Story by AFP Arecord number of climbers are gathered in Tibet to complete mountaineering’s pinnacle achievement, summiting the world’s tallest 14 peaks. Only about 50 climbers have climbed all mountain peaks above 8,000 metres (26,250 feet), a feat that took most years, or even decades, to complete. About 20 are vying for the record books this month, some spurred by a blockbuster Netflix documentary giving the endeavour a wider profile. echnological advancements have made the feat easier to accomplish. “We are growing as a community, and we are representing mountaineering all over the world,” Pakistani climber Shehroze Kashif, 22, told AFP. “I

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -In the past year in the Gaza Strip, Israel has bombed more than 40,000 targets, found 4,700 tunnel shafts and destroyed 1,000 rocket launcher sites, the military said on Monday’s one-year anniversary of the Hamas-led militant attacks that triggered Israel’s assault on the enclave. Tallying troops whose names it received permission to publish, Israel’s military said 726 Israeli soldiers had been killed since Oct. 7, 2023. Of those, 380 died in the Oct. 7 attacks and 346 in Gaza combat starting Oct. 27, 2023. Injured troops numbered 4,576 since that date. Fifty-six soldiers died as a result of

The United States on Monday sanctioned four people and 11 organizations accused of funding Hamas, as the Biden administration targets sham charity initiatives that bulge the militia’s coffers on the one-year mark of the Iran-backed group’s brutal surprise attack on Israel. The punitive means announced by the U.S. Treasury is the eighth tranche of sanctions the Biden administration has leveled at Hamas’ financial support networks since its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis and triggered the ongoing war in the Middle East. “As we mark one year since Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack, Treasury will continue relentlessly

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that gender and nationality alone are “sufficient” for a country to grant asylum to Afghan women. The ECJ ruled on Friday that discriminatory measures adopted by the Taliban towards women “constitute acts of persecution” justifying the recognition of refugee status. “The competent authorities of the member states are entitled to consider that it is unnecessary to establish that there is a risk that the applicant will actually and specifically be subject to acts of persecution if she returns to her country of origin,” the ECJ ruled. So far, Sweden, Finland and Denmark have

By : Shane Galvin The chief of Uganda’s military is threatening to expel the top U.S. diplomat assigned to the Central African nation after a diplomatic spat. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba has given US Ambassador William Popp an ultimatum – apologize by Monday morning or leave the country, according to reports. The military leader has not said exactly what offense Ambassador Popp committed and embassy sources tell local outlets that this outburst has caught them totally by surprise. General Kainerugaba – the son of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni – made the demand earlier this week on X and followed up with a barrage of tweets

Israel also launches more attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs and says it targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence HQ. A Hamas leader, his wife and their two daughters have been killed in an Israeli strike on northern Lebanon, the Palestinian armed group says, as Israeli air raids continue against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Commander Saeed Attallah Ali and his family were killed on Saturday in the “Zionist bombardment of his house in the Beddawi camp” near the northern city of Tripoli, Hamas said, the first time the area had been hit since the start of the

Conflicting reports arise as some sources say the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister has not been detained. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was taken into custody at K-P House following charges of attacking the state and misusing government resources, sources said on Saturday. The detention followed a raid at the location, with officials moving in to execute Gandapur’s arrest warrants. According to sources, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader is facing serious allegations, including damaging government property and illegally utilising state resources. Islamabad’s Inspector General (IG) was reportedly responsible for leading the efforts to take Gandapur into custody. Conflicting reports later arose with some

By: Kh Kashif Mir Islamabad/Lahore: Pakistan authorities on Saturday called in the Army in Islamabad and Lahore to prevent rallies by supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, amid rising tensions. The call for protest was given by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party founder who has been incarcerated at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for more than a year. The PTI is protesting for the release of Khan, to express solidarity with the judiciary, and against inflation. Pakistan Army troops were deployed in Islamabad to ensure security as PTI supporters moved forward with plans for a protest. The army would remain

Anna Levina, a Russian researcher and photographer-documentarian living in Beirut, has been stocking up on supplies in preparation for Israel’s assault on Lebanon, and she still has non-perishables sitting in her kitchen since last October, when Hezbollah and Israel started firing missiles at each other. “The feeling is, of course, unpleasant, but I’ve been waiting for this moment for a year,” said Levina, of the dramatic escalation in Israeli missile strikes on many parts of Lebanon, including Beirut, over the past two weeks, in which more than 2,000 people have been killed. On Tuesday, Israel also announced the start of

Exactly one month from now, on November 5, the US presidential election will take place. RBC-Ukraine explains how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s race is going, their ratings, and what to expect in the last decisive weeks. Contents ・Candidate ratings ・Candidate strategies ・Vice presidential debate There is exactly one month left before the US presidential election. The dramatic twists and turns during the campaign are already enough for a blockbuster movie. It’s probably not over yet, as the teams of both candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, are saving the most interesting for the very end. Candidate ratings The ratings