Foreign News
At least 4 killed, some still missing, in avalanche in India’s Uttarakhand
At least four people have died after an avalanche struck a highway construction site near India’s border with China, the Indian army said, a day after the accident left dozens of workers trapped.
The avalanche hit the Mana Pass area in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Friday, trapping 55 workers under the snow.
By Saturday, rescuers managed to pull out 50 people, but four later succumbed to their injuries, according to an army statement.
The search continues for five missing workers, with multiple rescue teams and military helicopters deployed.
The army did not specify the number of injured but said those in critical condition were being prioritised for evacuation.
Senior official Chandrashekhar Vashistha confirmed that several workers suffered serious injuries and were receiving medical treatment.
Uttarakhand State Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said some of the seriously injured were taken to the Army Hospital, Joshimath, for treatment.
“Efforts are underway to safely extract the remaining trapped workers as soon as possible,” Dhami added on X.
Many of those trapped were migrant labourers working on a highway expansion project covering a 50km (31-mile) stretch from Mana, the last Indian village before the China border, to Mana Pass.
Indo-Tibetan Border Police spokesperson Kamlesh Kamal said rescue efforts were hindered by heavy snowfall, difficult terrain, and poor visibility.
Rescuers struggled through deep snow and snowstorms to reach the workers.
Police said army doctors at the site had performed life-saving surgery on those critically injured.
Friday’s avalanche occurred as a parallel rescue effort continued for a seventh day in the southern Indian town of Nagarkurnool, where several workers are trapped in a partially collapsed tunnel.
The ecologically fragile Himalayan region, increasingly affected by global warming, is prone to avalanches and flash floods.
In 2021, nearly 100 people died in Uttarakhand when a huge chunk of a glacier fell into a river, triggering flash floods.
Devastating monsoon floods and landslides in 2013 killed 6,000 people and led to calls for a review of development projects in the state.
In 2022, an avalanche killed 27 trainee mountaineers in Uttarakhand, while a glacier that burst in 2021 triggered a flash flood and left more than 200 people dead.
[Aljazeera]
The US Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Maryland man, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador’s notorious mega-jail.
The Trump administration had conceded that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported by accident, but appealed against a federal court’s order to return him to the US.
On Thursday, in a 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court declined to block the lower court’s order.
The judge’s order “requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent”, the justices ruled.
(BBC)
A Russian-American citizen has been released in a prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.
Amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina, a Los Angeles resident, had been in prison in Russia for over a year, after being arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg in early 2024.
She was found guilty of treason for donating money to a US-based charity providing humanitarian support to Ukraine and was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony.
In exchange, the US reportedly freed Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen arrested in Cyprus in 2023. He was accused of illegally exporting microelectronics to Russia for manufacturers working with the Russian military.
[BBC]
A nationwide general strike disrupted public services across Greece, with ferries tied up in port, flights grounded and public transport running only part-time as labour unions press for higher wages to cope with rising living costs.
The 24-hour strike on Wednesday was called by the two main umbrella unions covering the public and private sectors, seeking a full return of collective bargaining rights which were scrapped as part of international bailouts during Greece’s financial crisis.
Greece has emerged from a 2009-18 debt crisis, which saw rolling cuts in wages and pensions in turn for bailouts worth about 290 billion euros ($319bn) and economic growth seen at 2.3 percent this year, outpacing other eurozone economies.
Tapping on the country’s progress, the conservative government increased the monthly minimum wage by a cumulative 35 percent to 880 euros ($970). But many households still struggle to make ends meet amid rising food, power and housing costs, the labour unions say.
The country braces for further global financial turmoil triggered by US tariffs.
[Aljazeera]
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