Nepal to send aircraft to Israel to bring back stranded students
Kathmandu, Oct 11: The Nepal government has decided to send a Nepal Airlines aircraft to Israel to bring back over 250 Nepalese students who are stranded in the country following the surprise attack by Hamas militants. An aircraft of Nepal Airlines, the national flag carrier, will leave Kathmandu for Jerusalem at 2 a.m. on Thursday to bring back 288 Nepalese students, who have registered their names in the Nepalese Embassy in Israel, expressing their desire to safely return their home, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sewa Lamsal. Foreign Minister N.P. Saud will also travel on the same flight. However, the dead bodies of 10 Nepalese students killed by Hamas during Saturday’s terror attack will not be brought on the aircraft. As the process of handing over the bodies of those killed is not yet completed by the Israeli government, we have to wait for some time to bring back the dead bodies, Lamsal said during a press conference. “We will give priority to students while repatriating Nepalese nationals from the war-torn country,” spokesperson Lamsal said. (PTI)
6.3 magnitude quake shakes Afghanistan anew
Chahak, Oct 11: Another strong earthquake shook western Afghanistan on Wednesday morning after an earlier one killed more than 2,000 people and flattened whole villages in Herat province in what was one of the most destructive quakes in the country’s recent history. The magnitude 6.3 earthquake on Wednesday was about 28 kilometers (17 miles) outside Herat, the provincial capital, and 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep, according to the US Geological Survey. It triggered a landslide that blocked the main Herat-Torghondi highway, Information Ministry spokesman Abdul Wahid Rayan said. The aid group Doctors Without Borders said the Herat regional hospital received 117 injured from Wednesday’s temblor. The group, also known by its French acronym MSF, said it sent additional medical supplies to the hospital and was setting up four more medical tents at the facility. “Our teams are assisting in triaging emergency cases and managing stabilised patients admitted in the medical tents,” MSF said on X, formerly known as Twitter. (AP)
French troops start to leave from Niger post coup
Cotonou, Oct 11: French troops have started leaving Niger more than two months after mutinous soldiers toppled the African country’s democratically elected president, the military said Wednesday. The French didn’t specify how many troops were departing or where they were headed. Late Tuesday, Niger’s state television broadcast images of a convoy leaving a base in Ouallam in the country’s north, saying it was bound for neighbouring Chad, to the east. French military transport aircraft were also shown departing from an airbase in the capital, Niamey. The departure comes weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will end its military presence in Niger and pull its ambassador out of the country as a result of the coup that removed President Mohamed Bazoum in late July. (AP)