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Daredevil free-climbs Taiwan highest building

Seoul drops budget minister nominee SEOUL: South Korea’s president has withdrawn his nomination of Lee Hye-hoon to head the country’s newly created Budget Ministry after she was accused of unlawful real estate investments and mistreating staff. The plan to appoint the former conservative party lawmaker was viewed as an attempt by President Lee Jae Myung to promote national unity with some cross party appointments. Lee’s liberal government was elected after his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, was ousted last year following a brief imposition of martial law. Woo Sang-ho, a presidential secretary, said in a televised address yesterday that Lee Hye-hoon had not lived up to the people’s expectations. At Lee’s confirmation hearing on Friday, the three-term lawmaker argued that her family had not taken advantage of the country’s apartment investment system, but agreed that she had often been out of line in how she had once treated her staff. “I once again apologise to everyone hurt by my immature words and actions,”Lee said. The Budget Ministry said its acting vice minister, Lim Ki-Keun, will lead policy meetings for the time being. Woo said the search for a suitable candidate to lead the ministry could again involve people from the conservative party. – Reuters NZ stops work at landslide site SYDNEY: New Zealand authorities suspended recovery efforts yesterday for victims of a landslide that hit a busy campground on the country’s North Island. Six people, including two teenagers, are presumed dead after heavy rains triggered Thursday’s landslide at Mount Maunganui on the island’s east coast, bringing down soil and rubble at the site in the city of Tauranga, crowded with families on summer holidays. Authorities have been working to identify the victims after human remains were found at the site on Saturday. But a crack found at the site prompted recovery work to cease for the day yesterday, said police Superintendent Tim Anderson. “As a result of that, we’ve had to pull all our staff out,” Anderson told reporters at Mount Maunganui, adding, “We’ve had to do that for the safety of everyone concerned.” He did not specify when work would resume, saying the authorities were taking it “day by day at the moment”. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Saturday it was “devastating to receive the news we have all been dreading”, after the rescue operation shifted to recovery. “To the families who have lost loved ones – every New Zealander is grieving with you,” Luxon posted on X. The heavy rain this week unleashed another landslide in the neighbouring suburb of Papamoa, killing two. – Reuters

o ‘No ropes, no gear’

TAIPEI: An American climber took on Taiwan’s tallest building yesterday, without ropes or safety gear, in a daring feat that drew hundreds of spectators to the tower’s base and many more online through a live broadcast. Alex Honnold, 40, has conquered some of the world’s most intimidating rock faces and rose to global fame in 2017 after he climbed Yosemite’s “El Capitan”, lauded among his peers as the pinnacle of technical difficulty on the massive granite monolith. He climbed Taipei 101, which towers 508m into the air, as large crowds gathered and cheered below. Honnold is the first person to free solo climb Taipei 101, without a rope, harness, or safety net, but not the first to scale the large building. Richard Bode, 34 said watching the event was a “once-in-a-lifetime experience”. Another onlooker, Benson, 24, called the climb “incredibly brave”, while others, like Lin Chia-jou, 54, told AFP that she found it “terrifying” but admired Honnold for the hard work he’d put into achieving his dream. The challenge, titled “Skyscraper Live”, was scheduled to be broadcast on Netflix on Saturday, but it was postponed due to bad weather. “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to climb a skyscraper,” Honnold said in a promotional video for the climb on Netflix’s Facebook page on Tuesday. “So I am going to be free-soloing Taipei 101 ... No ropes, no gear, just me and the building.” Honnold declared it would mark the “biggest urban free-solo climb” to ever be attempted. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold moved up the 101-storey glass and steel building swiftly. The weather was clear as he scaled the building’s southeast face. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos of the dramatic ascent. People watching from inside the building could be seen gawking and tapping at the glass as Honnold scrambled past the enclosed glass observation deck on the 89th floor. Taipei 101 chairwoman Janet Chia said on Saturday on Threads that it was touching to hear that fans had travelled from Singapore, Hong Kong and southern Taiwan to watch the climb and apologised for the delay in the event. “But this epic event is definitely worth the wait,” Chia said. The climb took Honnold one and a half hours to reach the top, where he could be seen looking down at the crowd with his arms up in the air. – AFP

Honnold took one and a half hours to reach the top.

Honnold atop Taipei 101 yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

US preparing to deport Iranian migrants WASHINGTON: The Trump

representing them. The two men are being held in an immigration detention centre in Arizona, and legal proceedings to prevent their deportation are still ongoing, according to the organisation. The US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to queries about the planned deportations. – AFP

United States, told Iran’s official IRNA news agency on Saturday that about 40 Iranians were to be deported. They will depart from an airport in Phoenix, Arizona, he said. Among them are two gay men who face execution in Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, according to a statement from the American Immigration Council, an immigrant advocacy organisation

was planning to restart deportation flights to Iran, after removals in September and December. “The same administration that promised Iranians that ‘help is on the way’ amid a deadly crackdown is now forcibly sending Iranians back into danger,” said NIAC president Jamal Abdi. Abolfazl Mehrabadi, a diplomat representing Tehran’s interests in the

January before being repressed. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch military strikes on Iran in response to the crackdown, but has since appeared to walk back those threats after he said Tehran suspended planned executions. The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) said on Thursday it had learned that Trump’s administration

administration plans to repatriate Iranian migrants from the United States despite their home country still reeling from massive protests, according to an Iranian-American NGO. The deportation flights from today would be the first to Iran since the beginning of the mass uprisings in the country, which peaked in early