New Zealand PM to meet Trump for first formal talks
Reuters, Wellington
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday she plans to meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week, in what would be the first formal bilateral discussions between the two leaders.
The 39-year-old New Zealand prime minister is often contrasted with Mr Trump for her views on issues including women’s rights, climate change and diversity.
Hong Kong train derails during rush hour, 8 injured
AFP, Hong Kong
A passenger train derailed during the morning rush hour in Hong Kong on Tuesday leaving eight people injured, authorities said.
Images from the scene showed three carriages had left the tracks and were zigzagged across the rails near Hung Hom station in Kowloon-a busy interchange that provides services to mainland China. Passengers had to leave the train through a broken door and cross tracks on the East Rail line to make their way to safety.
Nepali climber aims to scale 14 tallest peaks in 7 months
AFP, Kathmandu
The current record for climbing the world’s 14 tallest peaks is almost eight years. Nepali climber, Nirmal Purja, who served in the British special forces, has a target of seven months. On Monday Purja arrived at the advance base camp of the 8,201-metre (26,906-feet) Cho Oyu, ready for the final phase of the last three peaks in his feat of astonishing endurance.
“Nobody believed I could do this when I first said it… I’m so glad to be inspiring generations of all ages through this endeavour. This is what keeps me going,” Purja told AFP by phone.
US teen jailed for 20 yrs for supporting terror group
PTI, Washington:
A US court on Monday sentenced a North Texas man to 20 years of imprisonment for providing material support to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). US District Judge Reed O’Connor sentenced Michael Kyle Sewell, 18, who was arrested in February and pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in May.
During the sentencing, federal prosecutors introduced evidence that Sewell’s offense was consistent with a long pattern of online statements supporting violent extremism and terrorism.
Texas girl, dies of rare brain-eating amoeba
AFP, Washington
A 10-year-old girl has died in the hospital, her family said in a statement on Monday, after she contracted a rare brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a Texas river.
Lily Mae Avant swam in a river and lake over the Labor Day holiday weekend earlier in September, then suffered a headache and a fever the following weekend.
