No respite in Sudan as truce falls apart, rivals battle 12 held for Beijing hospital

Fire As Death Toll Rises To 29

BEIJING, APR 19 (PTI): The death toll from a major fire at a hospital building in the Chinese capital rose to 29, including 26 patients, officials said here on Wednesday, as 12 people have been detained including the medical facility’s head and her deputy.

The fire which broke out at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital on Tuesday was extinguished within an hour, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

On Tuesday, the official media reported that 21 people were killed in the incident. The death toll later rose to 29, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission Li Ang told the media here.

The victims included 26 patients, one family member of a patient, one hospital caregiver and one nurse, Li said.

Thirty-nine people who were injured in the fire were being treated in other

An investigator inspects the damage at the Changfeng Hospital in Beijing on April 19, after a fire broke out a day earlier. (AFP) hospitals, Li said. The chief of the hospital was among those detained, Li said.

More than 70 patients were affected and shifted from the fire-hit hospital admissions building in Beijing’s Fengtai district.

According to the preliminary investigation, the fire was caused by sparks from a construction project that ignited volatiles produced by combustible paint, Xinhua said.

Further investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

Videos circulating online show some people jumping out of the window and waiting for rescue on the outdoor air conditioning units. Others jumped to lower rooftops, state-run Global Times reported.

The city has set up a special working team to identify the cause of the accident, and those responsible for the accident will be held accountable in accordance with the law, the report said.

UK PM Rishi Sunak declares wife Akshata’s shares after probe

LONDON, APR 19 (PTI): British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s register of ministerial interests was published by the UK Cabinet Office on Wednesday, revealing his wife Akshata Murty’s shares in a childcare agency which could benefit from a policy in last month’s Budget.

The publication of the list came in the wake of a parliamentary watchdog probe opened by the UK’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards last week to determine if the British Indian leader had been “open and frank” in his obligation under the parliamentary “Code of Conduct”. Now, a full ‘List of Ministers’ Interests’ published online reveals Sunak’s reference to his wife’s interests as well under a section entitled “Relevant interests of spouse partner or close family member”.

“The Prime Minister’s wife is a venture capital investor. She owns a venture capital investment company, Catamaran Ventures UK Limited, and a number of direct shareholdings,” reads the register.

As a footnote, it adds: “As the Prime Minister set out in his letter to the Chair of the Liaison Committee on April 4, 2023, this includes the minority shareholding that his wife has in relation to the company, Koru Kids.”

Downing Street had maintained that Sunak, 42, followed the rules of ministerial conduct at all times and had declared his wife’s interests as a ministerial interest.

The publication of the register comes after a gap of 11 months when the last one was released and follows the Opposition’s demands that the government come clean after the watchdog inquiry came to light.

Downing Street sources said the inquiry relates to

KHARTOUM (SUDAN), APR 19 (AP): Explosions and heavy gunfire rattled the Sudanese capital in a fifth day of fighting Wednesday after an internationally brokered truce quickly fell apart. The cease-fire failure suggested the two rival generals fighting for control of the country were determined to crush each other in a potentially prolonged conflict. With no sign of respite, desperate and terrified Sudanese who have been trapped for days in their homes by the violence began to flee, witnesses said. Residents of multiple neighbourhoods of Khartoum told The Associated Press they could see hundreds, including women and children, carrying luggage, some leaving by foot, others crowding into vehicles. “Khartoum has become a ghost city,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors’ Syndicate, who is still in the capital. The generals’ fight for power has caught millions of Sudanese in the crossfire,

Nepal Prez airlifted to AIIMS, Delhi for medical treatment

KATHMANDU, APR 19 (PTI): Nepal President Ramchandra Paudel on Wednesday was airlifted to India for treatment after he was admitted to a hospital here for the second time within a month after he complained of shortness of breath, his press aide said.

Paudel, 78, was admitted to TU Teaching Hospital here on Tuesday. A preliminary investigation has revealed that he had a chest infection.

Murty’s interest in Koru Kids Ltd, which is likely to benefit from a new pilot scheme announced in the Spring Budget last month to incentivise people to become childminders.

Murty, the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, is listed on the UK’s Companies House register as a shareholder in Koru Kids – one of six childminder agencies in England listed on the government’s website with contact details.

The Opposition had flagged this fact last month and called for further explanations at a hearing of the Liaison Committee – made up of all House of Commons committee chairs.

President Paudel will undergo treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, (AIIMS), New Delhi, the aide said.

Kiran Pokharel, the press adviser to the President, said that the President was medevacked to India in an air ambulance around 10.30 am on Wednesday.

He was accompanied by his son Chintan Paudel and others. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Purna Bahadur Khadka, among other leaders, visited him to inquire about his health condition.

This satellite image shows a destroyed fighter aircraft and damaged hangar at Merowe airbase. (AP/PTI) as their forces have battled it out since Saturday with heavy machine guns, artillery and airstrikes in residential neighbourhoods of Khartoum, its neighbouring city Omdurman and other major towns of the country.

At least 270 people have been killed in the past five days, the UN said, but the toll is likely higher, since many bodies have been left in the streets, unreachable because of clashes. A 24hour cease-fire was to have been in effect from sundown

Tuesday to sundown

Wednesday. It was the most concrete attempt yet to bring a pause that it was hoped could be expanded into a longer truce. It came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke separately by phone with the two rivals — the leader of the armed forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

Egypt, which backs the Sudanese military, and Sau- d i Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have close ties to the RSF, have also been calling on all sides to stand down. But fighting continued after the intended start of the truce and through the night. Each side blamed the other for the failure. Fierce clashes between the army and RSF were reported Wednesday morning around the military’s headquarters in central Khartoum and the nearby airport, as well as around the state television building across the river in Omdurman. Bombs and artillery could be heard around the city.

A high-rise in the city centre was on fire with burning debris falling from its top floors, according to footage by the Al Arabiya news network. The battles, with heavy machine guns, artillery and airstrikes, have wreaked extensive damage, playing out in the streets of Khartoum and the city of Omdurman on the opposite bank of the Nile River, as well as in other key towns around Sudan.

Tibetan Bhutia Buddhist Welfare Association In Solidarity With His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

The Tibetan bhutia and buddhist Welfare Association strongly condemn the baseless and false allegations made against The Noble peace prize Laureate His Holiness the 14th dalai Lama in the social and main stream media. Just like millions of his followers, we are also emotionally heartbroken, devastated and deeply saddened over the recent unregulated and tailored video clip of a young boy and the Spiritual Leader's fun interaction been blown out of proportion just to defame and dismantle the reputation and legacy of His Holiness. It is indeed disheartening to see how more than a month old video of a playful interaction has been misinterpreted and manipulated without any beginning or an end just to negatively change the whole context.

Today with utmost compassion, we the people of TbbWA stand in solidarity with His Holiness. We once again condemn these ignorant accusations made out of misinformation and exaggeration. Kindly remember this interaction took place in front of a large audience in front of the boy's family and also in front of many cameras.

Our Spiritual Leader His Holiness the 14th dalai Lama is an epitome of Love, Compassion and integrity. His exemplary message of love, peace, compassion, kindness, non-violence and oneness remains more relevant than all of this for the betterment of mankind and humanity.