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69 Killed in Airline Crash in Nepal

Seventy-two people were on board a Yeti Airlines flight on Sunday when the jet crashed near the city of Pokhara in Nepal. At least 69 people have been confirmed dead, with their bodies recovered near the site.

Kaski District Police Chief Superintendent Ajay KC noted that the chance of finding survivors was “extremely low” as workers used a crane to pull bodies from the gorge.

The crash is the worst air disaster in the Himalayan nation in 30 years. It is also the third-worst aviation accident in Nepal’s history, according to data from the Aviation Safety Network.

Experts say conditions such as inclement weather, low visibility, and mountainous topography all contribute to Nepal’s reputation as notoriously dangerous for aviation.

The Yeti Airlines flight on Sunday had nearly finished its short journey from the capital Kathmandu to Pokhara when it lost contact with a control tower. Fifteen foreign nationals were aboard, according to the country’s civil aviation authority.

The pilot of the downed flight had lost her husband – a co-pilot for the same airline – in a similar crash in 2006, according to a Yeti Airlines spokesperson.

Anju Khatiwada had decided to become a pilot after the death of husband, Dipak Pokhrel, and used the insurance payout money to travel to the U.S. for her training. She had been with the airline since 2010 and had more than 6,300 hours of flight experience.

The plane’s black box, which records flight data, was recovered on Monday and will be handed to the civil aviation authority.

Nepal, a country of 29 million people, is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest, and its beautiful, rugged landscapes make it a popular tourist destination for trekkers. But this terrain can be difficult to navigate from the air, particularly during bad weather, and things are made worse by the need to use small aircraft to access the more remote and mountainous parts of the country.

Aircraft with 19 seats or fewer are more likely to have accidents due to these challenges.

In May 2022, a Tara Air flight departing from Pokhara crashed into a mountain, killing 22 people.

In early 2018, a U.S.-Bangla Airlines flight from Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed on landing and caught fire, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.

Female Afghan Lawmaker Killed

A female former legislator in Afghanistan was killed at her home in the capital, Kabul, police and her family said — a high-profile murder of one of the few women parliamentarians who remained in the country after the Western-backed government collapsed and the Taliban seized power.

The legislator, Mursal Nabizada, was shot dead early Sunday along with her bodyguard, according to Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran. Guests were visiting her at her house the night that she was killed, he added. Her brother suffered injuries.

No one has yet been arrested in connection with the killings, Zadran said, and it was not immediately clear whether it was politically motivated, or a family or interpersonal conflict.

When the Taliban took over in August 2021, the parliament was dissolved. Nabizada, who was sworn in to parliament in 2019 under the previous government, initially wanted to leave the country along with most of her colleagues, who were evacuated by Western governments. But she chose to stay in Afghanistan because she was unable to find

14 a way to bring her family members with her, said Shinkai Karokhail, a former member of parliament who served with The Jewish Home | JANUARY 19, 2023 Nabizada. The death of Nabizada comes at a precarious moment for women in Afghanistan. In recent months, the Taliban administration has issued a flood of edicts rolling back women’s rights and all but erasing women from public life. Women are now barred from gyms, public parks, and high schools; they cannot travel any significant distance without a male relative; and they must cover themselves head to toe in burqas and headpieces in public. More recently, officials also barred women from attending universities and from working in most local and international aid groups — prompting many major organizations to suspend their operations and threatening to plunge the country deeper into a humanitarian crisis. Nabizada, originally from Nangarhar province, in eastern Afghanistan, was just 26 when she won election. It was a feat illustrative of her generation in Afghanistan, which was raised in an era of greater freedom for women after the United States toppled the Taliban’s first regime.

In the two decades that followed, millions of girls returned to school and opportunities for work and public service expanded. When she was sworn in, Nabizada was one of 69 women who served in the 250-seat parliament. (© The New York Times)

ISIS Leader Arrested by Dutch

On Tuesday, Dutch authorities arrested a Syrian man suspected of having been a security chief for the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra extremist groups during Syria’s civil war.

“It is suspected that from his position at IS he also contributed to the war crimes that the organization committed in Syria,” the National Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

The 37-year-old man, whose name wasn’t released, was detained in the small village of Arkel, about 30 miles east of the port city of Rotterdam.

The terrorist is suspected of holding “a managerial position in the security service of IS” from 2015-2018, prosecutors said. For two years prior to that, he allegedly carried out the same work for Jabhat al-Nusra. Prosecutors say he held both functions “in and around the Yarmouk refugee camp” south of the Syrian capital, Damascus.

The suspect applied for asylum in the Netherlands in 2019 and later settled in Arkel.

This isn’t the first time Dutch authorities arrested a suspect from the Syrian conflict. Last year, a Dutch court convicted two Syrian brothers of holding senior roles in Jabhat al-Nusra between 2011 and 2014.

American’s Hunger Strike in Iran

Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman who is being detained in Iran on spying charges, started a seven-day hunger strike earlier this week in an effort to bring attention to his case. In an open letter, he appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden to do more for detainees and to help with their release.

“All I want, sir, is one minute of your days’ time for the next seven days devoted to thinking about the tribulations of the U.S. hostages in Iran,” he said in the letter, released by his lawyer. “Only the president of the United States has the power to bring us home, should he set his mind to do so.”

Namazi, 51, was arrested in October 2015 on allegations of trying to overthrow the clerical state, charges he denies.

“When the Obama Administration unconscionably left me in peril and freed the other American citizens Iran held hostage on January 16, 2016, the U.S. Government promised my family to have me safely home within weeks,” Namazi said in the letter.

“Yet seven years and two presidents later, I remain caged in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.”

Monday marked the anniversary of the 2016 release of five other U.S. citizens in a prisoner swap designed to coincide with the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“My captors enjoy taunting me about that fact by saying things like, ‘How can your beloved America be so heartless? Not one but two U.S. presidents freed others but left you behind!’” Namazi wrote.

Following Namazi’s appeal, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said that the Biden administration was committed to securing his freedom.

“We are working tirelessly to bring him home along with all U.S. citizens who are wrongfully detained in Iran. Iran’s wrongful detention of U.S. citizens for use as political leverage is outrageous,” the spokesperson added.

On Saturday Iran’s government – which refuses to acknowledge dual citizenship – announced the execution of a British citizen, Alireza Akbari, who was also accused of spying.

Kenya Targets Birds

A drought in the Horn of Africa has driven birds in the country of Kenya to invade grain fields, as seeds dry up elsewhere. Now, the Kenyan government is hoping to kill up to 6 million red-billed quelea birds that have invaded farms. The birds have been putting 2,000 acres of rice in the fields under threat; 300 acres of rice fields have already been decimated by the flying invaders.

Still, Kenya’s drive to kill the species will have unintended consequences for raptors and other wild species, experts have warned.

A single quelea can eat up to 10 grams of grain a day, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Farmers in western Kenya stand to lose close to 60 tons of grain to the birds.

The spraying of fenthion, an organophosphate pesticide, has been the method of choice in fighting the pests in Africa, but the chemical has been described by researchers as “toxic to humans and to other non-target organisms.”

Paul Gacheru, species and sites manager at Nature Kenya, a local affiliate to BirdLife International, noted that the government needs to be careful when spraying so as not to affect other wildlife, especially scavenging animals that prey on the quelea.

Additionally, quelea serve an important purpose for farmers. They feed on insects that would otherwise feast on farmers’ grain.

Quelea invasion frequently occurs in many African countries. Six months ago, the FAO released $500,000 to the government of Tanzania to support pesticide spraying, surveillance, and capacity-building after 21 million quelea invaded rice, sorghum, millet, and wheat fields.

Wagner Commander Seeking Asylum in Norway

Andrei Medvedev, in an interview with a Russian activist who helps people seek asylum abroad, said that he feared for his life after refusing to renew his service with Wagner.

Medvedev said that after completing his contract, and refusing to serve another, he was afraid of being executed in the same manner of Yevgeny Nuzhin – a defector from Wagner who was killed on camera with a sledgehammer.

“We were just thrown to fight like cannon fodder,” he told Vladimir Osechkin, head of Gulagu.net, a human rights advocacy group, in a conversation published on YouTube.

The Wagner mercenary group, headed by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, has emerged as a key player in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – recently doing much of the fighting in the small eastern town of Soledar.

The unit is often described as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s off-the-books troops. It has expanded its footprint globally since its creation in 2014, and has been accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria, and Ukraine.

Medvedev was arrested by Norwegian police early Friday morning after crossing into Norway.

Medvedev said that he crossed the border and approached the first house he could find.

“I told a local woman in broken English about my situation and asked for help,” he said. “While I was on the road, I was approached by the border force and police. I was taken to a department, where I was questioned and charged with illegal crossing. I explained to them everything and told them why I did it.

“It was a miracle I managed to get here,” he said.

Medvedev had previously tried to cross into Finland twice and failed.

The head of Wagner, Prigozhin, confirmed on Telegram on Monday that Medvedev had served in his company, and said that he “should have been prosecuted for attempting to mistreat prisoners.” Medvedev has denied that he had committed any crimes in Ukraine.

18 “I signed a contract with the group on the 6th of July 2022. I had been appointed commander of the first squad of The Jewish Home | JANUARY 19, 2023 the 4th platoon of the 7th assault detachment,” he recalled. “When the prisoners started arriving, the situation in Wagner really changed. They stopped treating us like humans. We were just thrown to fight like cannon fodder. “Every week they sent more prisoners to us. We lost a lot of men. Casualties were high. We would lose 15 to 20 men just in our platoon. As far as I know, a majority of them were buried in LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] and declared missing. If you are declared missing, there is no insurance pay-out to the relatives.” He claimed that prisoners were “shot dead for refusing to fight, or betrayal.” “I am afraid for my life,” he said in December. “I did not commit any crime. I have refused to participate in maneuvers of Yevgeny Prigozhin.”

Iran Executes Dual British Citizen

Iran said this week that it had executed a dual Iranian-British national who once served as its deputy minister of defense, despite an international outcry over his death sentence. Ali Reza Akbari was hanged, although it is not clear exactly when the hanging took place.

Iran had accused Akbari, without offering evidence, of being a spy for Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency.

It aired a highly edited video of Akbari discussing the allegations, resembling other videos that activists have described as coerced confessions.

In a video published by Iranian media, Akbari is seen apparently talking about his contacts with Britain. He also said he was questioned by the British about Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killed in November 2020 in an attack that Tehran blames on Israel.

Akbari was executed after being sen-

“The actions of the British spy service, in this case, have shown the value of the convict, the importance of his access, and the enemy’s trust in him,” it added.

Sixty-one-year-old Akbari had held high positions in the country’s defense establishment. His posts included “deputy minister of defense for foreign affairs” and a position in the “secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council.”

Akbari had also been an “advisor to the commander of the navy,” as well as “heading a division at the defense ministry’s research center.”

On Friday, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel criticized Akbari’s pending execution.

“The charges against Ali Reza Akbari and his sentencing to execution were politically motivated. His execution would be unconscionable,” he said. “We are greatly disturbed by the reports that Mr. Akbari was drugged, tortured while in custody, interrogated for thousands of hours, and forced to make false confessions.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “appalled” by the execution and called it a “callous and cowardly act carried out by a barbaric regime.”

Iran’s government for months has been trying to allege — without offering evidence — that foreign countries have fomented the unrest gripping the Islamic Republic since the death of Mahsa Amini in September after she was detained by the morality police.

Akbari, who ran a private think tank, has not been seen in public since 2019, when he was apparently arrested.

The anti-government protests, which have continued for nearly four months with no sign of ending, are one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution that brought it to power.

At least 520 protesters have been killed and more than 19,300 people have been arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the unrest. Iranian authorities have not provided official figures on deaths or arrests.

Iran has executed four people after convicting them of charges linked to the protests in similarly criticized trials, including attacks on security forces.

Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc submitted his resignation this week after the ruling Communist Party found him responsible for violations and wrongdoing of numerous officials under him.

Phuc, 68, has held the largely ceremonial position for less than two years. It was not immediately clear who would replace him. Phuc was prime minister between 2016 and 2021, before assuming his role as president.

Phuc’s resignation follows the dismissal of two deputy prime ministers this month in an anti-corruption purge that has led to the arrest of dozens of officials.

Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam’s dismissal comes at a time when the Communist-ruled country is intensifying its fight against corruption, despite concerns the campaign is paralyzing routine transactions as officials fear being entangled in inquiries.

Last month, the party disciplined Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son over the alleged involvement of several ministry officials and diplomats in the scandal over repatriation flights.

To become effective, Phuc’s resignation requires approval from the National Assembly. On Monday, Reuters news agency reported that legislature would hold a rare extraordinary meeting this week.

Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by four “pillars”: the powerful party’s secretary, the president, the prime minister, and the chair of the parliament.

40 Killed in Russian Strike

Climbing over shards of concrete and metal, scraps of cloth, and pulverized furniture, emergency workers found one body after another on Monday, lifting them out of cratered wreckage in one of Ukraine’s largest cities.

The crews reported a new toll Monday, days after the desperate search began: at least 40 people killed by a Russian strike over the weekend, one of the single deadliest for civilians since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago.

Dnipro, the city where the nine-story apartment building had stood, is far from the front lines where Ukrainian and Russian troops have been fighting viciously over abandoned villages and even mere yards of land. But the strike Saturday fit a pattern of Russia firing long-range missiles at civilian targets, including residential neighborhoods and electrical plants — what military analysts say is a Russian strategy, in the wake of battlefield setbacks, to terrify civilians and pressure the Ukrainian government into talks.

The United Nations said Monday that it had confirmed the deaths of more than 7,000 Ukrainian civilians since February, including 398 children. But the numbers include only deaths it has been able to corroborate, and U.N. monitors acknowledged that the full civilian toll is much higher.

Russia’s recent strikes have hit cities far from the most intense fighting, which is currently in eastern Ukraine. Russian shelling on Monday hit a boarding school, a residential building, and a vacant children’s hospital in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the regional governor said, part of a dayslong bombardment of the area that heavily damaged a Red Cross facility and left at least three people dead.

The attacks on civilian areas come as Ukraine and Russia are locked in battles around the eastern city of Bakhmut and the nearby town of Soledar.

The strike on Dnipro added dozens more casualties to the staggering civilian toll in Ukraine. In addition to the 40 dead, at least 75 people were wounded in the strike and 34 remained unaccounted for as of Monday afternoon, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said in a post on Telegram.

As night fell, rescue crews continued searching for the missing people, living or dead. President Volodymyr Zelen-

India’s Job Market

India is on a trajectory to overtake China this year and become the world’s most populous country.

The likelihood of India passing that major milestone within a few months shot up on Tuesday, when China reported that its population shrank in 2022 for the first time in more than 60 years.

This shift will have significant economic implications for both Asian giants, which have more than 1.4 billion residents each.

Along with the population data, China also reported one of its worst economic growth numbers in nearly half a century, underscoring the steep challenges the country faces as its labor force shrinks and the ranks of the retired swell.

But India has to be prepared for what it’s facing. Many are noting that India is simply not creating ample employment opportunities for the millions of young job seekers already entering the workforce every year.

The South Asian nation’s working-age population stands at over 900 million, according to 2021 data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This number is expected to hit more than 1 billion over the next decade, according to the Indian government.

But these numbers could become a liability if policymakers do not create enough jobs, experts warn. Already, data show a growing number of Indians are not even looking for work, given the lack of opportunities and low wages.

India’s labor force participation rate, an estimation of the active workforce and people looking for work, stood at 46%, which is among the lowest in Asia, according to 2021 data from the World Bank. By comparison, the rates for China and the United States stood at 68% and 61% respectively in the same year.

For women, the numbers are even more alarming. India’s female work participation rate was just 19% in 2021, down from about 26% in 2005, the World Bank data shows.

Lack of high-quality education is one of the biggest reasons behind India’s unemployment crisis. Indian institutions emphasize “rote-learning” over “creative thinking.”

As a result of this toxic combination of poor education and lack of jobs, thousands of college graduates, including those with doctorates, end up applying for lowly government jobs, such as those of “peons” or office boys, which pay less than $300 a month.

Policymakers are aware of these issues, though. They are struggling to put new policies into place to correct these matters.

The country needs to create at least 90 million new non-farm jobs by 2030 to absorb new workers, according to a 2020 report by McKinsey Global Institute. Many of these jobs can be created in the manufacturing and constructions sectors, experts said.

As tensions between China and the West rise, India has made some progress in boosting manufacturing by attracting international giants such as Apple to produce more in the country. But, factories still constitute only 14% of India’s GDP, according to the World Bank.

Too Hot To Play

Play was postponed for hours at the Australian Open due to the searing Melbourne heat on Tuesday.

As temperatures reached almost 36 degrees Celsius (almost 97 degrees Fahrenheit), tournament organizers announced at around 2 p.m. local time that games on outdoor courts would come to a halt.

“The AO Heat Stress Scale has reached 5 and play will be suspended on the outside courts,” it said on its Twitter account.

“This means play continues until the end of an even number of games or the completion of a tie break. No new matches will be called to court. Play on outdoor practice courts is also suspended.”

The roof was closed on the grand slam’s three show courts – Rod Laver Arena, John Cain Arena, and Margaret Court Arena – and play was allowed to continue.

Games on outside courts were able to resume at 5 p.m. local time.

Earlier in the day, the Australian Open announced temperatures had reached stage four of the “AO Heat Stress Scale” which allowed singles players to take 10-minute breaks between sets – for women players, between their second and third, and for men, between their fourth and fifth.

According to the ATP: “The AO Heat Stress Scale takes into account air temperature, radiant heat (strength of the sun), humidity and wind speed, which affect a player’s ability to disperse heat from their body. Those factors are measured in real time across five different locations across the Melbourne Park precinct.”

The decision to postpone play wasn’t met with delight by all.

Australian Jordan Thompson was annoyed at being told his match against JJ Wolf was being stopped after breaking the American in the second set, having lost the first.

“When has that ever happened?!” Thompson could be heard saying to the umpire. “I’ve been here when it has been like 45 degrees (113 degrees F)! It is not going to be for hours.”

Mafia Boss Arrested After 30 Years on the Run

Even by Mafia standards, his crimes curdled the blood.

Authorities linked him to dozens of murders in the 1990s, including the kidnapping and strangling of a Mafia turncoat’s 12-year-old son. He played a role in the murders of Italy’s two leading anti-Mafia prosecutors, in deadly bombings in Milan, Rome and Florence, and in the strangulation of a pregnant woman.

But on Monday, after 30 years on the