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A military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has sentenced 51 people to death, several in absentia, in a mass trial over the 2017 murder of two United Nations experts in a troubled central region, Aljazeera reported.

Capital punishment is frequently pronounced in murder cases in DRC, but is routinely commuted to life imprisonment since the country declared a moratorium on executions in 2003.

Dozens of people have been on trial for more than four years over the killings that shook diplomats and the aid community, although key questions about the episode remain unanswered.

Zaida Catalan, a Swede, and Michael Sharp, an American, were investigating violence between government forces and an armed group in the central Kasai region in March 2017 when they were stopped along the road by armed men, marched into a field and killed.

Their bodies were found in a village on March 28, 2017, 16 days after they went missing. Congolese officials have blamed the killings on the Kamuina Nsapu armed group.

Unrest in the Kasai region had broken out in 2016, triggered by the killing of a local traditional chief.

About 3,400 people were killed, and tens of thousands of people fled their homes, before the conflict fizzled out in mid-2017.

Death penalty

Prosecutors at the military court in Kananga had demanded the death penalty against 51 of the 54 accused, 22 of whom are fugitives and are being tried in absentia.

The charges ranged from “terrorism” and “murder” to “participation in an insurrectional movement” and “the act of a war crime through mutilation”.

According to the official version of events, pro-Kamuina Nsapu armed fighters killed the pair on March 12, 2017, the day they went missing.

But in June 2017, a report handed to the UN Security Council described the killings as a “premeditated setup” in which members of state security may have been involved.

During the trial, prosecutors suggested that the fighters had carried out the murders to take revenge against the UN, which the sect accused of failing to prevent attacks against them by the army.

If so, those who purportedly ordered the act were not identified throughout the marathon proceedings.

Among the main accused was a colonel, Jean de Dieu Mambweni, who prosecutors say colluded with the militiamen, providing them with ammunition. He has denied the charges and his lawyers say the trial is a set-up.

Mambweni was among those originally facing the death penalty, but instead was sentenced to only 10 years in jail for “disobeying orders and failure to assist a person in danger”. His defence team said he would appeal the verdict.

Catalan’s sister, Elisabeth Morseby, said after the verdict that testimony in the case was of dubious reliability given how much time the defendants had spent together in prison and said the conviction of Mambweni was a smokescreen.

“In order for the truth to emerge, all suspects, including those higher up in the hierarchy, need to be questioned, which has not yet been done,” she told Reuters news agency.

The government has started administering booster dose vaccine against coronavirus to senior citizens aged above 60.

Assistant Spokesperson for Ministry of Health and Population Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said that the ministry had begun inoculating booster dose to senior citizens above 60 and who have completed six months after receiving the second dose of the vaccine.

A ministerial meeting chaired by Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada yesterday decided to send a letter to the district health offices of all 77 districts to administer vaccines.

The ministry is administering vaccines to the senior citizens based on the recent recommendations of the World Health Organisation's Strategic Advisory Group of Expert on Immunisation and National Vaccination Advisory Committee.

The ministry has sent a letter to the district offices to administer Covishield or AstraZeneca vaccines to those who have already been inoculated with the full dose of Covishield or AstraZeneca or Moderna or Pfizer or Vero Cell and provide Covishield or AstreZeneca to those who are yet to get the second dose. RSS

The Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party of Nepal (Revolutionary Maoist) has decided to stage demonstrations across the country on Friday.

A Standing Committee meeting of the party held on Saturday decided to stage the demonstrations against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Indian encroachment among others.

Issuing a statement, party Chairman Mohan Baidya said that they have decided to stage the protests to protect the sovereignty.

Martyr’s Day is being observed across the country today with various programmes.

The day is marked every year on Magh 16 in the Lunar calendar in memory of the people who sacrificed their lives during different times to establish and restore democracy.

The government has announced to observe a week-long martyr’s day from Magh 10 to 16 with various programmes.

A team of people from various walks of life including the Prime Minister, ministers, high ranking officials of the government, people’s representatives and officials of security agencies along with a band of musicians is scheduled to take out a procession from Shanti Batika at Ratnapark to conclude at the Martyr’s Monument at the Martyr’s Memorial Park in Lainchaur where they will offer garlands to known and unknown martyrs, it has been said.

The participants have been asked to strictly follow the health protocols against global COVID-19.

Similarly, a programme has been scheduled at the National Martyr’s Memorial under construction at Gokarneshwor in Kathmandu.

Minister for Forest and Environment Ram Sahaya Yadav is scheduled to present in the programme as a chief guest, said Sudarshan Sigdel, chair of the Yagyadol community forest users’ group. RSS

North Korea conducted its largest missile test since 2017 on Sunday, sending a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile soaring into space, seen as taking the nuclear-armed country a step closer to resuming long-range testing, Reuters reported.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that a projectile believed to be a single ballistic missile was launched about 7:52 a.m. (2252 GMT) from North Korea's Jagang Province toward the ocean off its east coast.

South Korea's National Security Council (NSC), which convened a rare emergency meeting presided over by President Moon Jae-in, said the test appeared to involve an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which North Korea has not tested since 2017.

The launch takes North Korea a step closer to fully scrapping a self-imposed moratorium on testing its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), Moon said.

He noted that this month's flurry of missile tests was reminiscent of the heightened tensions in 2017, when North Korea conducted multiple nuclear tests and launched its largest missiles, including some that flew over Japan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said he is no longer bound by that moratorium, which included a stop to nuclear weapons tests and was announced in 2018 amid a flurry of diplomacy and summits with then-US President Donald Trump.

North Korea's rulers suggested this month they could restart those testing activities because the United States and its allies had shown no sign of dropping their "hostile policies."

"The United States condemns these actions and calls on (North Korea) to refrain from further destabilizing acts," the US military's Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement after Sunday's launch.

A US State Department spokesperson said the launch demonstrates the threat posed by North Korea's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, and called on Pyongyang to engage in "sustained and substantive" dialogue.

BIGGER MISSILES

It is unclear if IRBMs were included in Kim's moratorium, but those, too, have not been tested since 2017.

South Korea's JCS and Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno separately said the missile is estimated to have reached an altitude of 2,000km and flown for 30 minutes to a distance of 800km. IRBMs typically have ranges of 600 to 3,500 miles, while ICBMs have ranges exceeding 3,500 miles.

Missile experts said the data could indicate a test of an IRBM such as the Hwasong-12, which was last tested in 2017, or a new type.

"Regardless of whether it’s a IRBM or ICBM, this is a strategic missile of some sort and clearly not the same as the prior tests in the January 2022 test series to date," George William Herbert, an adjunct professor at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies and a missile consultant, said on Twitter.

The launch could make January the busiest ever for North Korea's missile programme, which analysts say is expanding and developing new capabilities despite strict sanctions and United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban the country's ballistic missile tests. read more

Its latest launches included a test of two short-range ballistic missiles and their warheads on Thursday, and an updated long-range cruise missile system tested on Tuesday.

'RAMPING UP TESTS'

The test comes less than a week before the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which is North Korea's main political and economic partner. Pyongyang has said it would be skipping the Games because of the COVID-19 pandemic and "hostile forces."

"Kim seems to be ramping up tests in bid to pressure both Washington and Beijing over sanctions just ahead of the Olympics," said Uk Yang, research fellow at Center for Foreign Policy and National Security.

The tests would also appear to be the final nail in the coffin for Moon's last-ditch push for a peace deal with North Korea before he leaves office in May, Uk added.

"It's clear that North Korea is saying inter-Korean relations will need to start from scratch," he said.

In an address ahead of the New Year, Kim Jong Un called for bolstering the military with cutting-edge technology at a time when talks with South Korea and the United States have stalled. read more

Since then, North Korea has tested a dizzying array of weapon types, launch locations, and increasing sophistication as denuclearisation talks remain stalled. read more

Jagang Province was the site of two launches this month of what North Korea said was a "hypersonic missile," which could reach high speeds while flying and maneuvering at relatively low altitudes, but the ranges reported on Sunday were higher and farther than those earlier tests.

"The ballistic missile launch and the ones before it are a threat to our country, the region and the international community," Matsuno said. "This series of launches violate U.N. resolutions and we strongly protest this action by North Korea."

South Korea's NSC condemned the launch as a violation of the resolutions and a challenge to international peace efforts, using stronger language than previous tests, when it typically expressed "strong regret."

The tests appear aimed at modernizing North Korea's military, bolstering national pride ahead of several major North Korean holidays, and sending a message of strength as the country grapples with economic crises caused by sanctions and COVID-19 lockdowns, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul.

"The Kim regime hears external discussions of its domestic weaknesses and sees South Korea’s growing strength," he said. "So it wants to remind Washington and Seoul that trying to topple it would be too costly."

Kim visited a munitions factory last week, where he called for "an all-out drive" to produce "powerful cutting-edge arms," and its workers touted his devotion to "smashing ... the challenges of the US imperialists and their vassal forces" seeking to violate their right to self-defence.

One person died and 13 others were injured in a bus-bike collision at Banke Jungle in Ishwor Municipality-12 of Sarlahi district along the East-West Highway on Saturday.

The bus (Na 7 Kha 753) heading towards Kathmandu from Siraha of Bariyapatti collided head-on with the bike (Na 29 Pa 4498) at around 9 pm yesterday.

According to the District Police Office, Sarlahi, pillion rider Bhakta Bahadur Khadka (27) of Dharibathan, Ishwor Municipality-12 died on the spot. The body of Khadka has been kept at the District Hospital Malangwa for postmortem.

Bike rider Arun Khadka (26) was critically injured in the incident. He has been sent to the National Medical College, Birgunj for treatment.

As many as 12 persons, who were traveling in the bus, were injured after the bus turned turtle after it hit the two-wheeler. Among the injured, one has been sent to Siraha for further treatment.

The District Police Office said that seven have already returned home after receiving treatment at the Lalbandi Medical College and four are undergoing treatment at the same hospital.

The northeastern United States was walloped by a fierce winter storm on Saturday that dropped more than two feet (60 cm) of snow on some areas while packing high winds, prompting thousands of flight cancellations and leading governors in Rhode Island and other states to curtail access to the roads, Reuters reported.

Nearly 11 million people along the East Coast remained under blizzard warnings from the Nor'easter, according to the National Weather Service, including the Boston metropolitan area, which was forecast to be hit with up to 25 inches (64 cm) of snow. The storm blanketed a large swath of New England with snow.

New York City experienced a heavy snowfall while Long Island, New York braced for up to two feet of snow. With the storm ongoing, some coastal areas of New Jersey also recorded 15 inches (38 cm).

Most Boston area residents heeded warnings to stay indoors as snow, whipped by wind gusts forecast by the National Weather Service to reach 43 miles (69 km) per hour, continued to fall in small, dense flakes on Saturday afternoon, challenging the hundreds of plows out making an effort to stay ahead of the storm.

"This is going to be a historic blizzard," Boston City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune told Reuters. "It's the power of the wind and the amount of snow that makes this one particularly dangerous."

Several states declared emergencies in response to the storm, which formed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Carolinas and was forecast to continue depositing snow into Sunday morning as it moved north to Maine.

Coastal areas across Massachusetts were being hit especially hard, including some flooding along the shoreline, as the center of the storm hovered just east of the Cape Cod resort area by Saturday mid-afternoon.

"Blizzard conditions are expected to remain possible into early Sunday morning from eastern Massachusetts to eastern Maine, with wind gusts potentially leading to scattered power outages," the National Weather Service said.

"It's high winds, heavy snow, blizzard conditions - all the elements of a classic Nor'easter," New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a news briefing, warning of frigid temperatures overnight and the risk of power outages, which could prompt some residents to use their stoves or space heaters to stay warm.

"This could be life-threatening," Hochul said.

Predicting up to two feet of snow in his state, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee issued a statewide travel ban for all passenger cars and joined surrounding states in banning tractor-trailers from the roads.

The storm prompted airlines to cancel nearly 6,000 flights through the weekend, Amtrak to halt its passenger rail service across much of the region, and the main commuter line for Long Island to suspend its operations for at least one full day.

So far power outages were limited in most of the impacted states with the exception of Massachusetts, where 123,000 out of 2.6 million customers were without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us.

Speaking with reporters at around noon (1700 GMT) on Saturday, Hochul said the storm had not progressed as quickly as forecast, pushing back the state's timetable for cleaning up. Hochul predicted that the most severely impacted counties - Nassau and Suffolk with 7 to 11 inches (18-28 cm) of snow - would get another 5 to 12 inches (13-30 cm) by 6 p.m.

The weather may have contributed to the death of an elderly woman who was found early on Saturday morning in a hotel parking lot in Uniondale with her car window open, according to an officer at the Nassau County Police Department in Long Island.

The storm hit nearly 44 years to the day after a monstrous blizzard crippled New England in 1978. Dumping more than 27 inches (70 cm) of snow on Boston, that storm killed dozens of people, trapped others in their homes and shut down major highways for a week.

To some people, the weather was an obstacle to be overcome or enjoyed. The Black Rose, an Irish pub in downtown Boston, kept its doors open and was filling up with patrons on Saturday afternoon.

And in New York City's borough of Brooklyn, Anson Call seized the opportunity to take his children sledding in what he considered far better conditions than the wetter snow storms of past years.

"This is pleasant. Finally, it's snowing!" Call said.

The ruling coalition has decided to suggest the government to hold the local level elections by mid-June.

A meeting of the senior leaders of ruling coalition held Prime Minister Sher Bahadur's official residence in Baluwatar on Saturday decided to suggest the government to hold the local level elections by mid-June, government spokesperson and Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Kati said.

He said that now the government will hold discussions with the Election Commission and fix the date for the local polls.

The meeting also suggested the government to make necessary preparations to amend the Local Level Election Act 2073 if needed to hold the elections.