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India

NEARLY 200 people have died in floods and landslides in India and Nepal, officials said yesterday, with families buried in their homes and two young girls swept away as forecasters warned of yet more heavy rain. The unusually late deluge of rain in the region saw Nepal record the sharpest rise in casualties, with at least 88 people now dead. In the Himalayan northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, some parts of which recorded the most rain in more than a century, 55 people were confirmed dead. Bridges and roads have been damaged and many towns have been cut off and are without power. | AFP

Britain

BRITISH police yesterday charged Ali Harbi Ali, a 25-year-old Londoner, with the murder of MP David Amess, who was stabbed to death last week in a church while meeting constituents, saying it was an act of terrorism. Amess’s murder has shocked Britain’s political establishment five years after another MP was killed, prompting calls for increased safety for members of parliament. Ali, 25, appeared in London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on charges of murder and preparing acts of terrorism. He is the son of an ex-media adviser to a former prime minister of Somalia. | Reuters

South Korea

SOUTH Korea’s first domestically built space rocket blasted off yesterday, but failed to fully place a dummy satellite into orbit, delivering mixed results for a test launch that represents a major leap for the country’s space plans. The KSLV-II Nuri rocket is designed to put 1.5-ton payloads into orbit 600 to 800km above Earth, as part of a broader ambitious space effort to launch satellites for surveillance and even lunar probes. President Moon Jae-in said the rocket completed all its flight sequences but failed to place the test payload into orbit. He said the project would press ahead regardless. | Reuters

SKY-HIGH gas prices in Europe could threaten food security throughout the world, the Norwegian fertiliser producer Yara has warned, saying that European nitrogen production is important for worldwide agriculture. Yara president Svein Tore Holsether warned that crop yields could fall as farmers may be forced to cut fertiliser use due to higher prices. This, in turn, may lead to plummeting food production. “If the farmer does not get nitrogen fertiliser out on the land, the grain crops fall by 50% from the first harvest. From there, you’d go quickly from an energy crisis to a food crisis,” Holsether said. | Sputnik

WORLD

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2021-10-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestar.pressreader.com/article/282329683140167

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