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Hundreds of trekkers escape from blizzard-struck Everest in Tibet

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Hundreds of trekkers escape from blizzard-struck Everest in Tibet


A screen capture from video shows trekkers leaving their campsite, as unusually heavy snow and rainfall pummeled the Himalayas, in the Tibet Region, China, October 5, 2025. — Reuters
 A screen capture from video shows trekkers leaving their campsite, as unusually heavy snow and rainfall pummeled the Himalayas, in the Tibet Region, China, October 5, 2025. — Reuters 
  • Hundreds of trekkers stranded by sudden blizzard
  • Tourists trekking in Tibet valley leading to Everest’s east face
  • Sudden bad weather also hits Nepal, triggering landslides

Hundreds of trekkers stranded by a blizzard near the eastern face of Mount Everest in Tibet have been guided to safety by rescuers, Chinese state media reported on Sunday, as unusually heavy snow and rainfall pummelled the Himalayas.

As of Sunday, 350 trekkers had reached the small township of Qudang, while contact with the remaining 200-plus trekkers had been made, CCTV reported.

Visitors to the remote valley of Karma, which leads to the eastern Kangshung face of Everest, were in the hundreds this week, taking advantage of an eight-day National Day holiday in China.

“It was so wet and cold in the mountains, and hypothermia was a real risk,” said Chen Geshuang, who was part of an 18-strong trekking team that made it to Qudang.

“The weather this year is not normal. The guide said he had never encountered such weather in October. And it happened all too suddenly.”

Chen’s party descended from the mountains on Sunday and was greeted by villagers after enduring a harrowing evening of heavy snowfall combined with thunder and lightning. With tears in her eyes, Chen accepted their offers of sweet tea and the promise of warmth, she said.

“Back in the village, we had a meal and were finally warm.”

Hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams had been deployed to help remove snow blocking access to the area, where nearly 1,000 people had been trapped, according to an earlier report by state-backed Jimu News.

The remaining trekkers will arrive in Qudang in stages under the guidance and assistance of rescuers organised by the local government, CCTV reported.

The CCTV report did not say if local guides and support staff of the trekking parties had been accounted for.

‘Hardly slept’

Snowfall in the valley, which lies at an elevation averaging 4,200 metres (13,800 feet), began on Friday evening and persisted throughout Saturday.

“It was raining and snowing every day, and we did not see Everest at all,” said Eric Wen, who survived the ordeal.

His trekking party of 18 had decided on Saturday night to make their way back from their fifth and final campsite, concerned by the continuous snowfall.

file photo — Reuters
file photo — Reuters

“We only had a few tents. More than 10 of us were in the large tent and hardly slept,” Wen told Reuters on Monday. “It was snowing too hard.”

Wen said his group had to clear the snow every 10 minutes.

“Otherwise our tents would have collapsed,” he said.

Two men and a woman in the group fell victim to hypothermia when the temperature slipped below freezing, even though they were sufficiently attired, Wen said.

But his expedition party emerged largely unscathed, including eight other expedition guides and several others who tended the yaks transporting their equipment and kit.

North face

Karma valley, first explored by Western travellers a century ago, is a relatively pristine part of the Everest region. Unlike the peak’s arid north face, it boasts lush vegetation and untouched alpine forests, fed by meltwaters from the Kangshung glacier at the foot of the world’s highest mountain.

It was unclear if trekkers near the north face had been affected or not.

The north face, due to its easy access by paved road, regularly draws large numbers of tourists. October is a peak season, when skies usually clear at the end of the Indian monsoon.

Ticket sales and entry to the entire Everest Scenic Area were suspended from late Saturday.

To the south of Tibet in Nepal, heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods that have blocked roads, washed away bridges, and killed at least 47 people since Friday.

According to officials, 35 people died in separate landslides in the eastern Ilam district bordering India. Nine were reported missing after being swept away by floodwaters, and three others were killed in lightning strikes.





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Russian general hails Iran’s ‘shining example’ of defense against US-Israeli aggression

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Russian general hails Iran’s ‘shining example’ of defense against US-Israeli aggression



The first deputy head of the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Russian Defense Ministry says Iran demonstrated a “shining example” of defense during the recent illegal US-Israeli war of aggression.

“Iranian Armed Forces showed to the world a shining example of their firm resolve to defend their country’s interests,” Major-General Yevgeny Ilyin said during a ceremony in Moscow on Thursday, marking Iran’s National Army Day.

Iranian forces, he added, stand ready to deliver a proper and proportionate response to emerging challenges and threats.

The Russian military official said the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, with its steadfastness and courage, has protected the country’s defense and security and turned into a reliable guarantor for the nation’s independence and stability.

The unprovoked US-Israeli aggression on Iran began on February 28 with airstrikes that assassinated senior Iranian officials and commanders.

Iranian armed forces unleashed 100 waves of successful retaliatory strikes against sensitive and strategic American and Israeli targets throughout the region.

On April 8, forty days into the war, a Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire went into effect but the first round of Tehran-Washington negotiations failed to reach an agreement.

Referring to the strategic partnership pact signed between Iran and Russia, Ilyin said that both states have maintained their cooperation in many fields.

Iran-Russia defense relations are multifaceted, encompassing areas from the deep sea to space, he added.

The military official also reiterated Russia’s resolve to implement previous agreements with Iran and continue working on plans for bilateral military cooperation.

During the ceremony, Iran’s military attaché to Russia Sadeq Rezaei Moqaddam said Iranian Armed Forces have always been committed to moral principles and differentiated between military and civilian targets.

On the contrary, he said, the US and the Israeli regime perpetrated horrible war crimes by killing 170 students and teachers at an elementary school in the city of Minab, and targeting the Iranian Dena destroyer which was returning home from a naval drill in India.

The attacks on civilian infrastructure and educational centers represent the enemies’ strategic failure to deal a blow to the will of the Iranian nation, Rezaei Moqaddam asserted.

The perfect coordination of the Army units and other forces caused the aggressors to step back and thwarted their calculations, he said.

He further stressed that enhanced technical and military cooperation between the Iranian and Russian armed forces not only guarantees the national security of both nations, but is also the main pillar to safeguarding stability in Eurasia and countering unilateralism and organized international crimes.



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Netanyahu says he was successfully treated for prostate cancer

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Netanyahu says he was successfully treated for prostate cancer


Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Yom HaZikaron at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in occupied Jerusalem, April 21, 2026. — Reuters
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Yom HaZikaron at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in occupied Jerusalem, April 21, 2026. — Reuters
  • Netanyahu does not disclose when treatment occurred.
  • Delayed release of medical report by two months: Israeli PM.
  • Move aimed at preventing Iran from spreading “propaganda”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said that he had received successful treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, without specifying when the treatment took place.

In a statement on social media, as his annual medical report was released, Netanyahu, 76, said an early stage malignant tumor had been discovered during a routine checkup. He said “targeted treatment” had removed “the problem” and left no trace of it.

According to the medical report, which otherwise said the prime minister was in good health, Netanyahu was treated with radiation therapy for early-stage prostate cancer.

Neither the medical report nor Netanyahu said when the treatment occurred.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said that he had delayed the release of the medical report by two months to prevent Iran from spreading “false propaganda against Israel”.

In March, during the fighting with Iran, rumors that circulated on social media and aired on Iranian state media claimed that Netanyahu had died.

The Israeli leader recorded a video of himself visiting a Jerusalem cafe in March to refute the claims.

Netanyahu underwent surgery on his prostate in 2024 after he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement. In 2023, he was fitted with a pacemaker. Elections are due to be held in Israel by October.





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Strategic Assertion or Legal Breach? Deconstructing India’s Indus Waters Doctrine

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Strategic Assertion or Legal Breach? Deconstructing India’s Indus Waters Doctrine



India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty under the pretext of security concerns constitutes a flagrant violation of international law , devoid of any legal basis within the Treaty framework. By invoking unsubstantiated claims surrounding the Pahalgam incident , India advances a dangerous doctrine that legitimizes treaty erosion and the coercive weaponisation of shared resources.

The Indus Waters Treaty is a binding bilateral instrument that contains no provision permitting unilateral suspension , reinterpretation, or conditional compliance, thereby rendering India’s decision to hold it in abeyance legally untenable and inconsistent with the principle of pacta sunt servanda. The attempt to justify this breach through allegations linked to the Pahalgam incident remains entirely unsubstantiated in international fora, exposing the claim as a politically motivated pretext rather than a lawful justification. By conflating disputed security narratives with treaty obligations, India not only undermines the integrity of a long-standing water-sharing regime but also sets a pernicious precedent that threatens the stability of transboundary agreements and the broader rules-based international order.

India’s unilateral move to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance is not a policy shift, it is a shameless act of legal defiance , openly violating the most basic rule of international law; pacta sunt servanda.

The weaponization of a water-sharing treaty exposes the dangerous ideological imprint of the RSS mindset , where majoritarian extremism overrides legal commitments India’s attempt to justify its conduct through the Pahalgam incident collapses under scrutiny even after a year; no evidence, no accountability, no credibility, only a politically convenient narrative weaponized to rationalize treaty violations.

Dragging terrorism allegations into a binding water treaty is not strategy, it is blatant and reckless escalation , dismantling decades of carefully insulated cooperation and replacing it with instability and mistrust.

By sidestepping proceedings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, India has revealed a pattern of selective legality , embracing international law when convenient and abandoning it when constrained. Moreover, India yet remains silent to the UN Special Rapporteurs queries even after 130 days.

The weaponisation of water by an upper riparian state is nothing short of hydro-political terrorism , targeting the economic and agricultural lifeline of millions and crossing the line from governance into coercion.

This conduct represents a shameful erosion of treaty sanctity , sending a chilling message to the world that binding agreements can be hollowed out by power politics and ideological rigidity.

Pakistan’s position remains unequivocal; treaties are not conditional favors but binding obligations, and no state has the authority to unilaterally rewrite or suspend them under the guise of security narratives.

The growing international concern surrounding India’s actions underscores a simple reality: Unilateralism is isolating, destabilizing, and fundamentally incompatible with a rules-based order.

At its core, this doctrine of “blood and water cannot flow together” is not a principle of justice, it is a dangerous precedent, legitimizing collective punishment and transforming a historic instrument of peace into a tool of strategic pressure.



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