avalanche hits glacier
AFP, Srinagar
Ten Indian soldiers were feared buried in an avalanche that hit Siachen Glacier in the India-held portion of Kashmir on Wednesday, an army spokesman said.
The soldiers were hit while on duty at a post on the glacier at an altitude of 19,000 feet, Colonel S.D. Goswami said.
“In the early hours of today, 10 soldiers were hit by an avalanche on the northern Siachen Glacier,” he said.
US to joint patrols in South China Sea with Philippines
AFP, Manila
The United States will consider joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea as part of efforts to ensure freedom of navigation in waters claimed by China, the US ambassador said Wednesday.
Washington angered Beijing in recent months by sending US warships and warplanes on patrols near artificial islands built by Beijing to bolster its claim to most of the Sea.
Sudan and South Sudan agree on oil deal
AFP, Juba
Sudan and South Sudan’s oil ministers have agreed in principle a new oil pipeline deal, reports said Thursday, after slumps in global prices made Juba effectively pay to export crude.The countries, which split in July 2011 after decades of war, agreed then to a fixed fee for the use of export pipelines. But with global prices so low, the fee was more than it earned for the oil itself, meaning impoverished and war-torn South Sudan lost money on every barrel it sold.
Body of Italian student found outside Cairo
AP, Cairo
The partially burned body of a missing Italian student was found by the side of a road on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, a person with knowledge of the case told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The body of Giulio Regeni was found Wednesday along the Cairo-Alexandria Road in the 6 October suburb in western Cairo and was positively identified by people who knew him.
