A small passenger plane crashed into a parked helicopter during takeoff at the only airport in Nepal's Everest region on Sunday, killing at least three people and injuring four others, officials said.
The crash occurred while the plane, a Twin Otter belonging to Summit Air, was trying to take off from Lukla for Kathmandu on Sunday morning, said aviation official Raj Kumar Chhetri. He said the plane skidded off the runaway, hitting the helicopter of Manang Air.
Both are private airline companies that cater to tourists and Nepalese in the country's remote areas.
The injured were airlifted to Kathmandu by helicopter, Nepal police spokesman Uttam Raj Subedi said. The dead included a pilot of the plane and two police officers who were near the parked helicopter.
A civil administrator, Narendra Kumar Rana, said the four passengers and a flight attendant on the plane were safe.
Following the crash, authorities suspended services at Tenzing Hillary Airport at Lukla, the gateway to Mount Everest.
The airport is often referred to as the world's most dangerous because of the short runway and difficult approach. It's open only to helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft. It sits at an elevation of 9,334 feet (2,845 meters).
In May 2017, a cargo flight was landing in Lukla when it lost altitude and crashed into a mountain below the runway, killing both pilots. Poor visibility was blamed for the accident.
In February, a helicopter flying in bad weather crashed into a mountain in northeastern Nepal, killing all seven people on board, including the country's tourism minister.
Another sign emerged Saturday of frustration between far-left Democrats in Congress and the party's entrenched leadership.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., claimed in a Twitter message Saturday that she and other minority members of the party have been used as tokens whenever the party wants to project an image of inclusiveness.
The message appeared to be triggered by a California Muslim activist's assertion that Democratic leaders hadn't been adequately supportive of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who has been accused of trivializing the 9/11 terror attacks as "some people did something."
“They put us in photos when they want to show our party is diverse,” Tlaib wrote. “However, when we ask to be at the table, or speak up about issues that impact who we are, what we fight for & why we ran in the first place, we are ignored. To truly honor our diversity is to never silence us.”
Tlaib later retweeted a post by Omar, who also expressed frustration.
“I did not run for Congress to be silent,” Omar wrote. “I did not run for Congress to sit on the sidelines. I ran because I believed it was time to restore moral clarity and courage to Congress. To fight and to defend our democracy.”
Tlaib also retweeted a post by Roza Calderon, a human rights activist.
“More and more we're realizing that POC [people of color] are used as props by @TheDemocrats,” Calderon wrote. “When we run, we're told to wait our turn. When we speak about our struggles, we're told we're angry. When we ask them to stand up for us, they say we're being divisive.”
Previously, three progressives -- U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. – objected to a plan by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to blacklist organizations that assist candidates who look to challenge Democratic incumbents in party primaries, as the progressives had done to win their seats.
“The @DCCC’s new rule to blacklist+boycott anyone who does business w/ primary challengers is extremely divisive & harmful to the party,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote March 30.
“If the DCCC enacts this policy to blacklist vendors who work with challengers,” Pressley wrote, also on March 30, “we risk undermining an entire universe of potential candidates and vendors - especially women and people of color - whose ideas, energy, and innovation need a place in our party.”
Meanwhile, other examples indicate that leading Democrats may have frustrations of their own regarding some of the party’s newer members and the media attention they’ve received.
“While there are people who have a large number of Twitter followers, what’s important is that we have a large number of votes on the floor of the House,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told USA Today earlier this month in what was interpreted as a dig at Ocasio-Cortez, who has nearly twice as many Twitter followers as Pelosi despite being in office a little more than two months.
In March, in a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., pointedly noted that the new Congress had 62 freshmen Democrats.
“You hear me?” Hoyer said. “Sixty-two. Not three.”
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Tens of millions of Indonesians will vote in presidential and parliamentary elections this week after campaigns focused on the economy, but with political Islam looming ever larger in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.
FILE PHOTO: Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, his running mate Ma'ruf Amin greet presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Sandiago Uno before a debate in Jakarta, Indonesia April 13, 2019. REUTERS/Edgar Su
President Joko Widodo, a former furniture salesman who launched his political career as a small-city mayor, is standing for re-election in a contest with ex-general Prabowo Subianto, whom he narrowly defeated in 2014.
Most opinion polls give Widodo a double-digit lead but the opposition has disputed survey findings. It has also said it has uncovered data irregularities affecting millions on the electoral rolls and has vowed to take legal action or use “people power” if its complaints are not resolved.
Some analysts say an unexpected win for the challenger would probably cause a brief slump in Indonesian markets, while a very close race could elevate the risk of a disputed vote.
“In a scenario in which Widodo wins by an unexpectedly narrow margin, large and prolonged protests in Jakarta would elevate tensions and pressure the currency,” Kevin O’Rourke, a political analyst and author of Reformasi Weekly, said in the Indonesia-focused newsletter last week.
While most polls have put the president ahead, they could not be taken for granted, a senior government official said.
“Absolutely everybody is flying blind because we don’t know how far the opinion polls can be respected,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Widodo ended his six-month campaign with a mass rally at Jakarta’s main stadium at the weekend, where festive crowds overflowed into a surrounding park and streets.
Running ran out on stage in sneakers, to the cheers of the crowd after an hours-long concert by local bands, he struck an optimistic tone for the future of the world’s third-largest democracy.
That was a stark contrast to his opponent, who has repeatedly warned Indonesia is on the verge of collapse.
Prabowo, as he is usually known, held a similarly big rally the previous weekend where supporters, many dressed in Islamic robes, held a mass prayer before a fiery speech about how Indonesia was being pillaged by foreigners and the elite.
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Widodo has touted a record infrastructure drive and deregulation as major successes during his tenure, calling it a first step to tackle inequality and poverty in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
In a televised weekend debate, Widodo and his running mate, Islamic cleric Ma’ruf Amin, said their opponents, neither of whom has served in public office for more than a few months, did not understand managing macrolevel economics.
Widodo, a moderate Muslim from central Java, has had to burnish his Islamic credentials after smear campaigns and hoax stories accused him of being anti-Islam, a communist or too close to China, all politically damaging in Indonesia.
Prabowo, who has close links to some hardline Islamist groups, and his running mate, business tycoon Sandiaga Uno, have pledged to boost the economy by slashing taxes as much as 8 percentage points, and focus on key infrastructure projects.
Nearly 500,000 police and military will fan out across the vast archipelago to safeguard the vote. In Jakarta, the capital, officers will guard polling station to deter voter intimidation or clashes, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said.
More than 192 million will also vote in national and regional legislative elections, being contested by more than 245,000 candidates, in what is being described as the world’s biggest single-day election.
Overseas voting is already underway, with thousands lining up outside Indonesian missions in Singapore and Australia.
On Wednesday, polling stations will open at 7 a.m. (2200 GMT Tuesday) in eastern Indonesia and close at 1 p.m. (0600 GMT) on the western side of the country.
Voters will manually punch five separate paper ballots for president and vice president, and legislative candidates.
Unofficial “quick counts”, based on vote samples from polling stations, will be released hours after polling ends and the winning presidential candidate is expected to be apparent by late Wednesday.
Slideshow (4 Images)
The General Election Commission is expected to announce an official result in May.
Candidates have 72 hours after the official result to complain to the Constitutional Court. A nine-judge panel has 14 days to reach a decision, which cannot be appealed.
Additional reporting by Jessica Damiana, Gayatri Suroyo and John Chalmers in Jakarta, and Alison Bevege in Sydney; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
The man who died in the nightclub shooting has not been named, but local media report he is a 37-year-old security guard.
Police say the other men who were shot are aged 28, 29 and 50. The youngest is in a critical condition.
Victoria Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper described the injuries they sustained as "horrific".
"This is just a horrendous act. It's a busy nightclub, one of the main nightclubs in Melbourne in one of the main entertainment precincts in Melbourne," he told a news conference.
No arrests have yet been made, and police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
The man who died in the nightclub shooting has not been named, but local media report he is a 37-year-old security guard.
Police say the other men who were shot are aged 28, 29 and 50. The youngest is in a critical condition.
Victoria Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper described the injuries they sustained as "horrific".
"This is just a horrendous act. It's a busy nightclub, one of the main nightclubs in Melbourne in one of the main entertainment precincts in Melbourne," he told a news conference.
No arrests have yet been made, and police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
The man who died in the nightclub shooting has not been named, but local media report he is a 37-year-old security guard.
Police say the other men who were shot are aged 28, 29 and 50. The youngest is in a critical condition.
Victoria Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper described the injuries they sustained as "horrific".
"This is just a horrendous act. It's a busy nightclub, one of the main nightclubs in Melbourne in one of the main entertainment precincts in Melbourne," he told a news conference.
No arrests have yet been made, and police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
The man who died in the nightclub shooting has not been named, but local media report he is a 37-year-old security guard.
Police say the other men who were shot are aged 28, 29 and 50. The youngest is in a critical condition.
Victoria Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper described the injuries they sustained as "horrific".
"This is just a horrendous act. It's a busy nightclub, one of the main nightclubs in Melbourne in one of the main entertainment precincts in Melbourne," he told a news conference.
No arrests have yet been made, and police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
