NEPAL
Fifty missing after landslide
Rescue teams yesterday recovered the first body from about 50 people missing after monsoon rains triggered a landslide that swept two buses off a highway and into a river. The force of Friday’s landslide in central Chitwan District pushed the vehicles over concrete crash barriers and down a steep embankment, at least 30m from the road. Chitwan Deputy Chief Administrator Khimananda Bhusal said that about 50 people remained unaccounted for, revising down the number of missing from the 63 reported on Friday.
AUSTRALIA
‘Back off,’ Moscow: Albanese
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday told Moscow to “back off,” after Russia criticized the arrest of a Brisbane-based couple accused of spying. Moscow is engaging in “espionage here and around the world,” Albanese said. “Russia can get the message: Back off,” he added, speaking at an event in Brisbane. Albanese was responding to criticism by the Russian embassy after police on Friday said they had charged a 40-year-old woman and her 62-year-old husband — both Russian passport holders — with preparing for an espionage offense. The Russian embassy in Canberra wrote on X that the arrests and media coverage were “intended to launch another wave of anti-Russian paranoia in Australia.” The couple, who were arrested on Thursday, are accused of accessing national security-related material from the military.
NIGERIA
School collapse kills 22
A two-story school collapsed during morning classes on Friday in Plateau State, killing 22 students and sending rescuers on a frantic search for more than 100 people trapped in the rubble, authorities said. The Saints Academy college in the Busa Buji community collapsed shortly after students, many of whom were aged 15 or younger, arrived for classes. A total of 154 students were initially trapped in the rubble, but Plateau police spokesman Alfred Alabo later said 132 of them had been rescued and were being treated for injuries in various hospitals. Twenty-two students died, he said.
MALDIVES
Accused minister released
A former climate change minister detained last month on allegations she performed “black magic” on the president was released yesterday, police said. Fathimath Shamnaz Ali Saleem was arrested along with her sister and another person in the capital, Male, and resigned from her post shortly afterward. Local media reported she was accused of performing “black magic” on President Mohamed Muizzu to win favor from his new administration. Police had asked for an extension of her detention twice, but yesterday they had no reason to hold her any longer — although the case was still ongoing. Police and authorities have not confirmed or denied the nature of the allegations against Shamnaz, and a criminal court has heard the case behind closed doors. Sorcery is not a criminal offense, but it does carry a six-month jail sentence under Islamic law.
UNITED STATES
Five escape hot geyser
Five people escaped a hot, acidic pond in Yellowstone National Park after the sport utility vehicle they were riding in went off the road and into an inactive geyser, park officials said on Friday. The passengers escaped the 41°C water on their own after the crash on Thursday morning and were taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, park spokeswoman Morgan Warthin said in a statement.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
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