KATHMANDU: A flooded river swept away part of a small village in northeastern Nepal yesterday, killing seven people, a local police official said.
Heavy rain overnight swelled the river, which washed away four houses in the village in Ramechhap district while people were sleeping, police official Bimal Raj Kandel said.
Six people were also injured and one person reported missing, Kandel said.
Efforts to reach the village were being hampered by flooding elsewhere in the district, he said.
US military help ‘postponed’
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia is disputing a US claim that it has suspended or cancelled international military cooperation programmes with Washington in the wake of the country’s recent disputed election. Lt Gen Nem Sowath, the senior officer in charge of political and foreign policy for the Defence Ministry, said yesterday that Cambodia had neither suspended nor cancelled participation in such programmes.
He said military activities were postponed by mutual agreement because Cambodia was not prepared.
New bird flu death in China
BEIJING: A Chinese woman infected with the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus died of multiple organ failure, a Beijing hospital said, bringing the total fatalities from the disease to 45.
The 61-year-old tested positive for the virus on July 20 after she fell ill in Hebei province in northern China.
She was taken to Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital for treatment and died on Sunday.
A total of 134 cases have now been confirmed on the Chinese mainland.
Russian hiker goes missing
JAKARTA: A Russian hiker has been missing since the weekend after trying to climb Indonesia’s most active volcano, an official said yesterday.
Ehbrewhnin Yevgeniy set off on Saturday to trek up Mount Merapi, on the main island of Java, but had not returned, rescue agency spokesman Teguh Supriadi said.
Around 50 rescuers were hunting for the 26-year-old, said the spokesman.
Man who killed protester freed
BEIJING: A truck driver jailed for crushing a Chinese village chief to death in a case that inspired a film by dissident artist Ai Weiwei has been released early, media yesterday.
Fei Liangyu was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in February 2011. But his sentence was reduced because of “good behaviour” and he was released on June 24, said the Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily.
Thailand bomb attack kills one
BANGKOK: A policeman was killed and nine other people wounded yesterday in a bomb attack in Thailand’s insurgency-hit deep south, officials said, as authorities vowed talks with rebels will continue.
The roadside bomb was detonated by suspected insurgents targeting police who had been called to the scene of a failed ambush on a senior local official in Sungai Padi district, Narathiwat province. A sergeant died on the way to hospital after the bomb exploded.
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