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Days of ferocious snowstorms and an avalanche in Nepal’s treacherous Himalayan peaks have killed nine people, including five Italian climbers, officials said Tuesday.The deaths occurred in two separate accidents since Friday.On Monday, an avalanche hit a group of 12 people at the base camp of 5,630-metre (18,471-foot) Yalung Ri peak, in central Nepal near the border with China.Seven people died in that disaster, including three Italians, two Nepalis, a German and a French climber, Phurba Tenjing Sherpa, from expedition organiser Dreamers Destination, told AFP.Sherpa, whose company had arranged the expedition for some of the group, said he had “seen all the seven bodies”. The rest of the group were rescued and airlifted to the capital Kathmandu on Tuesday morning, said senior police officer Gyan Kumar Mahato, from Dolakha district.Those rescued included two French climbers and two Nepalis, who were recovering in hospital.Survivors recounted to AFP how “slabs” of ice smashed into the group as they clung on the mountain, burying some under the snow.- ‘Crashing down’ -“Suddenly we heard a loud noise, and the slabs came crashing down, and we were caught in them,” French climber Didier Armand Berton, 61, told AFP from hospital, where he was recovering from broken ribs.”I think we were saved because we were the group highest on the summit, and the others below couldn’t escape. We jumped over a large rock face, four to five meters high,” he added.He described how the survivors managed to rescue a guide, trapped under the snow, “by digging with an ice axe”.French climber Christian Manfredi, 69, died after he was hit on the head by a rock. “I was under the snow, but not a lot. Just a little. But Christian died because of the rock (which hit) his head,” his wife Isabelle Thaon said from her hospital bed. Thaon, 54, said the avalanche felt like “a wave of snow”. “I swim a lot. And I think this is why I am alive,” Thaon said.In an earlier incident in western Nepal, two Italian climbers died while attempting to scale the 6,887-metre (22,595-foot) Panbari mountain.The men had been out of contact since Friday. Italy’s foreign ministry named them on Tuesday as Alessandro Caputo and Stefano Farronato.”Their deaths were confirmed this morning by local authorities,” the statement read. “The compatriots had been caught in heavy snowfall at Camp 1 (5,000 metres above sea level).”Home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks, including Mount Everest, Nepal welcomes hundreds of climbers and trekkers every year.Autumn season is the second most popular time for Himalayan expeditions, despite shorter, colder days, snowy terrain and a narrow summit window compared to the busy spring.Last week, Cyclone Montha triggered heavy rain and snowfall across Nepal, leaving trekkers and tourists stranded on popular Himalayan trekking routes.According to the Himalayan Database, an expedition archive, at least 1,093 people have died on peaks since 1950, with avalanches killing almost a third of them.

Pakistan on Tuesday welcomed dozens of Sikh pilgrims from India, AFP journalists saw, in the first major crossing since deadly clashes in May closed the land border between the nuclear-armed neighbours.More than 2,100 pilgrims were granted visas to attend a 10-day festival marking 556th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith, Pakistan’s High Commission (embassy) in New Delhi said last week.Tensions remain high between Islamabad and New Delhi after the worst fighting since 1999 took place in May, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drone and artillery exchanges.The Wagah-Attari border — the only active land crossing between the two countries — was closed to general traffic following the violence.Pilgrims queued up on the Indian side of the border on Tuesday morning, some carrying their luggage on their heads, as the Indian Border Security Force looked on.AFP journalists on the Pakistani side of the Wagah-Attari border saw dozens of them entering Pakistan.They were received by Pakistani officials who presented them with flowers and showered them with rose petals.Indian media reported around 1,700 were due to cross into Pakistan, although there was no immediate official confirmation from Indian authorities.The pilgrims will gather on Wednesday at Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak’s birthplace about 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Lahore by road, and later visit other sacred sites in Pakistan, including Kartarpur, where the guru is buried.Pakistan’s High Commission had said last week its decision was consistent with efforts to promote “inter-religious and inter-cultural harmony and understanding”.Indian newspapers reported Saturday that the government would allow “selected” groups to travel to Pakistan.The Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free route that opened in 2019 that allows Indian Sikhs to visit the temple without crossing the main border, remains closed since the conflict.The four-day clashes between the arch-rivals broke out in May after New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing an attack targeting tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, claims Pakistan denied.Sikhism is a monotheistic religion born in the 15th century in Punjab, a region spanning parts of what is now India and Pakistan.The frontier between the two countries was a colonial creation drawn at the violent end of British rule in 1947, which sliced the subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.While most Sikhs migrated to India during partition, some of their most revered places of worship ended up in Pakistan, including the shrines in Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur.

Recent raids on one of Myanmar’s most notorious internet scam hubs sparked a recruitment rush as fleeing workers scrambled to enlist at nearby fraud factories, experts and insiders told AFP.Online scam hubs have mushroomed across Southeast Asia, draining unsuspecting victims of billions of dollars annually in elaborate romance and crypto cons.Many workers are trafficked into the internet sweatshops, analysts say, but others go willingly to secure attractive salaries.Late October raids roiled Myanmar fraud factory KK Park, sending more than 1,500 people fleeing over the border to Thailand — but many stayed behind to pursue new opportunities in the black market.A Chinese voluntary scam worker told AFP that a few hundred people who left KK Park arrived at his own compound three kilometres (two miles) away on October 23 — lured by monthly salaries of up to $1,400. The man spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, but shared with AFP a live location on a messaging app showing he was in Myanmar, near the Thai border. “Some people will be picked up by unscrupulous bosses, while others will be picked up by good companies,” he said. “It all depends on your luck.”Jason Tower, senior expert at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, told AFP many KK Park scammers have simply been “re-recruited” by other gangs.”There are some people looking for a new location to engage in scamming from,” he said. “They might see this as a job.”- ‘Our chance to escape’ -Webs of anonymous crypto payments and chronic under-reporting by embarrassed victims make losses to scam centres hard to quantify. But victims in Southeast and East Asia alone were conned out of up to $37 billion in 2023, according to a UN report, which said global losses were likely “much larger”.War-torn Myanmar’s loosely governed border regions have proven particularly fertile ground for the hubs.The embattled junta — which seized power in a 2021 coup — has been accused of turning a blind eye to scam centres enriching its domestic militia allies.But it has also faced pressure to curb the black market by its international backer China, galled at hubs recruiting as well as targeting its citizens.Last month, the junta said its troops had occupied around 200 buildings in KK Park and found more than 2,000 scammers.Analysts say the raid was likely limited and heavily choreographed — designed to vent pressure to take action without too badly denting profits.But it nonetheless prompted an exodus of 1,500 people from 28 nationalities into Thailand, according to provincial Thai authorities.Among them were around 500 Indian nationals and around 200 Filipinos.Authorities face the daunting task of discerning trafficking victims from willing scammers.Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, one Filipino man described fleeing KK Park on October 22 with around 30 compatriots as a pro-junta militia arrived to aid the crackdown.”Everyone ran outside,” he said. “This was our chance to escape.”Grabbing what few possessions he could, the man fled the compound he says he was trafficked into and crossed by boat to western Thailand.- Sold for scamming -With one expert estimating around 20,000 people had been working in KK Park — the vast majority believed to be Chinese nationals — those who fled to Thailand likely made up less than 10 percent.But those who stayed behind are not necessarily willing participants.After the KK Park exodus, the Chinese scammer at the nearby compound told AFP local armed groups scrambled to cash in — with unemployed scammers “sold” to other operations for up to $70,000.Whether they are willing workers being headhunted or human trafficking victims is unclear.The scammer who spoke to AFP reported hearing “booms every evening” after the raids, but dismissed it as “all for show” rather than a meaningful crackdown by Myanmar authorities.And with the continuing flow of scam workers — willing or coerced — rights advocates say the problem can only be solved by targeting the Chinese bosses running the show.”(They) must be arrested, prosecuted, and have all their assets seized,” Jay Kritiya from the Civil Society Network for Human Trafficking Victims Assistance told AFP.”That’s the real crackdown.”

Manoozh Noori said she “wanted to die” when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. That meant she could no longer do what she loved most: playing football.Noori, now 22, fled the country where the United Nations say authorities have implemented a “gender apartheid”, and has been playing in a team of Afghan refugee women, recently taking part in a first-of-its-kind tournament in Morocco.”I had asked myself: do I want to stay in this country with people who want to forbid women from studying, from playing football, from doing anything?” Noori told AFP.The Taliban authorities, who say that women’s rights are protected by Islamic law, have banned girls and women from schools beyond the age of 12, and also from most jobs and public services — and from playing sports.Noori had defied family pressure to represent Afghanistan professionally by playing for the country’s national women’s squad before a Taliban government returned to power.She said she buried her trophies and medals in her family’s backyard and left the country for Australia.Noori’s team, Afghan Women United, was formed between Europe and Australia, where other teammates have also been living since 2021.- ‘A beautiful story’ -The team played their first international matches at the FIFA Unites: Women’s Series late last month in Morocco — and Noori scored the team’s first goal in the opening game against Chad.They went on to lose both to Chad and Tunisia although they registered a big 7-0 win against Libya. But the tournament overall was a major win for the Afghan women.FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who attended one of their games, described their participation as “a beautiful story” that the women were writing “for so many girls and women all over the world”.Nilab Mohammadi, a 28-year-old striker and former soldier who also represented the Afghan national team, said football was “not just a sport — it represents life and hope”.”There is no more freedom in Afghanistan, especially for Afghan women,” Mohammadi added. “But now, we are going to be their voice.”Twenty-year-old midfielder Mina Ahmadi said “a dream was taken away from us” back home, “but when FIFA recognised us, it was as if a part of that dream came true”.”This new adventure is a happy moment for us,” added Ahmadi, who is now studying medical sciences in Australia. “It won’t stop anytime soon, because we will keep moving forward.”- ‘Just to play football’ -FIFA has yet to decide whether the refugee team can compete in official international matches as representing Afghanistan, but the players remain determined to get there.The Afghan Women United now have one goal: to have the squad recognised by FIFA as the Afghan national women’s team since women in the country are not allowed to play the game.”These women are incredible,” said Aish Ravi, a researcher on gender equity in sports who worked with several of the players when they first arrived in Australia in 2021.”They are strong and inspiring,” she added. “They’ve had to overcome enormous adversity just to play football.”This sport is more than a game,” Ravi said. “It symbolises freedom for them.”Ahmadi said she dreamed of playing in Europe one day, but being far from home can prove difficult.”It’s very hard to get used to a country where you didn’t grow up,” she said. “You miss your family and friends… But we have to keep moving forward.”

Thousands were evacuated in coastal provinces of the Philippines on Monday, ahead of a typhoon due to make landfall in a region hit by some of the country’s deadliest storms.Typhoon Kalmaegi is on a collision course with Leyte island, bringing 120-kilometre (75-mile) per hour winds and gusts of up to 150 kph, according to the national weather service.”Evacuations are ongoing in Palo and Tanauan,” said Leyte disaster official Roel Montesa, naming two of the towns hardest hit by storm surges in 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people.Thousands of residents have also been evacuated since Sunday on neighbouring Samar island, where three-metre (10-foot) surges are predicted, according to civil defence official Randy Nicart.”Some local governments are resorting to forced evacuations, including Guiuan town, where the storm is likely to make landfall,” he said.The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking disaster-prone areas where millions live in poverty.With Kalmaegi, the archipelago country has already reached that average, state weather service specialist Charmaine Varilla told AFP, adding that at least “three to five more” storms could be expected by December’s end.Just south of Leyte, in Dinagat Islands province, governor Nilo Demerey said 10,000 to 15,000 people had been pre-emptively moved to safer areas.”We have been implementing preemptive evacuations for the past two days, while there is time,” he told AFP.Disaster official Joy Conales said residents of Dinagat’s Loreto town were told to evacuate to higher ground.The town has a one-storey-tall “wave breaker” dike intended to protect its centre from big waves.Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change.Varilla said Monday that higher numbers of cyclones typically accompany La Nina, a naturally occurring climate pattern that cools surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.The Philippines was hit by two major storms in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which toppled trees and tore the roofs off buildings, and killed 14 people in neighbouring Taiwan. 

A strong earthquake killed at least 20 people in northern Afghanistan, authorities said Monday, just months after another deadly tremor that left the country reeling.The 6.3-magnitude quake struck overnight at a depth of 28 kilometres (17 miles) with the epicentre near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the US Geological Survey.”All the houses were struck and people were hurt,” resident Ahmad Khan told AFP in Tashqurghan village as people searched through the rubble.”We’re asking the government to help with reconstruction.”Across Samangan and Balkh provinces “534 people have been injured and more than 20 fatalities have been taken to hospitals”, health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman told journalists.In Mazar-i-Sharif, one of Afghanistan’s largest northern cities, an AFP correspondent saw residents scrambling out into the streets.The city’s famed Blue Mosque, a 15th-century landmark known for its vibrant tiles, was also damaged.Pieces of the structure, particularly from one of its minarets, broke off and lay scattered across the mosque’s grounds, one of the country’s few remaining tourist spots.The culture ministry pledged to immediately take “the necessary measures to assess and repair the damage”.Correspondents in the capital Kabul, around 420 kilometres by road to the south, also felt shaking.Poor communication networks and infrastructure in mountainous Afghanistan have hampered disaster responses in the past, preventing authorities for hours or even days from reaching far-flung villages to assess the extent of the damage.- ‘Fear and uncertainty’ -The defence ministry said it had cleared and reopened the main road between Mazar-i-Sharif and the town of Kholm, and that it had rescued people who had been stranded there overnight.”Numerous homes have been destroyed, and significant material losses have been incurred,” Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban authorities, wrote on X, without specifying a number.It is the latest natural disaster for the Taliban government, which has faced three major deadly earthquakes since taking over Afghanistan in 2021, even as the foreign aid that formed the backbone of the country’s economy has dramatically dropped.In August, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in the country’s east wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people.According to the World Bank, the August earthquake caused an estimated $183 million worth of damage to buildings and infrastructure.The UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, estimates 221,000 people are still in “acute need” of assistance in the east.Save the Children, which is dispatching a team to Samangan, warned “thousands of children in the earthquake-devastated east of the country are facing the winter with only tents for protection”.”Now, families in the north are also experiencing fear and uncertainty,” said Samira Sayed Rahman, the charity’s programme development and advocacy director for Afghanistan.Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.Large tremors in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and in eastern Nangarhar province in 2022 killed hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes.Many homes in the predominantly rural country — devastated by decades of war — are shoddily built.Afghanistan is suffering from a humanitarian crisis compounded by drought, economic restrictions on the banking sector, and the pushback of millions of Afghan citizens from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.The United Nations and aid agencies have warned that hunger is rising.

India’s historic Women’s World Cup victory has sparked an excitement which it is hoped will inspire the next generation and draw new fans to the sport.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expected to meet the winners on Wednesday, believes the “historic win will motivate future champions to take up sports”.Hosts India defeated South Africa by 52 runs on Sunday, claiming their first-ever Women’s World Cup.At the top level, gender parity has long been championed by former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah, who introduced equal match fees for men and women.The 50-over World Cup also boasted a record $13.88 million prize purse, eclipsing the men’s total from two years ago.Shah, now International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman, hailed the win, citing the BCCI’s “increased investment, pay parity with male cricketers (and), overhaul of the coaching staff”.Former India skipper Mithali Raj described it as the culmination of years of effort.”For every person standing behind a young girl who dares to dream of wearing India’s colours, this is a pivotal moment, a reminder that dreams do come true,” she wrote, posting a photograph of herself embracing the trophy.- ‘Women’s fast-growing influence’ -Despite the triumph, women’s sports in India still have far to go and the impact of the World Cup win may be gradual.”The gender gap is stark, especially during adolescence and early adulthood,” according to a 2024 State of Sports and Physical Activity report, backed by global consultancy firm Dalberg.”The largest gender gaps unsurprisingly occur when caregiving responsibilities increase,” it adds, citing household chores and care of children or the elderly.The UN children’s agency, in partnership with the ICC, sought to use the World Cup to “create equal opportunities for every girl and boy”, Unicef representative to India Cynthia McCaffrey said.”As a cricketer, I know how the sport is a great equaliser,” India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said, who joined the Unicef campaign.Women now make up more than a third of India’s estimated 655 million sports fans.A 2024 Deloitte and Google study found women —  236 million fans, or 36 percent — are shaping the sports market, debunking the notion of a male-only fanbase.India’s Women’s Premier League (WPL), staged first in 2023, delivered the BCCI roughly $700 million in franchise and media rights alone.- ‘Girls are not fragile’ -Young women cricketers say the World Cup success will strengthen their sport.At a net session in a New Delhi cricket academy, a bouncer slammed into Armeet Kaur’s helmet, prompting a flurry of concerned apologies.The 20-year-old brushed them off and told the bowler to carry on. The next ball, she stepped out of her crease and lofted it clean.”Girls are not fragile,” she said. “And the good thing is that people know that now —  after seeing women’s cricket on TV. That matters because what people think does have a bearing on the world.”Kaur credited systemic changes in women’s cricket for India’s success.”Now the money is almost at par with men’s cricket, and there are more tournaments for women at all levels,” she said. “The good thing is that people no longer discourage girls from playing.”The World Cup drew record viewers: the first 13 matches attracted more than 60 million viewers, five times the 2022 edition.While modest for the world’s most populous nation, it signals growing interest in women’s cricket.That means Indian girls can see cricket as a viable career.”I started playing because it was my passion,” said Ishita Singh. “But now I want it to be my full-time profession.”Singh, 20, said she could confidently claim to be speaking on behalf of many of her peers.”There were only two of us in the academy when I started playing some eight years ago,” she said. “Now there are so many.”But Singh said she wished there were even more.”Not enough girls play in India still,” she said.”And I want that to change.”

Former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia will contest elections expected in February, her influential political party said Monday.The 80-year-old has been a dominant figure for decades in the country’s turbulent power struggles, and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party is seen as the frontrunner in the elections.Her participation was announced by Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, a senior BNP leader, who said she will contest in three constituencies.The uncompromising leader has been in poor health following years of imprisonment under her arch-enemy Sheikh Hasina, who was overthrown in a mass uprising in August 2024.Zia, who led Bangladesh three times, was jailed for corruption in 2018 under Hasina’s government, which also blocked her from travelling abroad for medical treatment. She was released last year, shortly after Hasina was forced from power.Her son, Tarique Rahman, 59, who has been in Britain since 2008, will also run, Alamgir told reporters.Rahman, known in Bangladesh as Tarique Zia, has lived in London since 2008, saying he fled politically-motivated persecution. He is yet to return to Bangladesh.Since Hasina’s fall, Rahman has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him; a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a Hasina rally, which he always denied.For decades, Bangladesh’s politics has been defined by the bitter rivalry between Zia and Hasina — a feud dubbed the “Battle of the Begums”, an honorific title in South Asia for a powerful woman.The hatred traces back to the 1975 assassination of Hasina’s father, independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with most of her family, in a coup.Three months later, Zia’s husband, Ziaur Rahman, then deputy army chief, effectively took control. He became president in 1977. He was himself assassinated in 1981.Zia, then a 35-year-old mother of two, inherited the BNP leadership.Initially dismissed as a political novice, Zia proved a formidable opponent, rallying against military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad, and later joining forces with Hasina to oust him in 1990.The two women alternated in power for the next decade and a half.

India’s cricket board on Monday announced a cash reward of $5.75 million for the women’s team after their triumphant World Cup campaign.Hosts India beat South Africa by 52 runs in front of a sell-out home crowd at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium on Sunday to lift their first one-day international (ODI) World Cup.Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia told AFP that the money was awarded “as a token of appreciation for the women’s team”, and would be spread across the players, support staff and selectors involved.The Indian women, who triumphed at the third attempt after finishing runners-up in 2005 and 2017, have already received $4.48 million in prize money from the International Cricket Council (ICC) — a  239 percent increase from the $1.32 million awarded to Australia in 2022. This edition of the Women’s World Cup boasted an overall purse of $13.88 million, eclipsing the total $10 million for the last edition of the men’s championship.India toiled in the league phase and suffered three successive defeats, but clinched the last semi-final spot, before knocking out record seven-time champions and heavy favourites Australia.Fans celebrated the victory at home and on the streets, with crowds in Delhi waving Indian flags and setting off fireworks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the “historic win will motivate future champions to take up sports”.

Shafali Verma was initially dropped from India’s Women’s World Cup squad but the opener returned as an injury replacement to star in the title win and etch her name in history.The 21-year-old batter scored an attacking 87 and took two crucial wickets with her part-time off-spin against South Africa in Sunday’s final in Mumbai.She was named player of the match for her all-round blitz as India won their maiden Women’s World Cup title at a packed DY Patil Stadium. Verma has given India many blazing starts since her international debut aged just 16 but fell out of favour with the selectors in the 50-over format because of patchy form.However, fate had different plans and an injury to in-form opener Pratika Rawal in the last league match forced India to replace her with Verma.Verma made just 10 in India’s stunning victory over holders Australia in the semi-finals but rose to the occasion in the title clash with her career-best ODI score.”I said at the start that God has sent me here to do something nice, and that reflected today,” Verma said.”It was difficult but I had confidence in myself — that if I can stay calm, I could achieve everything.”On a day when Verma could do no wrong, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur handed her the ball in the 20th over and she delivered immediately with the wicket of Sune Luus, caught and bowled for 25.She then got Marizanne Kapp caught behind on a ball sliding down the leg side in her next over.”We had spoken to her that if needed she will bowl one or two overs and in reply she said, ‘I am ready to bowl 10 overs’,” Kaur revealed.”That showed her confidence in bowling. I gave her the bowl at a crucial time and the back-to-back breakthroughs was the turning point for us.”- Next superstar -It has been a roller-coaster ride for Verma, who is from the conservative northern state of Haryana.As a nine-year-old she played in a boys’ tournament after cutting her hair short so she could get a game.”I told my father that I will go and play disguised as my brother (who was sick) and even had his name on my back,” Verma told AFP in 2020.”I played and became man of the match and series.”She also described how her father Sanjeev was cheated out of all the family’s money by an imposter who promised him a job.Fast forward to the present, and her ODI average was modest at 22.55 before Sunday’s heroics when she surpassed her previous 50-over best score of 71 not out.The 49-ball 50 was Verma’s first in three years, but at 21 years and 278 days she was the youngest to hit a half-century in a Women’s ODI World Cup final.In 2019, Verma was picked for the Velocity team in the women’s T20 Challenge — a precursor to the Women’s Premier League — and walked onto the field with Indian cricket great Mithali Raj.She shared the dressing room with international stars including England’s World Cup-winning all-rounder Danielle Wyatt, who called her the next “superstar” of Indian cricket.