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U.S. condemns ‘severe response’ to protests in tumultuous Gambia

The United States condemned on Sunday what it said was a “severe response to recent peaceful protests” in The Gambia, where a party youth leader has been killed and some senior opposition leaders arrested. One of the people arrested was Ousainu Darboe, leader of the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), along with supporters and party officials who had gathered at his home. “The United States condemns the government of The Gambia’s severe response to recent peaceful protests. We call for an immediate end to violence and urge all Gambians to exercise restraint,” said John Kirby, a State Department spokesperson.  The Gambia is headed by President Yahya Jammeh, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1994 and has made headlines for eccentric proclamations, including a claim to have invented a cure for HIV/AIDS.

Taiwan probes water park fire as tally of injured put at 498

By J.R. Wu and Pichi Chuang TAIPEI (Reuters) – The number of party revelers injured in a fire at a Taiwan water park was put at 498 on Sunday as authorities began investigating the cause, suspected to be a sudden explosion of a colored powder thrown on those attending the party. The figure released late Sunday by local authorities was lower than an earlier estimate of 519 injured due to patients being transferred between hospitals and being double-counted, a government official said. The blaze, which broke out at around 8.30 p.m. at the Formosa Fun Coast water park on the outskirts of the capital, Taipei, is suspected to have been caused by an explosion of the colored powder, local government official Lin Chieh-yu told Reuters.

Soul-searching over quake ends Everest climbing season

By Frank Jack Daniel and Andrew R.C. Marshall LUKLA, Nepal/KATHMANDU (Reuters) – As rescuers lose hope of finding more survivors in Nepal's earthquake disaster zone, a separate drama has unfolded high above them on Mount Everest where the hopes of a few rich climbers and some of their sherpas have also vanished. After six days of high emotion and harsh words at Everest Base Camp, climbing firm Himalayan Experience finally decided on Friday to abandon its ascent of the world's highest peak, becoming the last big team to do so. For one of its clients, millionaire Texas realtor David McGrain, it should never have taken that long to call off the climb, given thousands of people had been killed in the valleys below as well as 18 in an avalanche at base camp itself. “All they could think about was their goddamn climb, when hours before we were holding crushed skulls in our hands.” McGrain, a former weightlifter and self-styled “adrenaline philanthropist” who has a tattooed chest and wears a gold nose-ring, was in a minority of one when he quit his party of at least 10 climbers, all clients of Himalayan Experience.