Branstad told reporters one day after his arrival in Beijing. New HK chief executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was sworn in on Saturday morning as the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), as Hong Kong marked the 20th anniversary of its return to China. Lam took her oath before President Xi Jinping, who oversaw* the swearing-in ceremony. The principal officials of the fifth-term HKSAR Government also took their oaths before Xi. “It is with a humble heart that I accept this greatest honor of my life and prepare to take on the greatest challenge in my public service career,” Lam said. Greater Bay Area deal President Xi Jinping on Saturday attended the signing ceremony of a framework agreement on the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. With the support of the Central Government, Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao will make joint efforts to improve their collaboration* mechanisms and facilitate win-win cooperation, according to the agreement. All sides will deepen cooperation to build the bay area into a more dynamic economic zone that is suitable for living, doing business and traveling, said the agreement, noting it will become a first-class bay area and city cluster in the world. (SD-Agencies) ? | 