NEPAL BANS SOLO CLIMBERS FROM EVEREST
KATHMANDU: Nepal has banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including Mount Everest, in a bid to reduce accidents, an official said on Saturday. The cabinet late Thursday endorsed a revision to the Himalayan nation’s mountaineering regulations, banning solo climbers from its mountains—one of a string of measures being flagged ahead of the 2018 spring climbing season. Maheshwor Neupane, secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, said that the law was revised to make mountaineering safer and decrease deaths. The cabinet also endorsed a ban on double amputee and blind climbers, although Everest has drawn multitudes of mountaineers wanting to overcome their disabilities and achieve the formidable feat. Thousands of mountaineers flock to Nepal—home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 meters— each spring and autumn when clear weather provides good climbing conditions.
FUJIMORI BEING TREATED FOR GASTRIC PROBLEMS – DOCTOR
Pardoned former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori will remain hospitalized to be treated for gastric problems, his doctor said Friday (Saturday in Manila). Alejandro Aguinaga, Fujimori’s doctor, said a medical test on Fujimori uncovered “three important changes linked to stomach problems.” Treatment has begun and Fujimori is expected to overcome the issue in the coming days, Aguinaga said. Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year sentence for murder and other rights abuses, was originally admitted to a clinic for low blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. He was pardoned by President Pablo Kuczynski just days after Fujimori’s son helped him escape impeachment. The decision to pardon Fujimori, who was in office from 1990-2000, has heightened political tensions in Peru. Relatives of victims of Fujimori’s brutal rule have condemned the pardon, but he also earned respect from many Peruvians for his ruthless and unflinching campaign to defeat leftist guerrillas, and supporters have hailed the decision to free him.
TWO MASS GRAVES FOUND IN RAQA – SYRIAN STATE MEDIA
DAMASCUS: Two mass graves containing dozens of bodies of civilians and Syrian troops killed by Islamic State jihadists have been found in the west of Raqa province, state news agency SANA reported on Friday. The bodies were discovered based on information provided by residents near Wawi in the west of the province, which borders Turkey. It said they had been executed. Recovery operations were expected to last several days “due to the huge area of the two mass graves,” SANA quoted a source from the Syrian civil defense as saying. It was not immediately clear when they had been killed, other than while Islamic State controlled the northerly province, SANA said. In December 2014, the bodies of 230 people executed by Islamic State were found in a mass grave in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. Another 200 civilians, including women and children, were killed by the group in June 2015 in the city of Kobane.