PAKISTAN
Avalanche kills 11 nomads
At least 11 people died after an avalanche hit members of a nomadic tribe as they crossed a mountainous area in the country’s north, the National Disaster Management Authority said on Saturday. Another 13 people were injured in the avalanche, which struck a group of families at Shounter Top Pass late on Friday. The pass, which is 4,420m above sea level, connects Astore District in the Gilgit-Baltistan region to the bordering Kashmir valley. The bodies of the victims have been recovered, the agency said, adding that the injured, including a child, have been taken to a hospital where they are in a critical condition.
ISRAEL
Protesters standing firm
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday gathered for the relentless weekly protests against their government’s plans to overhaul the legal system. The mass protests entered their 21st week. The main protest took place in Tel Aviv, drawing thousands of flag-waving protesters.
STANDING HEAD
VP warns cadets of autocrats
Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to deliver a commencement speech at West Point, on Saturday lauded the military academy’s graduating cadets for serving their country, but said they were entering an “unsettled world” because of Russian aggression and rising threats from China. “The world has drastically changed,” Harris told the roughly 950 graduating cadets. “Autocrats have become bolder, the threat of terrorism persists, and an accelerating climate crisis continues to disrupt lives and livelihoods,” she said. Harris advised cadets to be wary of China, as it rapidly modernizes its military and muscles for control over parts of the high seas.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
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