Nepal rain death toll hits 170, triggers nationwide school closures

KATHMANDU: Nepal has shut schools for three days after landslides and floods triggered by two days of heavy rain across the Himalayan nation killed 170 people, officials said on Sunday. The floods brought traffic and normal activity to a standstill in the Kathmandu valley, where 37 deaths were recorded in a region home to four million people and the capital. Authorities said students and their parents faced difficulties as university and school buildings damaged by the rains needed repair. “We have urged the concerned authorities to close schools in the…

‘Global threat’: Quad nations urge Afghan Taliban govt to dismantle terror groups

NEW YORK: A ministerial meeting of the Quadrilateral Group — Pakistan, China, Iran and Russia — expressed deep concern over security challenges related to terrorism in Afghanistan, urging the Afghan interim government to dismantle all terror groups “equally and non- discriminatory”. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since the Taliban government returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021, mostly in the northwestern border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but also in southwestern Balochistan, which abuts Afghanistan and Iran. According to data from the Pak Institute for Peace Studies…