05/11/2025

WEDNESDAY | NOV 5, 2025

7 Philippines flooding kills 5

NEPAL AVALANCHE KILLS SEVEN

Former N. Korea president dies SEOUL: Kim Yong Nam (pic) , the former head of North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament who served as nominal head of state for more than 20 years, has died. He was 97. From 1998 to WAGAH BORDER: Dozens of Sikh pilgrims from India crossed into Pakistan yesterday, AFP journalists saw, in the first major crossing since deadly clashes in May closed their land border. The pilgrims, visiting to attend festivities marking the 556th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, were welcomed by Pakistani officials who presented them with flowers and showered them with rose petals at the Wagah-Attari border. Tensions remain high between Islamabad and New Delhi after the worst fighting since 1999 erupted in May, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drone and artillery exchanges. – AFP decision-making power lay with leaders Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011, and his son Kim Jong Un. Kim Yong Nam died from organ failure, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Kim Jong Un visited his bier “to express deep condolences”, KCNA said. A photo showed Kim Jong Un, flanked by senior officials, paying his respects before the bier, where the deceased man lay in a glass coffin. In 2018, Kim Yong Nam led a North Korean delegation to the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea – a rare trip on the peninsula. Although he was head of the delegation, media reported that Kim Yong Nam yielded the seat of honour to Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, during a meeting with South Korean officials. The gesture sparked speculation that Kim Yong Nam had retained positions by showing deference to the family of the supreme leaders. – AFP KATHMANDU: An avalanche at a mountain base camp in eastern Nepal killed seven people, including three Italians, an expedition organiser said yesterday, as efforts were underway to retrieve their remains. The avalanche hit a group of 12 people at the base camp of 5,630m Yalung Ri peak on Monday. A German and a French climber also died along with two Nepalis, said Phurba Tenjing Sherpa from expedition organiser Dreamers Destination. “I have seen all the seven bodies,” said Sherpa, who arrived at the avalanche site on Monday for the rescue operation. Sherpa’s company had organised the expedition for three of the seven victims. The five surviving climbers, including two French and two Nepalis, were rescued yesterday morning, said Gyan Kumar Mahato, a senior police official in Dolakha district. – AFP PAKISTAN WELCOMES SIKH PILGRIMS 2019, Kim served as president of the presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, a post that gave him a symbolic role as head of state. However, the

BR I E F S

o Typhoon Kalmaegi spirals westward

CEBU: At least five people have been killed and displaced as rains driven by Typhoon Kalmaegi flooded swathes of the central Philippines yesterday. Entire towns on the island of Cebu have been inundated, while cars, trucks and even shipping containers could be seen swept along by muddy floodwaters in videos. In the 24 hours before Kalmaegi’s landfall, the area around provincial capital Cebu City was deluged with 183mm of rain, well over its 131mm monthly average, said state weather specialist Charmagne Varilla told AFP. “The situation in Cebu is unprecedented,” said provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro. “We were expecting the winds to be the dangerous part, but ... the water is what’s truly putting our people at risk,” she said. “The floodwaters are devastating.” Disaster official Ethel Minoza said the bodies of two children had been recovered in Cebu City, where rescuers were still attempting to reach trapped residents. At least three other deaths have been confirmed elsewhere, including an elderly resident who drowned in an upper floor of his home in Leyte province and a man struck by a falling tree in Bohol. Don del Rosario, 28, was among those in Cebu City who sought refuge on an upper floor. “The water rose so fast,” he said. “By 4am, it was uncontrollable. People couldn’t get out.” “I’ve been here for 28 years, and this is by far the worst.” Hundreds still living in tent cities after a 6.9-magnitude quake rocked the island in late September were “forcibly evacuated for their own safety”, said Cebu information officer Rhon Ramos. Nearly 400,000 people were pre emptively moved from the typhoon’s path, Rafaelito Alejandro, said deputy administrator at the Office of Civil Defence. The typhoon was moving westwards through the Visayan island chain, with winds of 130 kph and gusts of 180 kph toppling trees and downing power lines. The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year. – AFP fighter jet dropped flares near an Australian maritime patrol plane carrying out surveillance in the South China Sea, the latest in a series of such incidents that Australia has labelled “unsafe and unprofessional”. Dozens of navy and coast guard chiefs, including from the United States, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Pacific Islands, are attending the conference in Sydney, which comes as Australia prepares to build a nuclear-powered submarine fleet with the US and Britain. – Reuters

A section of Mandaue City in Cebu province yesterday. – COURTESY OF ELLEN MAY MIGUEL GUNGOB/AFPPIC

Australia keen to keep trade routes open SYDNEY: Australia’s defence force operations to protect its sea trade routes, including through the South China Sea, are becoming more risky as Beijing undertakes the “biggest military build-up in the world today”, Australia’s defence minister said yesterday. “That work is challenging and in truth it is becoming increasingly risky. The biggest military build-up in the world today is China,” he told the Indo-Pacific conference. “That it is happening without strategic reassurance means that for Australia and so many countries a response is demanded.” spray was used after clashes with officers. Several Israeli companies are exhibiting at the conference. Marles said Australia was increasing its military spending to build a “more capable, lethal, long range navy”.

Open sea lanes, including trade routes that go through the South China Sea and East China Sea, are at the core of Australia’s national interest, Richard Marles said in an opening speech at a navy conference in Sydney.

This included acquiring frigates from Japan, developing submarine drones with US company Anduril and expanding its naval shipyards facing the Indian Ocean. Australia raised concerns with Beijing last month after a Chinese

About 100 protesters, including pro-Palestinian groups, gathered outside the conference centre in Darling Harbour in Sydney. New South Wales state police said 10 people were arrested and pepper