France hunts suspect after synagogue attack

Police were on Saturday hunting for a man who, draped in a Palestinian flag, was suspected of setting fires at a synagogue in southern France and triggering an explosion that injured a police officer.Authorities said the incident was being treated as a potential terror attack and “all means” were being deployed to find the perpetrator.France’s interim Prime Minister Gabriel Attal visited the site along with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and said: “We narrowly avoided an absolute tragedy.”Attal said that “if the synagogue had been filled with worshippers...there probably would have been human victims.”Security around Jewish sites was tightened following the attack early on Saturday at Beth Yaacov synagogue in the seaside resort of La Grande Motte, near the city of Montpellier.Two cars outside the synagogue were set alight, with a gas canister then likely exploding inside one of the vehicles, police said.Two fires were also started at the entrance of the synagogue, but were quickly put out, with two doors damaged, investigators said.The wounded police officer was injured by the blast after rushing to the scene after the fires were started, police said.President Emmanuel Macron called the incident “an act of terror”, adding on X: “The fight against anti-Semitism is a daily fight.”He said “all means are being deployed” to apprehend the suspect.La Grande Motte’s mayor, Stephan Rossignol, said that CCTV had picked up images of an individual setting fire to the cars.On part of the footage, watched and authenticated by AFP, a man is seen with a Palestinian flag draped around his waist, his head covered by a red Palestinian keffiyeh.The man carried two bottles filled with a yellowish liquid. The footage also seems to show the contours of a handgun.Sources close to the investigation said the suspect left the scene hurriedly on foot.The fires and explosion came amid a heightened state of alert in France and other European countries because of the war in Gaza.Attal said France’s national anti-terror prosecutors had been tasked with probing the incident.“La Grande Motte’s synagogue was the target of an attack this morning,” Attal said in a post on X.Darmanin called the incident “an obviously criminal act”.He said “all means are being deployed to find the perpetrator”.The police presence outside Jewish sites in France would be increased following the explosion, the minister added.The blast occurred during Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest that runs from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, with many attending synagogue services.There was, however, no religious service ongoing at the time of the incident, a police source said. A rabbi and four other people were inside the synagogue at the time but all were unharmed, investigators said.The town of La Grande Motte has about 8,500 permanent residents but the population swells during the summer tourism season.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689230/international/france-hunts-suspect-after-synagogue-attack

Film legend Delon buried near his dogs as fans mourn

Film legend Alain Delon was buried on Saturday in a private funeral attended by his children, relatives and close friends as fans mourned outside the gates of his country estate where he was laid to rest near his beloved dogs.

The 88-year-old star of such classics as Le Samourai and Purple Noon, who was once described as “Europe’s James Dean”, died last Sunday.

French police had set up roadblocks near the manor in the village of Douchy, with the airspace overhead also closed for the entire weekend.

The 50 or so mourners allowed into the estate’s private chapel had to leave their mobile phones at the door to ensure strict privacy.

Veteran Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, 86, who starred opposite Delon in The Leopard, was “too sad” to come, her agent told AFP.

“They ask me to put into words (the grief),” she said after his death, “but the sadness is too intense”.

But Rosalie van Breemen, Delon’s ex-wife and mother of his children Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, was present, sources close to proceedings told AFP.

Fans had left countless floral tributes and cards at the manor gates all week, with around a hundred people gathered there on Saturday to say goodbye.

“I wanted to pay him homage, even from behind the gates, on the day of the funeral, as a symbolic gesture,” Marie-Christine Guibert, a neighbour, told AFP.

“I really had to be here,” said Maxime Ducharme, 28. “I inherited a passion for Delon from my parents.”

Delon’s three children — who were with him when he died — told AFP that they were “extremely touched by the fervour and affection shown by his fans in France and across the world.”

Since his death, France has been paying homage to Delon, one of the country’s biggest but most divisive stars.

He was one of the last living legends of a golden era of French cinema in the 1960s.

While he had legions of fans around the world, Delon’s relations with women caused controversy. His sons accused him of domestic violence, which Delon denied while admitting to slapping women.

The actor also drew criticism for supporting Jean-Marie Le Pen, co-founder of the far-right National Front.

Feminists were appalled by the lifetime achievement award the Cannes Film Festival gave him in 2019.

Delon lived his later years largely as a recluse, though his personal life kept him in the headlines.

In 2023, his three children filed a complaint against his live-in assistant Hiromi Rollin, accusing her of harassment and threatening behaviour.

The siblings went on to wage a public battle in the media and the courts, arguing over his health, which worsened after a stroke in 2019.

Even in death, he was still making headlines after it emerged that he asked for his favourite dog to be put down and buried with him.

But his long-time friend and fellow 1960s screen icon Brigitte Bardot said the Belgian malinois called Loubo would be spared.

“The family of Alain Delon have confirmed to us that they will take care of him. Loubo will of course not be euthanised,” her foundation said on the X social media platform.

French TV presenter Stephane Bern said Delon’s wish to be buried with his dogs was very him, comparing him to Frederick the Great of Prussia who did the same.

It was a gesture “of majesty and panache”, he said, “very Delon, worthy of a Leopard who had become a misanthrope.”

“I have absolutely no fear of death,” the actor insisted in 2011, posing for photographs outside the tomb where he intended to be buried.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689229/international/film-legend-delon-buried-near-his-dogs-as-fans-mourn

Zelensky calls Putin ‘sick’, touts new drone missile

President Volodymyr Zelensky touted a newly developed Ukrainian “drone missile” on Saturday that he said would take the war back to Russia and scornfully derided Russia’s Vladimir Putin as a “sick old man from Red Square”.

As Ukraine marked 33 years of post-Soviet independence, Zelensky said the new weapon, Palianytsia, was faster and more powerful than the domestically made drones that Kyiv has so far used to fight back against Russia, striking its oil refineries and military airfields.

“Our enemy will...know what the Ukrainian way for retaliation is. Worthy, symmetrical, long-ranged,” he said.

Zelensky said the new class of Ukrainian weapon had been used for a successful strike on a target in Russia, but did not say where.

He used derisive language to describe Russia’s 71-year-old president and the nuclear rhetoric coming out of Moscow.

“A sick old man from Red Square who constantly threatens everyone with the red button will not dictate any of his red lines to us,” he said in a video on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia, which has attacked Ukraine with many thousands of missiles and drones since it invaded in February 2022, has decried Ukraine’s drone attacks as terrorism. Moscow’s troops are advancing in Ukraine’s east and occupy 18% of the country.

Zelensky has been pressing Kyiv’s allies to allow him to use Western weapons deeper in Russian territory such as to strike airbases used by Russian warplanes that pound Ukraine with missiles and glide bombs.

“I want to stress once more that our new weapon decisions, including Palianytsia, is our realistic way to act while some of our partners are unfortunately delaying decisions,” Zelensky told a news conference.

Ukrainians say the word “Palianytsia”, a type of Ukrainian bread, is too difficult to pronounce for Russians and it has been used — sometimes humorously — during the war as a way to tell Ukrainians and Russians apart.

“It will be very difficult for Russia, difficult to even pronounce what exactly has hit it,” Zelensky said of the drone missile.

In a decree, Zelensky promoted his top commander, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, to the rank of general, a tacit gesture of praise after Ukraine’s lightning cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region launched on August 6.

Slammed by Russia as an escalation and major provocation, Ukraine’s incursion has captured more than 90 settlements in the Kursk region according to Kyiv, the biggest invasion of Russia since World War Two.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Poland’s and Lithuania’s leaders, Zelensky told reporters the operation had in part been a preventive move to stop Russian plans to capture the northern city of Sumy.

Apart from capturing prisoners of war and creating a “buffer zone”, Zelensky said the operation had other objectives that he could not disclose publicly.

Polish president Andrzej Duda confirmed that Polish PT-91 Twardy tanks given to Kyiv by Warsaw were taking part in the fighting in Kursk region.

“We are touched to see how the PT-91 Twardy tanks, given by Poland (to Ukraine) more than one year ago, are defending today Ukraine on the battlefields, fighting in the Kursk region,” he said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689228/international/zelensky-calls-putin-sick-touts-new-drone-missile

Teenager arrested after 3 killed in Germany rampage

Police have detained a teenager who may be connected with a knife attack in which a man killed three people and wounded eight others in the western German city of Solingen, but the perpetrator was still at large on Saturday.

Hendrik Wuest, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, described Friday evening’s attack during a festival in the city as an act of terror.

Police were conducting a manhunt for the assailant. They said they had detained a 15-year-old and were investigating whether this person was linked to the attacker.

“This attack has struck at the heart of our country,” Wuest told reporters.

Interior minister Nancy Faeser said authorities were doing all they could to catch the assailant.

The attack took place in the Fronhof, a market square in Solingen where live bands were playing as part of a festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary.

Markus Caspers, an official with the public prosecutor’s office in Duesseldorf, said authorities were treating the attack as a possible terrorist incident because there was no other known motive and the victims seemed unrelated.

Officials have declined to speculate on what type of motive might be behind the attack.

It was claimed on Saturday by the Islamic State group as “revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere”. In a statement on Telegram, IS’s Amaq news agency said that “the perpetrator of the attack on a gathering of Christians in the city of Solingen in Germany on Saturday was a soldier of the Islamic State” group.

A police official, Thorsten Fleiss, said the assailant appeared to aim for his victims’ throats.

“The perpetrator must be quickly caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a post on X.

Police cordoned off the square on Saturday and passers-by placed candles and flowers outside the barriers.

“We are full of shock and grief,” Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach told journalists.

A German musician who goes by the name Topic said he was playing on a nearby stage when the incident occurred. He was told about what had happened but was asked to keep playing “to avoid causing a mass panic attack”, he posted on Instagram.

He was eventually told to stop, and “since the attacker was still on the run, we hid in a nearby store while police helicopters circled above us,” Topic wrote.

Authorities cancelled the remainder of the weekend festival.

Fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively rare in Germany. The government said earlier this month it wanted to toughen rules on knives that can be carried in public by reducing the maximum length allowed.

In June, a 29-year-old policeman was fatally stabbed in Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration. A stabbing attack on a train in 2021 injured several people.

North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul, visited the scene in Solingen early on Saturday. He told reporters it was a targeted attack on human life.

Solingen, well known for its knife manufacturing industry, is a city of some 165,000 people.

The episode comes ahead of three state elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, in which the anti-immigrant far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a chance of winning.

Though the motive and identity of the assailant were not known, a top AfD candidate for one of the state elections, Bjoern Hoecke, seized on Friday’s attack, posting on X: “Do you really want to get used to this? Free yourselves and end this insanity of forced multiculturalism”.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689227/international/teenager-arrested-after-3-killed-in-germany-rampage

At least 5 Secret Service agents put on leave after Trump assassination bid

Multiple US Secret Service agents have been placed on leave following the assassination attempt against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, US media reported yesterday.The agents put on leave include members of the Pittsburgh field office, which co-ordinated security for Trump’s July 13 campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, RealClearPolitics and several US TV networks said.Fox and CBS reported that at least five Secret Service members involved in the incident, including the head of the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh office, had been put on leave.The Secret Service declined to comment on what it described as a “personnel matter” but said it is “committed to investigating the decisions and actions of personnel related to the event in Butler”.“The US Secret Service’s mission assurance review is progressing, and we are examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure,” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.“The US Secret Service holds our personnel to the highest professional standards, and any identified and substantiated violations of policy will be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility for potential disciplinary action,” he said.Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last month after acknowledging that the agency had failed in its mission to prevent the assassination attempt by a 20-year-old gunman.Trump was wounded in the ear, two rally attendees were seriously injured and a 50-year-old Pennsylvania firefighter was killed before a Secret Service sniper shot the gunman dead.Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials have yet to identify a motive for the suspected shooter, Thomas Crooks.Acting Secret Service chief Ronald Rowe pledged during an appearance before a joint Senate committee last month that the agency will discipline any agents found to have committed policy violations.Following the attack in Butler, the Secret Service recommended that Trump avoid large outdoor events.Trump subsequently said he would continue outdoor rallies and that the Secret Service had “agreed to substantially step up their operation” to protect him.Trump, 78, held his first outdoor rally since the shooting on Wednesday, addressing a campaign event in Asheboro, North Carolina, from behind a pane of bulletproof glass (pictured). – AFP/Reuters

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689165/international/at-least-5-secret-service-agents-put-on-leave-after-trump-assassination-bid

Harris vows ‘new way forward’ for America

Vice-President Kamala Harris sealed the Democratic presidential nomination with a muscular speech, laying down broad foreign policy principles and sharp contrasts with Republican rival Donald Trump with 11 weeks left in the race for the White House.A sea of waving Stars and Stripes flags and chants of “USA” filled the arena as jubilant Democrats anointed Harris.She was later joined on stage by her running mate Tim Walz and their families, as they held their arms aloft while 100,000 red, white and blue balloons tumbled from the ceiling.Country act The Chicks sang a version of The Star-Spangled Banner while pop star Pink also performed as the Democrats rolled out a list of celebrity backers.On the final night of the four-day Democratic National Convention, Harris, 59, promised to be a “realistic”, “practical” president for all Americans, as she battles Trump in a razor-close campaign.“In the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and I know where the United States belongs,” she said on Thursday, accusing Trump of bowing down to dictators.She promised to back the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), Ukraine and “stand up to Putin’s aggression”, a reference to Russia’s president.Harris emerged as the Democratic candidate a month ago when allies of President Joe Biden forced him to quit the race.“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations,” she vowed.Harris then launched a broadside at 78-year-old Trump, whose campaign has been upended by having to face a woman two decades younger, rather than the increasingly frail Biden, 81.“We know what a second Trump term would look like,” she said, saying he wanted to “pull our country back to the past”.It was a forceful speech for a candidate who, during her brief campaign, had yet to articulate much of her vision for the country.Harris has faced a stream of personal attacks from Trump, who called her weak on the foreign stage.After days of protests from Palestinian supporters who were disappointed at not getting a speaking spot at the convention, Harris delivered a pledge to secure Israel, bring the hostages home from Gaza and end the war in the Palestinian enclave.“Now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done,” she said to cheers. “And let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.”She said that she wanted to end the war in a way that provides for Israel security and allows the Palestinian people to realise their right to self-determination.Harris said she would take whatever action was necessary to defend US interests against Iran and said tyrants and dictators including North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, “are rooting for Trump”.If successful, Harris stands to make history as the first woman elected US president on November 5.Harris drew a series of contrasts with Trump, accusing him of not fighting for the middle class, planning to enact a tax hike through his tariff proposals, and having set in motion the end of a constitutional right to abortion with his picks for the US Supreme Court.She noted the Supreme Court’s recent ruling about presidential immunity and the risks that would pose if Trump gained power again.“Just imagine Donald Trump with no guard rails,” the vice-president said.Trump, who had promised to respond to Harris’s speech in real time, posted a series of messages on Truth Social as she spoke about him, including: “She stands for Incompetence and Weakness – Our Country is being laughed at all over the World!” and “She will never be respected by the Tyrants of the World!”Harris also said she will pass a middle class tax cut that will benefit more than 100mn Americans, contrasting that with Trump’s vow to cut the corporate tax rate.She discussed her plans to fight for abortion rights, voting rights legislation, boost the housing supply and ban what she has called “price gouging” by grocers.Her campaign has also proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.Chicago’s United Centre brimmed with energy – and people.The arena’s 23,500 seats were filled and arena staff briefly blocked more people from entering the facility, saying that the city’s fire marshal declared the building at capacity.“With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past – a chance to chart a new way forward,” Harris said to huge cheers. “And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans.”“We did it,” she told supporters at a post-convention reception. “Forward, forward, forward.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689166/international/harris-vows-new-way-forward-for-america

Baby paralysed in Gaza’s first case of type 2 polio in 25 years

A 10-month-old baby in war-shattered Gaza has been paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday, with UN agencies appealing for urgent vaccinations of every baby.The type 2 virus (cVDPV2), while not inherently more dangerous than types 1 and 3, has been responsible for most outbreaks in recent years, especially in areas with low vaccination rates.UN agencies have called for Israel and Gaza’s Hamas to agree to a seven-day humanitarian pause in their 10-month-old war to allow vaccination campaigns to proceed in the territory.“Polio does not distinguish between Palestinian and Israeli children,” the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said yesterday in a post on X.“Delaying a humanitarian pause will increase the risk of spread among children,” Philippe Lazzarini added.The baby, who has lost movement in his lower left leg, is currently in stable condition, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.The WHO has announced that two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign are set to begin in late August and September 2024 across the densely populated Gaza Strip.With its health services widely damaged or destroyed by fighting, and raw sewage spreading amid a breakdown in sanitation infrastructure, Gaza’s population is particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of disease.Gaza’s health ministry first reported the polio case in the unvaccinated 10-month-old baby a week ago in the central city of Deir Al-Balah, an often embattled area in the war.On August 16 Hamas supported a UN request for a seven-day pause in the fighting to vaccinate Gaza children against polio, Hamas political bureau official Izzat al-Rishq said yesterday.Israel, which has laid siege to Gaza since last October and whose ground offensive and bombardments have levelled much of the territory, said days later that it would facilitate the transfer of polio vaccines into Gaza for around 1mn children.The Israeli military’s humanitarian unit (COGAT) said it was co-ordinating with Palestinians to procure 43,000 vials of vaccine – each with multiple doses – for delivery in Israel in the coming weeks for transfer to Gaza.The vaccines should be sufficient for two rounds of doses for more than 1mn children, COGAT added.As well as allowing the entry of polo specialists into Gaza, the UN has said a successful campaign would require transport for vaccines and refrigeration equipment at every step as well as conditions that would allow the campaign to reach children in every area of the rubble-clogged territory.Poliomyelitis, a virus primarily spread through the faecal-oral route, can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.Traces of polio virus were detected last month in sewage in Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, two areas in southern and central Gaza that have seen hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the fighting seek shelter.Children under five are particularly at risk.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689163/international/baby-paralysed-in-gazas-first-case-of-type-2-polio-in-25-years

Disappeared Bangladeshi lawyer recounts horror in secret jail

Blindfolded, handcuffed and bundled out of his secret prison for the first time in eight years, Bangladeshi barrister Ahmad Bin Quasem held his breath and listened for the sound of a cocked pistol.Instead, he was tossed from a car and into a muddy ditch on Dhaka’s outskirts — alive, at liberty, and with no knowledge of the national upheaval that had prompted his abrupt release.“That’s the first time I got fresh air in eight years,” Quasem, 40, told AFP. “I thought they were going to kill me.”Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister responsible for Quasem’s abduction and disappearance, had fled the country hours earlier.Her August 5 departure brought a sudden curtain down on 15 years of autocracy that included the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of her political opponents.But Quasem was in the dark.He had been confined in the “House of Mirrors” (Aynaghar), a facility run by army intelligence, given its name because its detainees were never supposed to see any other person besides themselves.Throughout his long incarceration, Quasem was shackled around the clock in windowless solitary confinement.His jailers were under strict instruction not to relay news from the outside world.‘Screaming’Elsewhere in the detention centre, guards blared music throughout the day that drowned out the Islamic call to prayer from nearby mosques.It prevented Quasem, a devout Muslim, from knowing when he should offer his prayers — and from keeping track of how long had elapsed since his abduction.When the music was off, he heard the anguished sounds of other detainees.“Slowly, slowly, I could realise that I am not alone,” he said. “I could hear people crying, I could hear people being tortured, I could hear people screaming.”Human Rights Watch last year said security forces had committed “over 600 enforced disappearances” since Hasina came to power in 2009.Rumours abounded of a secret black site housing some of that number, but Aynaghar was unknown to the public until the publication abroad of a 2022 whistleblower report.Hasina’s government consistently maintained afterwards that it did not exist.It also denied committing enforced disappearances, claiming some of those reported missing had drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe.‘Days before my father’s execution’Quasem is certain of the reason for his abduction.His father, Mir Quasem Ali, a senior member of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, was on trial that year.Ali was accused of running a paramilitary group that tortured pro-independence Bangladeshis during the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.He and several others were indicted by a war crimes tribunal, ostensibly to bring justice to the victims of that devastating conflict, but widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate political opponents.Whether or not Ali was guilty, there was no way of knowing from the mockery of justice that accompanied his prosecution.Quasem, called to the bar in London and then aged 32, was running his father’s defence.His regular media briefings on procedural lapses and judicial bias at the tribunal, echoed by rights groups and UN experts, put a target on his back.Plainclothes men entered his house one night, snatched him from his family, dragged him down the stairs and threw him in a waiting car.“I never could believe in my wildest dreams that they would subject me to disappearance just days before my father’s execution,” Quasem said.“I kept telling them, “Do you know who I am? I need to be there to conduct my case. I need to be there with my family.’”Quasem’s father was hanged four weeks later. Quasem did not know until about three more years had passed, when one of his jailers accidentally let it slip.‘It felt like eight lifetimes’After the car that had carried him out of prison sped away, Quasem walked through the night to try and find his way home.By sheer coincidence, he came across a medical clinic operated by a charity for which his father had once been a trustee.He was recognised by a staff member and a phone number was frantically tracked down to contact his family, who came rushing to be with him.But first, the excited chatter of those around him filled Quasem in on the weeks of student protests that had resulted in his release.“This entire thing, it was made possible by few teenagers,” he said.“When I see these children, these kids, leading the way,” he added, “I am really hopeful this will be the opportunity where Bangladesh finds a new direction.”Quasem and his family received AFP warmly into their home — but the trauma of his detention was immediately apparent.The thick, coiffed hairdo he sported before his detention has receded into a few wild tufts, and he has lost an alarming amount of weight.His wife Tahmina Akhter said the publicity around Quasem’s case left her feeling ostracised by other mothers at their children’s school.The family was reliably hounded every anniversary of his disappearance and warned to stop publicising it.His two young daughters were three and four years old when he was taken away.The elder witnessed his abduction and is still scared of certain authority figures, such as the private security guard posted outside her school.The younger did not remember him at all.“It didn’t feel like eight years for us,” Quasem’s mother Ayesha Khatoon told AFP.“It felt like eight lifetimes.” - AFP

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689107/international/disappeared-bangladeshi-lawyer-recounts-horror-in-secret-jail

Record-breaking Nepali teen eyes final 8,000m peak

At just 18 years old, Nepali mountaineer Nima Rinji Sherpa is on the brink of a remarkable achievement. With 13 of the world’s highest peaks already behind him, he is now one summit away from becoming the youngest person to conquer all 14 mountains towering above 8,000m (26,247 feet).Sherpa, who already holds multiple records from his ascents of dozens of peaks, said he is on a mission to “inspire a new generation and redefine mountaineering”. His final challenge, Shishapangma in Tibet, awaits him next month - if China issues a permit.Summiting all 14 “eight-thousanders” is considered the epitome of mountaineering aspirations. Italian climber Reinhold Messner first completed the feat in 1986, and only around 40 climbers have successfully followed in his footsteps. Many other elite climbers have died in the pursuit. All of the mountains are in the Himalayas and neighbouring Karakoram range, which span Nepal, China, India and Pakistan.Reaching each summit requires entering the thin air of the “death zone”, where there is not enough oxygen to sustain life for long. “When I am in the mountains, I may die anytime,” Sherpa said. “You need to realise how important your life is.” The young man says the mountains have taught him to stay calm.“Mentally, I have convinced myself...when I see an avalanche, bad weather, an accident in the mountains I am not in a hurry, I don’t get nervous,” he added. “I have convinced myself; this is normal in the mountains. I think this has helped me a lot.”Hailing from the Sherpa ethnic group, renowned for its mountaineering prowess, the teenage climber is no stranger to the treacherous terrain. His uncle, Mingma Gyabu ‘David’ Sherpa, currently holds the record of the youngest person to climb all 14 peaks. He achieved it in 2019, at the age of 30.His father, Tashi Sherpa, grew up in the remote Sankhuwasabha district, herding yaks before joining mountaineering as a teenager with his siblings. The entrepreneurial brothers now lead the biggest mountain expedition company in Nepal, Seven Summit Treks, and its sister company, 14 Peaks Expedition.“I come from a privileged family,” the teen climber said. “But going to the mountains has taught me what hardship is, and the real value of life”. Raised in the bustling capital Kathmandu, Sherpa initially preferred to play football. He was also more interested in filming and photography than following his father’s footsteps.“My whole family is from mountaineering. I have always been near mountaineering and expeditions,” he said. “But I never wanted to be myself in mountaineering.”Instead, he would take his camera out to the mountains during school holidays.But two years ago, he put his camera down to pursue mountaineering, and has since broken records.In August 2022, Sherpa scaled his first of the 14 peaks, reaching the top of the world’s eighth highest Mount Manaslu (8,163m) at the age of 16, the first teenager to do so.The last mountain he scaled was Kanchenjunga in June, again making a record for the youngest to climb the world’s third-highest mountain.“I have learned so many things about nature, the human body, human psychology”, he said. “Everything in the world I learnt from the mountain.”When not in the mountains, the student runs on the treadmill every day and avoids junk food. “Physically and mentally, you should be very fit for big mountain climbing,” his father Tashi Sherpa said, adding he had been helping him prepare for the challenge for years.“He will inspire newcomers,” he added.Nepali guides - usually ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest - are considered the backbone of the climbing industry in the Himalayas. They carry the majority of equipment and food, fix ropes and repair ladders.Long in the shadows of their paying foreign customers - it costs more than $45,000 to climb Everest - Nepali mountaineers are slowly being recognised in their own right.The teenager envisions a future where climbing is recognised as a demanding, athletic pursuit for Nepali climbers as well. “My focus will be to make mountaineering a professional sport,” he said.His hero is Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first person to climb the world’s highest mountain Everest along with New Zealander Edmund Hillary. Sherpa considers his idol as big to climbing as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo are to football. “Norgay is someone who is in that league,” he said.But, having seen the impacts of climate change and commercial climbing on the mountains, he is keen on taking a sustainable approach to mountaineering, and intends to study environmental science. “It’s a bigger purpose for what I do,” he said. “When I first started climbing, it was purely for myself,” he added. “But then I realised there is a lot we can do in mountaineering sports, and there are many ways to help the community.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689059/international/record-breaking-nepali-teen-eyes-final-8000m-peak

20 Pakistanis killed in bus accident in Iran

Twenty Pakistanis were killed and 22 others were injured in a bus accident in Yazd province in central Iran.According to initial reports, the accident occurred in the city of Taft in Yazd province, when a bus carrying 53 people overturned and caught fire due to brake failure, Iran News Agency (IRNA) reported.Rescue teams arrived at the accident site and recovered the bodies of the victims, while the injured people were transferred to the hospital for treatment.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689021/international/20-pakistanis-killed-in-bus-accident-in-iran

Africa could start mpox vaccinations within days

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other African countries could start vaccinating against mpox within days, Africa’s top public health agency said yesterday.The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has been working with countries experiencing mpox outbreaks on logistics and communication strategies to roll out vaccine doses that are due to arrive following pledges by the European Union, vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic, the United States and Japan.The World Health Organisation last week declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the disease spread rapidly in Africa.“We didn’t start vaccinations yet. We’ll start in a few days, if we are sure that everything is in place. End of next week vaccines will start to arrive in DRC and other countries,” Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya told a briefing.“We need to make sure that the supply chain management, the logistics are ready...to ensure that this vaccine will be safely stored and can be safely administered to people who need them.”He said studies on the efficacy of different vaccines would continue in Africa while shots are being administered, so countries better understand which shots are appropriate in their context.African states reported more than 1,400 additional mpox cases over the past week, taking the total number of cases in the 12 African countries where mpox has been detected to almost 19,000 since the start of the 2024, an Africa CDC presentation showed.Cases are up more than 100% on the same period last year, and Kaseya said it was too early to say mpox outbreaks on the continent were improving.Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can kill. More than one strain is spreading simultaneously in Africa.Kaseya said African countries wanted solidarity, rather than being treated unfairly like during the Covid-19 pandemic.“I clearly request our partners to stop thinking about travel bans against Africans, that one will bring us back on the unfair treatment that we had during the Covid time,” he said.“Solidarity means we need you to provide appropriate support in terms of medical counter-measures,” he added, saying African countries needed help increasing their testing rate as well as accessing vaccines.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689007/international/africa-could-start-mpox-vaccinations-within-days