Three climbers missing on New Zealand’s highest peak feared dead

Three climbers missing for five days on New Zealand’s tallest peak are now presumed dead, authorities announced on Friday.

The men, two Americans and a Canadian, were last seen on Saturday when they flew to a hut partway up the Aoraki mountain to start their ascent.

Kurt Blair, 56, from Colorado, and Carlos Romero, 50, from California, both certified alpine guides, were joined by a Canadian climber whose identity has not been disclosed at the family’s request.

The group was reported missing on Monday after they failed to meet their pre-arranged transport.

An extensive search for the men started immediately but harsh weather conditions, including heavy rain and snow, stalled efforts for several days. Despite the challenging conditions, a search helicopter was able to locate climbing equipment, including a jacket and ice axe, as well as footprints on the slopes.

Police Inspector Vicki Walker addressed the media on Friday, confirming that, based on the evidence found, the climbers are believed to have fallen down.

“After reviewing the number of days the climbers have been missing, no communication, the items we have retrieved and our reconnaissance today, we do not believe the men have survived,” she said.

“We believe they have taken a fall.”

The search, which involved aerial surveys and ground searches, had previously been hindered by unstable weather and glacier movement on the mountain.

Aoraki, also known as Mount Cook, rises to 3,724m and is notorious for its crevasses and the risk of avalanches. The mountain has claimed more than 240 lives since the early 20th century.

Authorities have indicated that the search would only resume if new information comes to light, with the men’s deaths now referred to a coroner for further investigation.

“We all wanted this operation to be a success,” Inspector Walker remarked, expressing gratitude for the efforts of the search teams.

Additional reporting by agencies.

Man breaks British record by running more than 4000km across Australia

A 28-year-old man from Berkshire has set a new British record for running across Australia, completing the 4,320km journey from Perth to Sydney’s Bondi Beach in 61 days.

Jack Pitcher surpassed the previous record, held by Nottingham’s Nikki Love, by 16 days.

Love, 56, from Nottingham earlier held the record, running from the Western Australia capital to New South Wales city in 77 days.

Mr Pitcher began the challenge on 6 October alongside Joshua Smith, 21, from Reading. However, Mr Smith had to withdraw from running midway due to health issues, switching to cycling part of the route before flying home.

Reflecting on his achievement, Mr Pitcher told BBC Radio Berkshire: “I’m over the moon. To have a round number of 60 days would have been nice, but I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve done.”

The final stretch was particularly gruelling. Following a 120km run, Mr Pitcher attempted a 150km push to finish within 60 days but had to pause after experiencing hallucinations. “I went through the night and got to Sydney, but I was very dizzy on the road, and it was not safe,” he explained. After a brief rest, he completed the journey early on Thursday.

The feat was not just about setting records. Mr Pitcher and Mr Smith aimed to raise funds for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, and ARC Wokingham, a volunteer-run counselling service. Mr Pitcher, who suffered from depression, hopes his journey inspires others facing mental health struggles. “When I get home, I’m keen to explore motivational speaking and working in mental health,” he said.

The two friends who set off on their journey in early October have faced a number of challenges along the way.

“Two weeks ago when we were running, Josh pulled up quite quickly. He couldn’t carry on, so we had to call it a day,” said Mr Pitcher.

“He took a few days off and on the fourth day he was back running, however he could barely stand up after 10km,” he earlier told PA.

“We got him loads of magnesium and sleeping tablets to help him, and nothing worked. And I think his body just gave up on him.

“He still ran 2700km at 21-years-old. It’s an incredible feat to do that at that age.

“It’s down to me now to carry the torch and bring the record home.”

Mr Pitcher spoke of the stunning Australian wildlife and the generosity of strangers who offered cold drinks during his run. However, he also faced severe storms and physical exhaustion.

Looking ahead, Mr Pitcher plans to rest and “eat as many calories” as possible while considering future opportunities. Local runner Nedd Brockmann holds the overall record of completing the route in 46 days and 12 hours.

Additional reporting by PA

Donald Trump names David Perdue as US ambassador to China

Donald Trump has selected former senator David Perdue to serve as the US ambassador to China amid escalating military and trade tensions.

The president-elect said the former senator from Georgia “brings valuable expertise to help build our relationship with China”.

Mr Perdue, who lived in Hong Kong during a 40-year career as a business executive, will be “instrumental in implementing my strategy to maintain peace in the region and a productive working relationship with China’s leaders”, Mr Trump added.

In his time as senator from 2015 to 2021, Mr Perdue advocated for the US to build a more robust naval force to cope with foreign threats and was labeled “anti-China” in 2019 by a Chinese think tank.

His nomination came days after Mr Trump threatened to impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods unless the Asian giant did more to stop the alleged trafficking of the narcotic fentanyl. He also threatened tariffs in excess of 60 per cent on Chinese goods while on the campaign trail.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington responded that Beijing believed trade and economic cooperation between the two nations was mutually beneficial. “No one will win a trade war or a tariff war,” the spokesperson added.

Mr Perdue, if confirmed, will have to negotiate a difficult set of issues that goes beyond trade. His nomination marks a return to the practice over recent decades of sending former politicians to the US embassy in Beijing, after outgoing president Joe Biden tapped veteran career diplomat Nicholas Burns in 2021.

Mr Trump has picked China hardliners for other senior positions in his administration, including senator Marco Rubio for secretary of state, in a signal that his policy towards America’s main strategic rival could go beyond trade restrictions.

The US has been pressuring Beijing over its support to Russia during the war in Ukraine, human rights issues, and Taiwan.

Chinese president Xi Jinping said in a meeting with Mr Biden last month that Beijing stood “ready to work with a new US administration”.

He said a stable China-US relationship was critical not only to the two nations but to the “future and destiny of humanity”.

“Make the wise choice,” Mr Xi cautioned during his meeting with the outgoing president on the sidelines of an international summit in Peru. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.”

Mr Trump’s relationship with his Chinese counterpart started out well during his first term before becoming strained over disputes about trade and the origins of the Covid pandemic.

He sent former Iowa governor Terry Branstad as his ambassador to China. Mr Branstad sought to leverage his old ties with Chinese officials, including Mr Xi, to improve the bilateral relationship.

The two sides still plunged headlong into a trade war, with the US imposing tariffs on Chinese goods worth more than $360bn.

Additional reporting by agencies.

All the ways the Taliban are restricting lives of women in Afghanistan

Women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan are currently barred from most of the ordinary activities their counterparts elsewhere in the world see as their natural right – studying, working, going to a salon or the gym, midwifery, and even speaking or praying in public.

The steadily increasing diktats on Afghanistan’s nearly 50 million women, imposed by the hardline Islamist regime which initially promised a progressive society, have been globally condemned as gender apartheid.

A female cat has more rights than a woman in Afghanistan, Hollywood star Meryl Streep said in September, speaking at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face. She may chase a squirrel into the park. A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today, because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban,” Streep said, shining a light on the depleted rights of Afghan women.

When the Taliban were last in power from 1996-2001 girls were not allowed to attend school and women were banned from work and education. Their rule today, decades later, resembles the grim reality of their previous time in power, says Zahra Joya, the founder of Afghan news website Rukhshana who runs the news operations with her team of women in exile.

Here is a list of activities from which Afghan women are banned or restricted:

Within a month of taking control of Kabul, the Taliban’s education ministry banned girls and women from schools. However, they announced the reopening of schools for all male teachers and students, leading to condemnation from the rest of the world. The Taliban leaders also announced that the girls were barred from studying beyond the sixth grade.

The ban was extended to colleges and universities in December 2022. Some of the female students were turned back from the doorstep of their universities at gunpoint by Taliban fighters when they attempted to return to their classrooms.

Taliban-ruled Afghanistan is the only country in the world with harsh restrictions on female education. Several local and senior officials, including chief spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid, have said the Taliban authorities will reopen the schools inevitably with adherence to Islamic Sharia laws but have not announced any step to invite girls and women back to educational institutions.

The Taliban have banned women from government and private jobs, including working with NGOs, affecting international aid work.

Women workers under the Nato-led administration in Afghanistan were asked to go back to their homes in Kabul in September 2021, marking the first unofficial ban on women’s work. A senior Taliban leader told Reuters women would not be allowed to work alongside men in government ministries.

The Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Ministry, which replaced the Women’s Ministry, ordered on 7 May 2022 that women will be required to stay in unless they have important work outside of their houses. It also required them to travel in the company of mehram – a male chaperone.

With the exception of nurses and midwives in the healthcare sector, Afghan women are generally barred from other kinds of work by the Taliban. Healthcare workers say even women serving in hospitals face the risk of harassment by the Taliban’s morality police who monitor the dress code and gender segregation for female workers.

In the latest ban this year, women have been banned from training to become midwives, a move that human rights experts said will directly imperil the lives of girls and women.

Trainee midwifery students, who have been ordered to no longer attend classes, urged Taliban leaders to allow them to continue studying.

Midwifery was one of the last remaining professions untouched by the Taliban’s restrictions, mainly because male medical practitioners are not allowed to touch or interact with female patients. But in early December, sources close to the Taliban’s public health ministry said they have received orders to shut medical institutions to female students until further notice.

Several midwifery institutions in different provinces of Afghanistan confirmed the ban is in place, leaving girls and women in the country without any access to medical care.

Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of deaths in childbirth in the world – with one woman estimated to die every two hours.

The Taliban order that a woman has to be covered from head to toe when stepping outside of her house accompanied by a male guardian has severely curtailed women’s freedom.

The diktat officially requires any woman travelling more than 75km (46 miles) or leaving the country to be chaperoned by a mehram. If women break the dress code restrictions, it is the male relatives who would face punishment.

Taxi drivers would also be punished if they agreed to drive a woman without a suitable male escort, according to the new set of rules.

The Taliban have banned all sports for girls and women and intimidated former female athletes into silence after taking over control.

In November 2022, the Taliban officially ordered women to be banned from entering gymnasiums and parks.

Even before the Taliban took control, women’s sports faced opposition in Afghanistan’s deeply conservative society that viewed it as a violation of women’s modesty and of their role in society. However, sports was not banned and Afghan women athletes trained in the country and competed in international championships. Most of them are now part of refugee teams and training in exile.

Afghan women can no longer visit national parks and public parks. In November 2022, Taliban spokesperson Mohammed Akef Mohajer claimed the group “tried its best” not to shut down parks and gyms for women and allocated separate days of the week for male and female access. They later claimed the Taliban’s hardline rules were flouted and authorities had to order a complete shutdown of parks – but the rule applied only to women.

In August 2023, the Taliban government banned women from visiting the Band-e-Amir national park in Bamiyan province, citing improperly worn hijab or head covering by women visitors.

Afghanistan’s acting minister of virtue and vice, Mohammad Khaled Hanafi, said going to the park for sightseeing “was not obligatory”.

In August this year, clothes shops in Kabul were ordered to hide the faces of mannequins by order of the Taliban.

In July 2023, the Taliban banned women’s salons and parlours, shutting down their last places of recreation and relaxation. The Taliban said beauty salons had to be shut down because they offered services forbidden by Islam and inflicted economic hardship for the grooms’ families in wedding festivities.

For days, the Taliban’s fighters on the streets monitored the shutdown of salon and beauty parlour services.

Afghan women must completely veil their bodies, including their faces, in thick clothing in public spaces to prevent men from committing vice, according to the new “vice and virtue” laws by the Taliban last month.

This is an extension of the Taliban’s previous ban from May 2022 when it ordered all women TV news anchors in Afghanistan to wear face coverings while on air.

Afghan women are also banned from reading, singing, or speaking in public by the Taliban in their so-called bid to discourage vice and promote virtue. Women’s voices are deemed to be a source of temptation, according to the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia law. If a woman is heard singing, even from within her own home, she will be punished for violating the law.

“Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body,” according to the new rules.

Women are also forbidden from looking directly at a man who is not their husband or blood relative.

Melbourne synagogue fire: Australia PM blames antisemitism for attack

Arsonists extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue on Friday in what Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese condemned as an antisemitic attack.

Australian police said they were looking for two people suspected of deliberately starting a fire at Adass Israel Synagogue that injured one and caused widespread damage.

The Victoria state police said a worshipper who was at the synagogue for morning prayers saw two people who appeared to be spreading accelerant inside the building before setting it on fire.

Counter-terrorism police will liaise with the Victoria state police on the investigation, Albanese said.

“This is an outrage. The violence and intimidation and destruction at a place of worship is something that we should never see in Australia,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“I think an attack on a synagogue is an act of antisemitism by definition,” Albanese added.

Attacks against Jews and Muslims have increased in Australia since Israel declared war on Hamas in October last year.

The government has appointed special envoys to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia in the community.

Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the broader Australian community needed to condemn the arson attack.

“I’ve been getting phone calls this morning from the Hindu community, from other people, from good people who are prepared to stand up and that’s my message for this morning to Australia, to the good people of Australia,” Aghion told reporters.

“Don’t leave the Jewish people behind,” he added.

Additional reporting by Reuters.

Stampede during Pushpa 2 premiere leaves mother dead and child injured

A 39-year-old woman was crushed to death and her nine-year-old son severely injured after a stampede broke out at the premiere of an Indian film in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Authorities identified the woman as M Revathi, who had come to watch the film with her husband M Bhaskar, their son, and seven-year-old daughter.

According to Indian media, huge crowds gathered at the Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad, the capital of the south Indian state of Telangana, to get a glimpse of actor Allu Arjun, whose film Pushpa 2: The Rule was screening at the theatre.

Once Arjun arrived at the theatre along with the film’s music director Devi Sri Prasad around 10.30pm, the crowds pushed forward.

Authorities said that the theatre gates, which were shut, collapsed under the pressure of the crowd, which led to the stampede, adding that the police had to resort to baton-charge to control people.

“People who were exiting the theatre from a previous show were caught in the midst of the crowd. Revathi and her son fell down in the stampede. The police personnel present there tried to resuscitate Revathi for several minutes. She and her son were rushed to Durgabai Deshmukh Hospital where Revathi was declared dead. Her son has been shifted to KIMS hospital with serious injuries and is in a critical condition,” an police officer from the station where a case has been registered, said, according to The Indian Express.

The KIMS Hospital confirmed in a statement that the woman died from severe injuries sustained during the stampede and the child was brought in a semi-conscious state, and that he had been given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by police personnel. After arrival, he was put on ventilatory support, reported The Hindu.

“A CT scan of the brain and spine was performed, revealing no significant abnormalities. While lactic acidosis has improved, the child’s sensorium remains impaired. The condition is still critical, and the patient is under intensive care with continuous monitoring as the medical team works to stabilise him,” the hospital said.

Hyderabad police have now registered a criminal case against the theatre and its management, and said that the theatre will be sealed as a part of the investigation process.

“There was negligence on their part in ensuring crowd control measures were in place. Strict action will be taken against all those responsible for the incident,” a senior police official told The Times of India.

Pushpa 2: The Rule is a sequel to the 2021 film Pushpa: The Rise, and stars Allu Arjun in the lead role, along with Fahadh Faasil, Rashmika Mandanna, Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari, Dhananjaya, Sunil, and Ajay Ghosh. The films follow Pushpa Raj, a labourer-turned-mafia kingpin who rises in a syndicate that smuggles the rare red sandalwood. In Pushpa 2, Pushpa Raj “struggles to sustain his sandalwood smuggling business in the face of tough opposition from the police,” according to its synopsis.

New UK travel advisory warns terror attacks likely in Bangladesh

The UK government has revised its travel guidance for Bangladesh, cautioning that “terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks” in the South Asian nation.

Issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on Tuesday evening, the update reinforces existing advice against “all but essential travel”.

It highlights risks to foreign nationals in crowded areas and at religious places and political rallies, warning that “some groups have targeted people who they consider to have views and lifestyles contrary to Islam”.

The advisory flags previous attacks involving improvised explosive devices in major cities and notes potential threats to minority religious communities, police and security forces. Authorities may impose additional security measures or restrict movement at short notice as they work to disrupt potential attacks.

The FCDO describes Bangladesh’s political situation as volatile, noting that demonstrations and strikes frequently escalate into violence.

Clashes with law enforcement, arson, vandalism, and attacks on property or public transport in the past have resulted in fatalities.

While the guidance is not legally binding, ignoring it may invalidate travel insurance.

The update comes after parliamentary debates highlighting concerns over the treatment of minority communities in Bangladesh, particularly Hindus. Catherine West, minister for the Indo-Pacific, addressed the House of Commons on Monday, referencing the Indian government’s concern over the recent arrest of Bangladeshi Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das on sedition charges.

“We are aware of the statement of concern from the Indian government following the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das,” Ms West said, adding that the FCDO is closely monitoring developments.

She noted that during her recent visit to Bangladesh, the interim government assured her of its support for minority communities.

Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, whose government was overthrown in a mass street agitation earlier this year, has accused interim leader Muhammad Yunus of orchestrating a “genocide” and failing to safeguard the country’s minorities such as Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.

Speaking virtually from New York at an event marking Bangladesh’s Vijay Diwas, Ms Hasina alleged a plot to assassinate her and her sister, Sheikh Rehana, akin to the 1975 killing of their father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The remarks, delivered in Bengali, marked Ms Hasina’s first public address since she fled Bangladesh for India in August.

Referring to the storming of her residence in Dhaka by the agitators on 5 August, she said, “The armed protestors were directed towards Ganabhaban. If the security guards opened fire, many lives would have been lost. It was a matter of 25-30 minutes and I was forced to leave. I told them not to fire no matter what happened.”

She accused Mr Yunus of employing the state to target religious minorities in the country. “Hindus, Buddhists, Christians – no one has been spared. Eleven churches have been razed, temples and Buddhist shrines have been broken. And when Hindus protested, the Iskcon leader was arrested,” she said, referencing Mr Das’s detention.

She also alleged a deliberate campaign of persecution. “What is this persecution of minorities for? Why are they being ruthlessly persecuted and attacked?” Ms Hasina asked while accusing Mr Yunus of systematically carrying out atrocities under the guise of governance.

The exiled prime minister highlighted growing strain in relations between Bangladesh and neighbour India under Mr Yunus’s rule, with New Delhi expressing concern over attacks on minority groups.

India’s foreign ministry recently condemned the rise in extremist rhetoric and violent incidents and called on Bangladesh’s interim government to protect minorities.

“Our position on the matter is very clear: the interim government must live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities,” the ministry’s spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said on Friday. He called for a fair and transparent resolution of Mr Das’s case which has drawn international attention.

Ms Hasina said she fled Bangladesh to prevent further violence but lamented that her departure had failed to stop the bloodshed. “When people were dying indiscriminately, I decided I should leave,” she said, criticising the interim administration for continuing its violent clampdown.

While Mr Yunus is yet to respond to Ms Hasina’s accusations, he urged the country’s politicians on Wednesday to keep differences at bay to counter “Indian aggression”.

“They are undermining our efforts to build a new Bangladesh and spreading fictitious stories,” he told a gathering of Bangladeshi politicians, in an apparent reference to New Delhi’s condemnation of the attacks on minorities.

Japan’s most famous drink is now protected

It is perhaps more Japanese than the world-famous sushi. It’s brewed in centuries-old mountaintop warehouses, savored in the country’s pub-like izakayas, poured during weddings and served slightly chilled for special toasts.

The smooth rice wine Sake that plays a crucial role in Japan‘s culinary traditions was enshrined on Wednesday by Unesco on its list of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity.”

At a meeting in Luque, Paraguay, members of Unesco’s committee for safeguarding humanity’s cultural heritage voted to recognize 45 cultural practices and products around the world, including Brazilian white cheese, Caribbean cassava bread and Palestinian olive oil soap.

The “Würstelstand” sausage stands in Austria’s Vienna, also became the latest addition to the national list of intangible cultural heritage.

Unlike Unesco’s World Heritage List, which includes sites considered important to humanity like the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Intangible Cultural Heritage designation names products and practices of different cultures that are deserving of recognition.

A Japanese delegation welcomed the announcement in Luque.

“Sake is considered a divine gift and is essential for social and cultural events in Japan,” Kano Takehiro, the Japanese ambassador to Unesco, said.

The basic ingredients of sake are few: rice, water, yeast and koji, a rice mold, which breaks down the starches into fermentable sugars like malting does in beer production. The whole two-monthlong process of steaming, stirring, fermenting and pressing can be grueling.

The rice — which wields tremendous marketing power as part of Japan’s broader cultural identity — is key to the alcoholic brew.

For a product to be categorized Japanese sake, the rice must be Japanese.

The UNESCO recognition, the delegation said, captured more than the craft knowledge of making high-quality sake. It also honored a tradition dating back some 1,000 years — sake makes a cameo in Japan’s famous 11th century novel, “The Tale of Genji,” as the drink of choice in the refined Heian court.

Now, officials hope to restore sake’s image as Japan’s premier alcoholic drink even as the younger drinkers in the country switch to imported wine or domestic beer and whiskey.

“It means a lot to Japan and to the Japanese,” Takehiro said of the UNESCO designation. “This will help to renew interest in traditional sake elaboration.”

Also, Japanese breweries have expressed hope that the listing could give a little lift to the country’s export economy as the popularity of sake booms around the world and in the United States amid heightened interest in Japanese cuisine.

Sake exports, mostly to the U.S. and China, now rake in over $265 million a year, according to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, a trade group.

Japan’s delegation appeared ready to celebrate on Wednesday — in classic Japanese style.

After the announcement, Takehiro raised a cypress box full of sake to toast the alcoholic brew and cultural rite.