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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Everest: Sherpas scale Nepal side after two-year gap

Sherpas are renowned for their ability to carry huge loads on behalf of Western climbing teams

Nine Sherpa guides have taken advantage of good weather to scale Mount Everest for the first time in two years from the Nepali side, officials say.

They reached the 8,850m (29,035ft) summit on Wednesday evening.

The Sherpas were hired by expeditions to carry equipment and secure ropes on Everest for about 300 foreign climbers trying to make the ascent.

May is the best month for climbing and more expeditions are expected to reach the top in the next few days.

Climbs from the Nepali side over the last two years have been hit by natural disasters.

An avalanche triggered by a powerful earthquake killed at least 18 climbers in 2015, and 16 Sherpas were also killed by an avalanche in 2014.

The two disasters meant that hardly any climbers were able to scale the peak. Last year's climbing season was cancelled, and nearly all climbers in 2014 similarly were forced to abandon their attempts.

Last year was the second time in as many years that no-one climbed Everest from the Nepali side

May is the peak month for Western climbers to make Everest attempts

Nepal Mountaineering Association President Ang Tshering Sherpa told the BBC's Surendra Phuyal in Kathmandu that Wednesday's climb was no simple feat.

"Although they were planning to reach [the summit] much earlier in the day, difficult climbing conditions near the Hillary Step - a major climbing hurdle around 70 metres below the peak - delayed the Sherpas' plans," he said.

"Because of heavy snow and ice, it took more than four hours for them to cross the Hillary Step."

He said the Sherpas had succeeded in laying down climbing ropes along the trail to the summit for other climbers to use.

The Sherpas were now descending the South Col part of the mountain, he added.

Helicopters

This year, Nepali authorities are encouraging climbers to return to Everest and other peaks by honouring permits issued in the past two years.

Overall, more than 700 foreign climbers belonging to nearly 100 teams are vying to scale several Himalayan peaks from the Nepali side, the Department of Tourism says.

The authorities this year have for the first time allowed helicopters to transport ropes and other climbing gear up part of the mountain so that Sherpas can avoid carrying equipment through the dangerous Khumbu Icefall, which has become much more dangerous after last year's earthquake.

May is also one of the best months for climbing Everest from the Tibet side, with about 550 visits a day to the base camp there at the height of 2015, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Death designer Nizami hanged for war crimes

Unknown11:38:00 AMAsia No comments

The members of law enforcement agencies, journalists and enthusiastic people gather in front of the Dhaka Central Jail on May 10, 2016 where war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami is kept. Photo: Palash Khan

Leader of a ruthless militia that massacred innocent civilians during 1971, Motiur Rahman Nizami has been hanged for crimes committed against humanity during the Liberation War.

The 71-year-old Jamaat-e-Islami chief was hanged by the rope inside Dhaka Central Jail at sometimes between 11:50pm to 12midnight, Law Minister Anisul Huq told The Daily Star.

District’s civil surgeon Abdul Malek Mridha checked his pulse to confirm the death.

The infamous war criminal will be laid to rest at his ancestral soil in Pabna, Ali Hossain, an inspector of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), told The Daily Star earlier.

Nizami masterminded the formation of the ruthless militia Al Badr that unleashed terror on peace-loving Bangalees, killed unarmed civilians, raped women and destroyed properties during the Liberation War.

Towards the end of the nine-month war, the infamous militia -- Al-Badr Bahini -- committed “crimes of serious gravity intending to demean the human civilisation”.

Watch VIDEO on Nizami’s war crimes

ensing Pakistan's imminent defeat, the notorious force systematically rounded up, tortured and killed the nation's brightest luminaries to intellectually cripple the soon-to-be independent Bangladesh.

Convicted of committing war crimes, a special International Crimes Tribunal handed him the death penalty on October 29, 2014. Later, on January 6 this year, the Supreme Court upheld capital punishment for him.

After his review plea against death scrapped, Nizami did not seek presidential mercy. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, earlier this evening, told The Daily Star that the government had ordered for Nizami’s execution.

As per code, Nizami’s family had one last meeting with him. A total of 24 family members entered Dhaka jail around 7:50pm and stayed inside for about one-and-half hours. Later, they left without speaking to the media.

District Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Salahuddin, Executive Magistrate Tanveer Ahmed, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) deputy commissioner (north) of Detective Branch Sheikh Nazmul Alam and Additional police IGP Col Iqbal Hasan were present during the execution.

'Nizami didn’t ask mercy, order to hang given'

Unknown10:52:00 AMAsia No comments

Policemen holding a perimeter around Dhaka Central Jail, where death row war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami is being kept, on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Photo: Shaheen Mollah

Dhaka Central Jail authorities have been given the order to execute death row war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has said.

“He did not seek mercy from the president,” the minister told The Daily Star at 8:58pm this evening. “The order for his execution has been given.”

Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima on Japan and Vietnam trip

Unknown10:32:00 AMAsia No comments

The atomic bomb dome. Some 140,000 are believed to have died in the attack on Hiroshima

Barack Obama is to visit Hiroshima this month - the first serving US president to travel to the Japanese city since it was hit by a US nuclear bomb in 1945.

The visit will be part of an Asian trip from 21-28 May that will also take in Vietnam.

The Hiroshima bombing on 6 August 1945 killed 140,000 people. Along with a second bombing on Nagasaki - it is credited with ending World War Two.

The White House said there would be no apology for the bombings.

A statement from Mr Obama's press secretary read: "The President will make an historic visit to Hiroshima with Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe to highlight his continued commitment to pursuing peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons."

The bomb that changed the world

A mushroom cloud over Hiroshima following the explosion of an atomic bomb

The bomb was nicknamed "Little Boy" and was thought to have the explosive force of 20,000 tonnes of TNT
Colonel Paul Tibbets, a 30-year-old colonel from Illinois, led the mission to drop the atomic bomb on Japan
The Enola Gay, the plane which dropped the bomb, was named in tribute to Col Tibbets' mother
The final target was decided less than an hour before the bomb was dropped. The good weather conditions over Hiroshima sealed the city's fate
On detonation, the temperature at the burst-point of the bomb was several million degrees. Thousands of people on the ground were killed or injured instantly

Find out what happened in the hours before the bomb was dropped

Was it right to drop the bomb on Hiroshima?

In ruling out any apology, the president's communications adviser, Ben Rhodes, said on his Twitter page that the US would be "eternally proud of our civilian leaders and the men and women of our armed forces who served in World War II".

He said that Mr Obama would "not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future".

He said the visit would "offer an opportunity to honour the memory of all innocents who were lost during the war".

Mr Rhodes added: "The President and his team will make this visit knowing that the open recognition of history is essential to understanding our shared past, the forces that shape the world we live in today, and the future that we seek for our children and grandchildren."

Mr Obama will also take part in the G7 summit in Japan's Ise-Shima peninsula and hold bilateral talks with Mr Abe.

Before that Mr Obama will meet Vietnam's leadership and deliver a speech in the capital, Hanoi, on US-Vietnam relations.

Jimmy Carter has visited Hiroshima, but after the end of his presidency.

A US ambassador attended the annual commemoration for the first time in 2010.

Seventy years since Hiroshima

Bun was 14-years-old when Hiroshima was bombed. Watch her incredible story of survival

The 'sanitised narrative' of Hiroshima's atomic bombing: The US view that the bombing was necessary to end the war ignores a terrible and enduring cost.

Japan revisionists deny WW2 sex slave atrocities: Examining the rise of revisionism and the fraught issue of comfort women.

The tram that survived the Hiroshima bomb

In pictures: The first atomic bomb

The Punisher

The PPCRV (Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting) is accredited by the election commission to monitor counting but its reporting does not represent an official tally.

Mr Duterte said of his apparent big early lead: "I ain't there until I am there. If it is my destiny to be there then I accept it."

The election campaign has focused on reforming the economy, infrastructure, tackling corruption and crime and on the territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.

Mr Duterte has run a campaign focused on law and order issues, but made many controversial statements, including saying that he would butcher criminals.

A former state prosecutor nicknamed "The Punisher", he has been mayor of the southern city of Davao for more than 22 years.

He recently joked that, as mayor, he should have been first to rape an Australian missionary murdered in a prison riot, but he later apologised.

At the scene: Jonathan Head, BBC South East Asia correspondent

Outspoken mayor Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte holds a considerable lead over his rivals, as Jonathan Head reports

Elections here are a cheerful, communal affair with large family groups or neighbours walking into the polling stations to vote together.

The constant crowds coming in and out of the elementary school in Manila's Tondo district looked hard to manage. But election officials are well-practised, and voters well-informed.

Plenty of officials were on hand to help voters manage the formidable ballot sheets, listing in this constituency dozens of candidates for the various local and national posts.

The enthusiasm across the age and class spectrum for Mr Duterte in this campaign has exposed the weariness of Filipinos with the familiar political faces, who have delivered some economic improvements but little real change in the levels of poverty and corruption.

Mr Duterte has suggested he will disregard democratic checks and balances if they get in the way of fixing the country's problems.

It's a message that has excited and attracted people. Yet the numbers coming to vote here, and the positive and relaxed atmosphere, show that the faith in the familiar rituals of democracy is still as strong here as anywhere in Asia.

Populism, celebrity and ugly realities

Manuel Roxas is a former investment banker and the grandson of the first president of the Philippine Republic.

Senator Grace Poe, a former schoolteacher and first-term senator, is currently third with 21%.

But she has now admitted defeat, saying: "I respect the results. Duterte has a mandate. Let's give him a chance."

President Benigno Aquino has been leading attempts to bring together other candidates in an effort to defeat Mr Duterte.

He warned that if Mr Duterte were to be elected, it could mean a return to dictatorship.

Current President Benigno Aquino can only serve one presidential term

A vice-president, senators and about 18,000 local officials including mayors are also being elected.

Among the candidates for the vice-presidency is Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

According to the PPCRV he is currently just ahead, with 36% of the vote compared to 34% for Maria Leonor Robredo, again with three-quarters of the votes counted. There are four other candidates.

More than 54 million people are registered to vote across the archipelago of 7,000 islands.