News in Brief

Nepal resumes search for trekkers
Afp, Kathmandu

Nepal rescue workers, who had planned to end their search, yesterday returned to the mountains to look for survivors yesterday after receiving fresh information suggesting that more people may still be stranded on the popular Annapurna Circuit route. At least 43 people were killed and more than 500 people have been airlifted to safety since a snowstorm hit the region last Tuesday at the height of the trekking season, triggering avalanches.

Total's CEO dies in Moscow plane crash
Bbc Online

Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of French oil company Total, yesterday died in an air crash in Moscow. His corporate jet collided with a snow plough and was then engulfed in flames. All four people on board were killed. The driver of the snow plough was drunk, according to Russian investigators. Mr de Margerie, 63, had been chief executive of Europe's third largest oil company since 2007. He was highly regarded within the oil industry.

Myanmar sets date for 2015 polls
Afp, Yangon

Landmark elections in Myanmar that could propel opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party into office have been provisionally scheduled for late next year, electoral officials said yesterday. The 2015 general election, seen as a key test of Myanmar's democratic reforms, is due to be held in the final week of October or the first week of November, Union Election Commission chairman Tin Aye said at a meeting with political parties in Yangon.

Former Australian PM Gough Whitlam dies
Afp, Sydney

Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam, a towering figure who led the nation through a period of massive change and remains the country's only leader to be sacked, died Tuesday aged 98. He was credited with transforming Australian society in the 1970s after 23 years of conservative government, introducing many far-reaching reforms. He spent less than three years in office but much of the legacy of his government's reforms remains today.

China executed 2,400 last year: Amnesty
Afp, Beijing

The world's top executioner China put 2,400 people to death last year, a US-based rights group said yesterday, shedding rare light on a statistic Beijing considers a state secret. The figure was a fall of 20 percent from 2012, the Dui Hua Foundation said, and a fraction of the 12,000 in 2002. The total for the rest of the world combined was 778 people in 2013, according to campaign group Amnesty International's annual report earlier this year.

Gaza ceasefire talks to restart next week
Afp, Gaza City

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to resume talks on a durable Gaza ceasefire next week in Cairo, a senior official of the Islamist movement Hamas which rules the territory said Monday. A source close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, contacted by AFP, gave no comment on the reported resumption of talks.