Rescue efforts were underway on Sunday to clear access to campsites on Tibet’s eastern slope of Mount Everest, where nearly 1,000 people have been trapped by a blizzard that has blocked roads, according to Chinese state media reports.

Hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams have been deployed to help remove snow blocking access to the area, which sits at an altitude above 4,900 metres (16,000 feet), according to a report in Jimu News.

Some tourists on the mountain have already been brought down, it added.

The snowfall began on Friday evening and continued throughout Saturday, according to notices on the official WeChat accounts of the local Tingri County Tourism Company, which said ticket sales and entry to the Everest Scenic Area were suspended from late Saturday.

Just across the border in Nepal, heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods that have blocked roads, washed away bridges and killed at least 47 people since Friday, police said.

Thirty-five people died in separate landslides in the eastern Ilam district bordering India.

Nine people were reported missing after being swept away by floodwaters and three others were killed in lightning strikes elsewhere in the country.

• Illinois senator calls move ‘shameful chapter’ in nation’s history.
• Democrats accuse Trump of an authoritarian power grab.
• Portland witnesses scattered attacks on officers, property.

CHICAGO: US President Donald Trump authorised deployment of troops to Chicago after a federal agent shot an allegedly armed motorist there on Saturday, while a judge blocked the Republican leader’s attempt to send the military into Portland, another Democratic-run city.

The escalating crisis across the country pits Trump’s increasingly militarised anti-crime and migration crackdown against opposition Democrats who accuse him of an authoritarian power grab.

“President Trump has authorised 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets” in Chicago, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement, after weeks of Republican threats to send troops to the Midwestern city over the wishes of local leaders.

“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin called the move a “shameful chapter in our nation’s history,” adding that the “President is not intent on fighting crime. He is intent on spreading fear.”

Chicago and Portland are the latest flashpoints in the Trump administration’s rollout of raids, following the deployment of troops to Los Angeles and Washington.

The raids have seen groups of masked, armed men in unmarked cars and armored vehicles target residential neighborhoods and businesses, sparking protests.

Trump has repeatedly called Portland “war-ravaged” and riddled with violent crime, but in Saturday’s court order, US District Judge Karin Immergut wrote “the President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts.”

Although the city has seen scattered attacks on federal officers and property, the Trump administration failed to demonstrate “that those episodes of violence were part of an organised attempt to overthrow the government as a whole,” Immergut wrote in granting a temporary restraining order.

Protests in Portland did not pose a “danger of rebellion” and “regular law enforcement forces” could handle such incidents, Immergut said.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden applauded the order, saying the “victory supports what Oregonians already know: we don’t need or want Donald Trump to provoke violence by deploying federal troops in our state.”

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller wrote on social media that the judge’s order was “legal insurrection” and accused local leaders in Oregon of conducting an “organised terrorist attack on the federal government.”

‘Operation Midway Blitz’

Earlier Saturday, a federal officer in Chicago shot a motorist after law enforcement agents were “boxed in by 10 cars,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.

“Agents were unable to move their vehicles and exited the car. One of the drivers who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

“Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen,” she said.

AFP could not independently verify the DHS version of the event.

The agency said the motorist “drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds,” but Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt told the Sun-Times newspaper that she was found in fair condition and taken to a local hospital.

McLaughlin also accused Chicago police of “leaving the shooting scene” with officers refusing “to assist us in securing the area.”

Chicago police told local broadcaster Fox 32 that officers responded to the scene, but the department “is not involved in the incident or its investigation. Federal authorities are investigating this shooting.”

Following the shooting, protesters who had gathered chanting “ICE go home!” were met with tear gas and pepper balls, temporarily dispersing before returning, the Sun-Times reported.

Protesters left after federal agents vacated the scene.

Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” was launched in Chicago last month, and Saturday’s shooting is not the first time federal agents have opened fire.

Department of Homeland Security officials said ICE officers shot and killed 38-year-old immigrant Silverio Villegas Gozalez during a traffic stop on September 12, accusing him of allegedly trying to flee the scene and dragging an ICE officer with the vehicle.

TEHRAN: Iran’s top diplomat said Sunday that cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog was no longer relevant following the re-imposition of international sanctions on the country.

“The Cairo agreement is no longer relevant for our cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi while referring to a September deal with the UN agency.

The deal had set up a framework to resume cooperation and allow the watchdog to inspect Iranian sites, after Tehran suspended cooperation following Israeli and US strikes on its key nuclear sites in June.

But the agreement lost its significance to Iran as Britain, France, and Germany — signatories to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal — triggered the return of the UN sanctions over Tehran’s non-compliance.

Tehran had threatened to halt cooperation with the agency if they sought to reimpose the sanctions.

“The three European countries thought they had a leverage in their hands, threatening to implement a snapback,” Araghchi said during a meeting with foreign diplomats in Tehran.

“Now they have used this lever and seen the results […] the three European countries have definitely diminished their role and almost eliminated the justification for negotiations with them.”

He added that the European trio “will have a much smaller role than in the past” in any upcoming diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear dossier.

Iran accused the IAEA of failing to condemn attacks conducted by its arch-enemies on its nuclear installations, despite it being a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Western countries, spearheaded by the US and joined by Israel, accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons and define uranium enrichment as a red line.

Iran categorically rejects the accusations, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes and that it has a right to enrichment under the NPT.

Some Iranian MPs have floated the idea of leaving the NPT, while President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran will remain committed to its obligations under the treaty.

Araghchi said Tehran’s “decision regarding cooperation with the agency will be announced”, without elaborating, while adding there was still room for diplomacy.

Iran had engaged in talks with the US starting in April to reach a new deal over its nuclear program.

However, the June attacks on Iranian nuclear, military and residential sites by Israel brought the talks to a halt.

Tehran accused the US of undermining diplomacy and urged guarantees and recognition of its rights before any possible resumption of negotiations.