FLOODS, LANDSLIDES CAUSE DAMAGE IN DHADING Kathmandu, 15 Aug.: Floods and landslides triggered by incessant rainfall in different places of Dhading have damaged property, RSS reports from Dhading. A two-room building of Sherabesi based Janabhawana Lower Secondary School collapsed due to landslides. Landslides resulted from the incessant rainfall from Monday evening damaged the school building, causing a loss of property worth around Rs. 500,000, Chairman of the School Management Committee, Ram Prasad Timilsina, said. Necessary official documents and educational materials were buried in the landslide. Now the problem has been created on how to run the classes which were closed for summer vacation ending from Wednesday, said Timilsina. Likewise, floods on local Aanshi stream damaged nearby paddy fileds. Floods also destroyed crops planted at Tari Simle, Simle and Chyane farms situated at Muralibhangyang VDC and Dhodeni, Juredhunga, Gaire and Sangkosh VDC. Likewise, floods have swept away two wooden bridges linking Muralibhangyang VDC and Sangkosh VDC. Flashfloods on Lamtari rivulet damaged six canals of Lamtari VDC, creating problems to irrigate paddy field covering 236 ropanis of land. Locals of Lamatari have formed a six-member committee to pressurize bodies concerned for providing them with compensation, a local Dal Bahadur Thapa said. nnnn AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE NAVY CHIEF APPOINTED VICE-PRESIDENT IN MYANMAR Kathmandu, 15 Aug.: Myanmar's parliament on Wednesday appointed the navy chief to replace a regime hardliner as one of the country's vice presidents, in a move seen as strengthening government reformers, AFP reports from Yangon. . Admiral Nyan Tun, 58, who has a reputation as a political moderate, was selected by the military personnel who make up one quarter of the legislature and have the right to choose one of the two vice presidents. "I will carry out my responsibilities honourably to the best of my ability and strive for the further development of the eternal principles of justice, liberty and equality," Nyan Tun said in his oath of office. His appointment was approved by an electoral college, house speaker Khin Aung Myint announced at a joint session of the lower and upper houses of parliament in the capital Naypyidaw. "He's very quiet and known as a flexible man," a military parliamentarian who did not want to be named said of the new vice president. "He has three children and lives a simple life." His predecessor Tin Aung Myint Oo -- a renowned hardliner with close links to ex-junta chief Than Shwe -- resigned in July ostensibly due to ill health, fanning rumours of a power struggle between regime moderates and conservatives. Since taking office last year, President Thein Sein, a former general, has overseen dramatic changes such as the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament. The army's first candidate, Yangon chief minister Myint Swe, failed to win approval because his son-in-law is an Australian citizen, which under the constitution disqualified him from becoming a vice president. "The Yangon chief minister is not qualified to be a vice president because of his Australian son-in-law. Military representatives changed the nomination in the last week of July to Admiral Nyan Tun," a parliamentary source told AFP. The same provision is a barrier to Suu Kyi taking a top leadership role in the country, and her party has vowed to campaign to completely redraw the constitution, which was written by the former junta. Myint Swe, a retired general, was one of the military leaders involved in a deadly crackdown on the "Saffron Revolution" monk-led uprising in 2007. nnnn