NEPAL
Avalanche kills seven
Rescuers were yesterday digging through ice and snow on Mount Yalung Ri to recover the recover the bodies of seven climbers who were killed by an avalanche a day earlier, officials said. An avalanche pounded the base camp at 4,900m on Monday morning, but snowstorms prevented rescuers from reaching the site. Improving weather yesterday allowed a helicopter to reach the base camp and rescuers were able to begin shifting through the snow and ice. Dolkha District Police Chief Gyan Kumar Mahato said four climbers who were injured in the avalanche were rescued by the helicopter and flown to the capital, Kathmandu ,for treatment. Among those killed were two Nepalese mountain guides, but the identity of the remaining five was still unclear. At least three bodies were pulled out of the snow by yesterday afternoon, he said.
NORTH KOREA
Ex-ceremonial head dies
Kim Yong-nam, the former head of the rubber-stamp parliament who served as nominal head of state for more than 20 years, has died, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported yesterday. He was 97. From 1998 to 2019, Kim served as president of the presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, a post that gave him a symbolic role as head of state. However, the real decisionmaking power lay with leaders Kim Jong-il — who died in 2011 — and his son Kim Jong-un. Kim Yong-nam died from multiple organ failure, KCNA said. Kim Jong-un visited his bier “to express deep condolences over his death,” KCNA said.
INDIA
Voter overhaul launched
The government yesterday launched a revision of its voter rolls, expanding a contentious exercise that activists said could fuel disenfranchisement in the nation. The three-month voter registration overhaul, known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), began in 12 states and territories, many of which are slated to hold local elections next year. Tens of thousands of election officials and nearly half a million volunteers are to go door-to-door to help residents complete voter enumeration forms. Officials “will help the elector fill the enumeration form, collect it and submit it,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar told reporters while announcing the exercise. The final electoral roll is expected to be released on Feb. 7 next year.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Americas summit postponed
A meeting called the Summit of the Americas has been postponed because of tension in the region, the host nation said on Monday amid US military deployment in the Caribbean. Originally due to take place next month, the gathering has been delayed until next year after consultations with nations that had been invited to attend, including the US, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “We fully support the decision to postpone the summit and will continue to work together with the Dominican Republic, and other countries in the region, to plan a productive event in 2026 that will be focused on strengthening partnerships and enhancing security for our citizens,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a social media post. Many countries in the Americas are furious over the US deployment off Venezuela’s coast, including attacks on what Washington calls drug-smuggling boats. The Dominican statement said “deep differences make it hard to hold a productive summit in the Americas now.” It also cited damage that Hurricane Melissa caused to some countries due to attend the summit, such as Jamaica.
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
‘NO WORKABLE SOLUTION’: An official said Pakistan engaged in the spirit of peace, but Kabul continued its ‘unabated support to terrorists opposed to Pakistan’ Pakistan yesterday said that negotiations for a lasting truce with Afghanistan had “failed to bring about a workable solution,” warning that it would take steps to protect its people. Pakistan and Afghanistan have been holding negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, aimed at securing peace after the South Asian neighbors’ deadliest border clashes in years. The violence, which killed more than 70 people and wounded hundreds, erupted following explosions in Kabul on Oct. 9 that the Taliban authorities blamed on Pakistan. “Regrettably, the Afghan side gave no assurances, kept deviating from the core issue and resorted to blame game, deflection and ruses,” Pakistani Minister of
UNCERTAIN TOLLS: Images on social media showed small protests that escalated, with reports of police shooting live rounds as polling stations were targeted Tanzania yesterday was on lockdown with a communications blackout, a day after elections turned into violent chaos with unconfirmed reports of many dead. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan had sought to solidify her position and silence criticism within her party in the virtually uncontested polls, with the main challengers either jailed or disqualified. In the run-up, rights groups condemned a “wave of terror” in the east African nation, which has seen a string of high-profile abductions that ramped up in the final days. A heavy security presence on Wednesday failed to deter hundreds protesting in economic hub Dar es Salaam and elsewhere, some
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