IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Nepal

Avalanches, blizzards kill 12

At least 12 people, including eight foreign hikers and a group of yak herders, were killed by unseasonal blizzards and avalanches triggered by the tail of cyclone Hudhud, officials said on Wednesday. The hikers' deaths come during the peak trekking season in Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountain peaks. For the past two days, Nepal has been lashed by heavy rains brought by the cyclone, which has battered neighboring India. The weather triggered blizzards at high altitudes.

Iran

Overflights up due to insecurity

The number of commercial aircraft using Iranian airspace appears to have doubled in the last year, mostly because of insecurity in Iraq and Ukraine, figures showed on Wednesday. Many international airlines, including Air France, Virgin Atlantic, Delta and United, suspended flights over Iraq in July, prompting an immediate increase in traffic.

Japan

Official opposes nuclear restarts

A Japanese governor said the country should not restart any nuclear plants until the cause of the Fukushima meltdown is fully understood and nearby communities have emergency plans that can effectively respond to another major accident. Hirohiko Izumida, governor of central Niigata prefecture - home to the seven-reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant - said on Wednesday that regulators look at equipment but don't evaluate local evacuation plans.

United States

Record number contest seats

More than 100 black candidates will be on the ballot in statewide and congressional races next month, a modern record that some observers say is a byproduct of President Barack Obama's historic presidency. At least 83 black Republicans and Democrats are running for the US House, the highest number since the Reconstruction Era, which followed the end of the US Civil War in 1865.

Nurse guilty of assisting suicide

A former nurse in Minnesota who has admitted to going online and encouraging two people to kill themselves is scheduled to be sentenced. William Melchert-Dinkel, 52, is being sentenced on Wednesday on one count of assisting suicide and one count of attempting to assist a suicide.

Kashmir

Neighbor troops violate truce

The troops of India and Pakistan Wednesday violated a cease-fire agreement on the Line of Control in Kashmir, officials said. The two sides fired mortars and bullets on each other's positions in Poonch, about 180 km southwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of India-controlled Kashmir.

Reuters - AFP - AP - Xinhua

(China Daily 10/16/2014 page11)