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2 foreign climbers rescued after being stranded in India’s Himalayas for 3 days

2 foreign climbers rescued after being stranded in India’s Himalayas for 3 days
A rockfall severed their rope, sending their bags, along with crucial supplies like their food, tent, and climbing gear, into a gorge. (REUTERS)
Updated 1 min 40 sec ago
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2 foreign climbers rescued after being stranded in India’s Himalayas for 3 days

2 foreign climbers rescued after being stranded in India’s Himalayas for 3 days
  • The climbers lost most of their communication equipment, but managed to send out an emergency message the same day
  • A rockfall severed their rope, sending their bags, along with crucial supplies like their food, tent, and climbing gear, into a gorge
Updated 1 min 40 sec ago
AP
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LUCKNOW: Two foreign climbers have been rescued after being stranded for three days on a mountain in India’s Himalayan north.
Fay Jane Manners from the United Kingdom and Michelle Theresa Dvorak from the United States were ascending a rocky section of the Chaukhamba-3 peak in India’s Uttarakhand state when they got stranded there, said Sandeep Tiwari, a senior administrative officer of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district. The climbers were rescued on Sunday, he said.
The climbers were first reported stranded on Thursday when a rockfall severed their rope, sending their bags — along with crucial supplies like food, tent and climbing gear — into a gorge. The climbers also lost most of their communication equipment, but managed to send out an emergency message the same day.
“We were pulling up my bag and she (Dvorak) had her bag on her. And the rockfall came, cut the rope with the other bag, and it just went down the entire mountain,” Manners told local reporters on Sunday.
The rescue operation took 80 hours to complete and involved the Indian air force and the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority.
Rajkumar Negi, a spokesperson for India’s disaster management agency, said that two Indian Air Force helicopters dispatched on Friday to help with the search were unable to locate the climbers. But on Saturday, a French mountaineering team, which was also attempting to climb the Chaukhamba-3 peak, located the stranded climbers and relayed their coordinates to the rescue authorities.
The Indian air force said in a statement on social platform X that it airlifted the climbers on Sunday “from 17,400 feet, showcasing remarkable coordination in extreme conditions.”
Chaukhamba-3 is a mountain peak in the Garhwal Himalaya in northern India.

Maldives President Muizzu to meet India’s Modi to repair strained diplomatic ties

Maldives President Muizzu to meet India’s Modi to repair strained diplomatic ties
Updated 46 sec ago
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Maldives President Muizzu to meet India’s Modi to repair strained diplomatic ties

Maldives President Muizzu to meet India’s Modi to repair strained diplomatic ties
  • Tensions between India and Maldives have grown since pro-China Muizzu came to power last year
  • Muizzu had promised to expel Indian soldiers deployed in Maldives to help in humanitarian assistance
Updated 46 sec ago
AP

NEW DELHI: Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu is expected to talk Monday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi as he aims to repair ties between the countries that have been strained since he came to power last year.

Muizzu and Modi are expected to discuss “bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest,” according to India’s foreign ministry. Muizzu will also hold meetings with senior Indian officials during his five-day India visit.

Tensions between India and Maldives have grown since pro-China Muizzu came to power last year after defeating India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Leading up to the 2023 elections, Muizzu had promised to expel Indian soldiers deployed in Maldives to help in humanitarian assistance. In May, New Delhi replaced dozens of these soldiers with civilian experts.

Ties were also strained in January when some Maldivian leaders lashed out at Modi for promoting India’s Lakshadweep archipelago for Indian travelers. Lakshadweep is off the southwestern coast of the Indian mainland.

Maldivian leaders saw the move as a way to lure Indian tourists away from their country and encourage them to visit Lakshadweep instead. It sparked angry protests from Indian celebrities who called for a tourism boycott to Maldives. Tourism is the mainstay of the Maldives’ economy.

The dispute deepened when Muizzu visited China ahead of India in January, a move which was seen as a snub to New Delhi. On his return, Muizzu spelled out plans to rid his tiny nation of dependence on India for health facilities, medicines, and import of staples.

A thaw ensued after Muizzu attended Modi’s June swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi for a third five-year term. Since then, Muizzu has toned down his anti-Indian rhetoric, and official-level contacts have intensified with New Delhi.

India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Sunday said he was confident Muizzu’s talks with Modi would give “a new impetus” to the “friendly ties” between the countries.

Regional powers India and China compete for influence in the archipelago nation, which is strategically located in the Indian Ocean.

For decades, India has been a critical provider of development assistance to the Maldives, including infrastructure projects, medical care, and health facilities. Meanwhile, Maldives is part of China’s “Belt and Road” initiative to build ports and highways and expand trade, as well as China’s influence across Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Muizzu’s visit to New Delhi is essential for Modi, who is facing a challenging time in neighborhood diplomacy with Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake taking over as Sri Lanka’s president and India-friendly Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fleeing to India in August after being forced to resign by students-led protests. Nepal also now has pro-China K.P. Sharma Oli as its prime minister.

Experts say India needs to maintain close ties with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Maldives, which are its traditional spheres of influence.

Topics: Maldives President Maldives India ties

Close ally of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi dies of leukaemia: source

Close ally of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi dies of leukaemia: source
Updated 11 min 44 sec ago
AFP
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Close ally of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi dies of leukaemia: source

Close ally of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi dies of leukaemia: source
Updated 11 min 44 sec ago
AFP

YANGON: A close ally of detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi died of leukaemia on Monday, a party source told AFP, days after being released from junta custody on health grounds.
Zaw Myint Maung, 72, who spent around two decades in prison for defying Myanmar’s military, was a close confidante of Suu Kyi and a lynchpin of the National League for Democracy (NLD).
He was arrested following the military’s latest coup in 2021 and jailed for corruption. He was recently released on health grounds.
“We got confirmation of his death. It’s a big loss for us as he was one of our NLD vice-chairmen,” a senior party source told AFP, requesting anonymity to speak to the media.
The source said Zaw Myint Maung had died of leukaemia.
“Although we were prepared we might lose him one day, we are sorry for losing him in this difficult situation. We have to move forward for democracy with the leaders we have.”
Zaw Myint Maung was detained along with other senior NLD figures following the 2021 coup that upended a 10-year experiment with democracy and returned the Southeast Asian nation to military rule.
In 1988 he led a doctors’ strike as part of huge pro-democracy uprisings that thrust Suu Kyi into the spotlight in Myanmar — then called Burma.
In 1989 he left his job in a university biochemistry department and joined the NLD.
The military later imprisoned him for around two decades for his activism.
After the generals enacted democratic reforms and the NLD won a landslide in the 2015 elections, he became the chief minister of the Mandalay region.
The year before the putsch Suu Kyi described him as a “real hardcore and a comrade who has been together with us since the very beginning [of our party].”
The 2021 coup sparked widespread armed opposition to military rule that the junta has failed to crush more than three years later.
Almost three million people have been forced from their homes by the conflict, according to the United Nations.
The junta’s crackdown on dissent has decimated the senior ranks of the NLD.
Months after the coup Nyan Win, a former NLD spokesman and Suu Kyi confidante died of Covid-19 while being held in military custody for sedition.
In 2022 another former lawmaker was executed by the junta in Myanmar’s first use of capital punishment in decades.
In March last year, the junta dissolved the NLD for failing to re-register under a tough new military-drafted electoral law, removing it from polls it has indicated it may hold in 2025.
Suu Kyi, 79, is serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges ranging from corruption to not respecting Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
Rights groups say her closed-door trial was a sham designed to remove her from the political scene.
Last month Italian media reported that Pope Francis has offered refuge on Vatican territory to Suu Kyi, who led the government ousted by the military in 2021.

Topics: Myanmar Suu Kyi

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Green Party candidate Jill Stein sees ‘no lesser evil’ between Harris, Trump

Green Party candidate Jill Stein sees ‘no lesser evil’ between Harris, Trump
Updated 07 October 2024
Reuters
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Green Party candidate Jill Stein sees ‘no lesser evil’ between Harris, Trump

Green Party candidate Jill Stein sees ‘no lesser evil’ between Harris, Trump
  • Stein says Democrats losing Arab-Muslim vote in battleground states
  • Stein warns support for Israel may cost Harris election
Updated 07 October 2024
Reuters

DEARBORN, Michigan: Widespread anger among Arab Americans and Muslims over US support for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon could cost Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, the election, Green Party candidate Jill Stein told Reuters on Sunday.
Polls show Stein garnering just 1 percent in the Nov. 5 election, while Harris and her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, are almost tied with 49 percent and 48 percent.
But Stein has seen growing support among Arab Americans and Muslims in battleground states like Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin where they have large populations that helped propel President Joe Biden to victory in the 2020 election.
“The Democrats have lost the Muslim American and the Arab American vote,” Stein told Reuters after a rally attended by about 100 people in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn.
“They’re going to be losing enough swing states that they will not win and they cannot win.”
A Cook Political Report poll conducted from Sept. 19-25 showed Harris leading or tied with Trump in nearly all seven states that could decide the election — Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina.
But Stein, who has been campaigning on a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate US arms embargo on Israel, won 40 percent of the Muslim vote in Michigan in an August poll by the Council on American Islamic Relations, that also put her ahead of Harris and Trump among Muslims in Arizona and Wisconsin.
Democrats could win back those voters if they demanded and work to enact an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, and also halted arms sales to Israel, but there was no sign of such action, she said.
The Biden administration, along with several US allies like France, has called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border and has long expressed support for a ceasefire in Gaza, but agreements have been elusive.
Asked about her potential function as a “spoiler,” Stein said another Trump presidency would be “terrible” but so would four more years of Democratic rule, given high rental costs, the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and attacks on civil liberties.
“This is a very dire situation that will be continued under both Democrats and Republicans. So we say there is no lesser evil in this race,” she said.
Harris has increased her outreach in recent days, meeting with a small group of Arab American and Muslim leaders in Flint, Michigan, on Friday, and dispatching her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to take part in a Muslim Zoom call.
Farah Khan, co-chair of the Abandon Harris campaign in Michigan, said she would vote for a third-party candidate. “We are trying to ... punish Harris,” she said. “We may not be in a large (enough) number to put somebody in office, but we are definitely in the numbers to take somebody out of the office.”
Trump is also wooing Arab and Muslim voters and his campaign opened an office on Saturday in Hamtramck, a Detroit suburb whose Yemeni-American mayor Amer Ghalib has endorsed Trump.
Stein said Harris was also losing support among some union workers, Black men and Latinos, many of whom had drifted away from their traditional support for the Democratic party.
“Working people feel abandoned and betrayed by the Democratic Party,” she said. “It’s not like the Republicans are making things good for working people, but because the Democrats make promises and betray them, they seem to be punished by their traditional base,” she said. “That train has left the station.”

Topics: US Election 2024 Gaza war Donald Trump Kamala Harris

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International rescue teams arrive in Bosnia after devastating floods and landslides

International rescue teams arrive in Bosnia after devastating floods and landslides
Updated 07 October 2024
AP
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International rescue teams arrive in Bosnia after devastating floods and landslides

International rescue teams arrive in Bosnia after devastating floods and landslides
  • At least 15 people were reported killed and more were missing when a flash flood swept through the Jablanica area, southwest of Sarajevo on Oct. 4, 2024
  • Ecologists said the floods were particularly damaging because of years of neglect of river beds, deforestation and uncontrolled construction
Updated 07 October 2024
AP

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina: Rescue teams from Bosnia’s neighbors and European Union countries on Sunday were joining efforts to clear the rubble and find people still missing from floods and landslides that devastated parts of the Balkan country.
Bosnia sought EU help after a heavy rainstorm overnight on Friday left entire areas under water and debris destroyed roads and bridges, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens.
“Our hearts and thoughts are with the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, hit by devastating floods,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X. “We have activated our EU Civil Protection Mechanism and are sending rescue teams on the ground. This is EU solidarity in action.”
Officials said that at least 10 people are still unaccounted for, many of them in the village of Donja Jablanica, in southern Bosnia, which was almost completely buried in rocks and rubble from a quarry on a hill above.
Residents there have said they heard a thundering rumble and saw houses disappear before their eyes.
“We heard water and rock coming down from the hill. I told my son, Let’s go up to the attic, we don’t know what’s going to happen,” recalled Munevera Dautbegovic. “In the morning when we got out, we saw large amount of sand around.”

Regional Gov. Nermin Niksic visited the village on Sunday, promising help to rebuild. “All material damage can be compensated somehow but human lives cannot. Grief will stay on.”
 

 

A meteorologist Nedim Sladic told N1 TV that in under six hours, the region around Jablanica received as much rain as usually falls in three or four months.
Ecologists say the floods in Bosnia have been particularly damaging because years of neglect of river beds, deforestation and uncontrolled construction and exploitation of wood and stone have aggravated the impact of climate change.

Other parts of Europe have also been hard hit by flooding as well as extreme heat and wildfires.
“Everything that my father created and that I have created after him disappeared in 30 minutes,” Admir Poturovic, another resident of Trusina said.
“But life goes on. One has to move on” he said.

Earlier on Sunday, Luigi Soreca, who heads the EU mission in Bosnia, said on X that teams wer arriving to help. Bosnia is a candidate country for membership in the 27-nation bloc.
Authorities said Croatian rescuers have already arrived while a team from Serbia is expected to be deployed in the afternoon, followed by a Slovenian team with dogs. Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Czechia and Turkiye have also offered help, a government statement said.
Sunday is the date of a local election in Bosnia. Election authorities have postponed voting in the flood-hit regions, but the flooding has overshadowed the vote across the country.
Ismeta Bucalovic, a resident of Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital, said “we are all overwhelmed by these flooding events. We all think only about that.”
Impoverished and ethnically divided, Bosnia has struggled to recover after the brutal war in 1992-95. The country is plagued by political bickering and corruption, stalling its EU bid.

 

Topics: Bosnia flood

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Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election

Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
Updated 07 October 2024
AFP
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Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election

Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
  • Harris has faced criticism for seemingly avoiding one-on-one interviews with national media since she took over as the Democratic nominee, and Trump hammered away at this Sunday
Updated 07 October 2024
AFP

WASHINGTON: With just one month left in a deadlocked US presidential election, Donald Trump urged supporters Sunday in battleground Wisconsin to get out the vote, as Kamala Harris kicked off a week-long media interview blitz with a focus on reproductive rights.
Polls have the Republican and Democrat candidates neck and neck, fueling a high-cost, high-intensity scramble for each and every wavering voter in the seven key states that are likely to decide the outcome on November 5.
Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 and this was his fourth visit in eight days. Harris was there earlier this week, holding a rally in Ripon, birthplace of the Republican Party, where she appealed to moderate and disgruntled conservatives.
“I’m only asking you to do one thing,” Trump told the crowd in the town of Juneau. “Just go out and vote.”
Trump also repeated false allegations that the Biden-Harris administration had redirected relief funds for areas devastated by Hurricane Helene and spent it on migrant programs.
Harris, he said, is “someone who steals your wealth and abandons your family when the flood waters rise.”
Harris has faced criticism for seemingly avoiding one-on-one interviews with national media since she took over as the Democratic nominee, and Trump hammered away at this Sunday.
“She doesn’t do interviews because she can’t answer the questions. She can’t answer anything,” he said.
In her bid to reach key voters, the vice president is taking to the airwaves in the coming week with a host of television, radio and podcast appearances.
Harris began her media flurry with an appearance Sunday on the podcast “Call Her Daddy” — one of the most popular programs on Spotify — that focuses on advice and issues affecting women.
She addressed reproductive rights — which Democrats view as a major vote winner among undecided voters, especially women.
At one point Harris was asked how she felt when she heard Trump, in their presidential debate last month, say that some Democratic states allow the “execution” of babies after birth.
In an impassioned reply, Harris denounced that as “a bold-faced lie,” something “outrageously inaccurate” and “insulting to women.”
“This guy,” she added, “is full of lies.”
Asked how she was feeling with just a month to go before the election, the vice president replied, “nervous” — then jokingly mentioned what she called an old adage: “there are only two ways to run: without an opponent or scared.”
Trump’s visit to Wisconsin came on the back of a theatrical campaign return on Saturday to the same venue in Butler, Pennsylvania where he narrowly avoided a would-be assassin’s bullet back in July.
The former president campaign’s team had hoped to recapture the momentum he enjoyed at that time — riding high in the polls before President Joe Biden upended the race by withdrawing and being replaced by Harris.
In a long, often rambling speech delivered from behind bulletproof glass, Trump suggested his political opponents may have been behind the failed assassination bid.
“Those who want to stop us... have slandered me, impeached me, indicted me, tried to throw me off the ballot, and who knows, maybe even tried to kill me,” he told tens of thousands of supporters who had gathered for the event.
The gunman, who was shot dead, was a registered Republican and investigators have found no motive — and no political link — to his attempt on the former president’s life.
Harris spent Saturday in North Carolina, meeting relief workers and residents in one of the areas most impacted by Helene, which left a trail of destruction across half a dozen states and more than 220 people dead.
Later in the week, she will also be a guest on ABC’s “The View,” as well as “The Howard Stern Show” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” — all of which are seen as generally sympathetic to the Harris campaign.
And former president Barack Obama will add his star power by stumping for Harris in key swing states from Thursday right through until election day, the campaign says.

Topics: US Election 2024 Donald Trump Kamala Harris

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