News in Brief
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) -- India will suspend operations against militants fighting its rule in the disputed region of Kashmir during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, the government said Wednesday.
The move follows weeks of sporadic violence in the Muslim majority territory at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan, both of which claim the region.
More than 130 people have been killed this year in militant violence, prompting calls by the Jammu and Kashmir state government for a ceasefire during the fasting month that begins this week.
Federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh has ordered security forces to halt cordon and search operations across Kashmir, the government said. Only last weekend, soldiers killed five suspected rebels in an operation in Shopian district that prompted protests from hundreds of people who pelted stones at the security forces.
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EDINBURGH (AFP) -- The Scottish Parliament formally rejected legislation for taking Britain out of the EU, in an unprecedented move that sets the scene for a constitutional crisis.
Lawmakers in the devolved Edinburgh assembly voted by 93 to 30 to refuse "legislative consent" for the highly-contested European Union (Withdrawal) Bill currently being debated by the British parliament.
British Prime Minister Theresa May is under no obligation to amend her Brexit plan in response to Holyrood's objection.
However, experts warn that confrontation between London and Edinburgh could push Scotland towards independence.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the secessionist Scottish National Party (SNP), said Britain was heading into "uncharted constitutional territory".
The dispute centres on who will have control of powers currently residing in Brussels, such as over farming and fisheries, once Britain leaves the EU.
Scotland's SNP government wants such powers to be under Scottish control, while the Conservative British government argues they should reside in London, at least initially.
***
LUCKNOW, India (AFP) -- At least 18 people diedafter a flyover collapsed in northern India, crushing vehicles and passengers under tons of concrete, a rescue official said.
Rescue workers rushed to the site in Varanasi city where an unknown number of people were still feared trapped under the debris, in the latest of a string of deadly construction accidents in India.
TV footage showed mangled vehicles trapped under heavy cement girders with huge crowds gathered around.
Enforcement of safety rules in India is weak and substandard materials are often used in construction.
In 2016, some 26 people died in eastern Kolkata city after a 100-meter section of a flyover crashed down onto the street.
***
PARIS (Reuters) -- With hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers packed in tents alongside a Paris canal and under a nearby bridge, charities are warning of the risk from drowning and violence if the authorities do not act to tackle makeshift camps.
Two young men - one Afghan and one probably Sudanese - drowned in the canal this month from the camps housing more than 2,400 people by the Canal St Martin, a trendy area known for hipsters having picnics along its banks on sunny days.
France, which has received far fewer asylum seekers over the past years than neighboring Germany, has nevertheless been struggling with tackling new arrivals - for years in what became known as the Calais "jungle," on the northern coast, and, since that was shut down, increasingly in Paris.
***
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- Five people are dead and nearly half a million customers in the Northeast are without power due to severe weather that includes thunderstorms, flash flooding, hail, winds up to 80 mph and possibly tornadoes.
An 11-year-old girl was killed in Newburgh, New York, by a falling tree that also injured her mother. Also in Newburgh, police said a tree fell on a women who was operating a vehicle. She died later.
In Danbury, Connecticut, one person died after a tree fell on his truck. A fourth person was killed by a falling tree in New Fairfield, Connecticut. And a 31-year-old male died when a tree fell on his car in the Poconos at around 4 p.m.
There were nearly 50 reports of hail in states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
***
KATHMANDU (Reuters) -- A 48-year-old Nepali mountaineer climbed Mount Everest for a 22nd time Wednesday, creating a new record for the most summits of the world’s highest mountain, hiking officials said.
Kami Rita Sherpa reached the 8,850-meter summit via the Southeast Ridge route, accompanied by 13 other climbers including his clients, Tourism Department official Gyanendra Shrestha said from the base camp.
His latest ascent took him one summit clear of two fellow sherpas with whom he had shared the earlier record.
"He has set the world record," Mingma Sherpa, chairman of the Seven Summit Treks company that employs Kami, said.
Kami had begun his descent and is expected to reach base camp by the weekend, Shrestha told Reuters.
The move follows weeks of sporadic violence in the Muslim majority territory at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan, both of which claim the region.
More than 130 people have been killed this year in militant violence, prompting calls by the Jammu and Kashmir state government for a ceasefire during the fasting month that begins this week.
Federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh has ordered security forces to halt cordon and search operations across Kashmir, the government said. Only last weekend, soldiers killed five suspected rebels in an operation in Shopian district that prompted protests from hundreds of people who pelted stones at the security forces.
***
EDINBURGH (AFP) -- The Scottish Parliament formally rejected legislation for taking Britain out of the EU, in an unprecedented move that sets the scene for a constitutional crisis.
Lawmakers in the devolved Edinburgh assembly voted by 93 to 30 to refuse "legislative consent" for the highly-contested European Union (Withdrawal) Bill currently being debated by the British parliament.
British Prime Minister Theresa May is under no obligation to amend her Brexit plan in response to Holyrood's objection.
However, experts warn that confrontation between London and Edinburgh could push Scotland towards independence.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the secessionist Scottish National Party (SNP), said Britain was heading into "uncharted constitutional territory".
The dispute centres on who will have control of powers currently residing in Brussels, such as over farming and fisheries, once Britain leaves the EU.
Scotland's SNP government wants such powers to be under Scottish control, while the Conservative British government argues they should reside in London, at least initially.
***
LUCKNOW, India (AFP) -- At least 18 people diedafter a flyover collapsed in northern India, crushing vehicles and passengers under tons of concrete, a rescue official said.
Rescue workers rushed to the site in Varanasi city where an unknown number of people were still feared trapped under the debris, in the latest of a string of deadly construction accidents in India.
TV footage showed mangled vehicles trapped under heavy cement girders with huge crowds gathered around.
Enforcement of safety rules in India is weak and substandard materials are often used in construction.
In 2016, some 26 people died in eastern Kolkata city after a 100-meter section of a flyover crashed down onto the street.
***
PARIS (Reuters) -- With hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers packed in tents alongside a Paris canal and under a nearby bridge, charities are warning of the risk from drowning and violence if the authorities do not act to tackle makeshift camps.
Two young men - one Afghan and one probably Sudanese - drowned in the canal this month from the camps housing more than 2,400 people by the Canal St Martin, a trendy area known for hipsters having picnics along its banks on sunny days.
France, which has received far fewer asylum seekers over the past years than neighboring Germany, has nevertheless been struggling with tackling new arrivals - for years in what became known as the Calais "jungle," on the northern coast, and, since that was shut down, increasingly in Paris.
***
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- Five people are dead and nearly half a million customers in the Northeast are without power due to severe weather that includes thunderstorms, flash flooding, hail, winds up to 80 mph and possibly tornadoes.
An 11-year-old girl was killed in Newburgh, New York, by a falling tree that also injured her mother. Also in Newburgh, police said a tree fell on a women who was operating a vehicle. She died later.
In Danbury, Connecticut, one person died after a tree fell on his truck. A fourth person was killed by a falling tree in New Fairfield, Connecticut. And a 31-year-old male died when a tree fell on his car in the Poconos at around 4 p.m.
There were nearly 50 reports of hail in states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
***
KATHMANDU (Reuters) -- A 48-year-old Nepali mountaineer climbed Mount Everest for a 22nd time Wednesday, creating a new record for the most summits of the world’s highest mountain, hiking officials said.
Kami Rita Sherpa reached the 8,850-meter summit via the Southeast Ridge route, accompanied by 13 other climbers including his clients, Tourism Department official Gyanendra Shrestha said from the base camp.
His latest ascent took him one summit clear of two fellow sherpas with whom he had shared the earlier record.
"He has set the world record," Mingma Sherpa, chairman of the Seven Summit Treks company that employs Kami, said.
Kami had begun his descent and is expected to reach base camp by the weekend, Shrestha told Reuters.