Nepal

American climber dies scaling Mount Everest

An American climber was killed on Mount Everest after he slipped and fell into a crevice, Nepalese mountaineering officials said Tuesday.

Seattle climber Michael O’Brien, 39, fell to his death on Sunday as he and his brother Chris, 32, were returning to their base camp and were crossing the Khumbu Icefall, a dreaded section of the route that has claimed the lives of many climbers.

Climbers say the Khumbu Icefall looks like a mass of huge ice cubes spread across the mountain. Freezing temperatures at night and the warm sun during the day make the ice unstable and unpredictable. Climbers use lightweight aluminum ladders tied together by ropes as bridges to cross over ice crevices as deep as 100 feet.

According to the O’Briens’ Web site, they were attempting to become the first American brothers together to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain.

Since New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first conquered Everest on May 29, 1953, more than 1,400 climbers have scaled the mountain. About 180 people have died in the attempt.

Togo

Court certifies victory for late dictator’s son

Togo’s constitutional court on Tuesday certified election results showing that the son of this West African nation’s late dictator won last month’s disputed presidential elections, raising concerns of a return to the deadly street riots that triggered an exodus of 20,000 refugees.

Chief Justice Atsu Koffi Amagah confirmed last week’s electoral commission results, saying Faure Gnassingbe won 60 percent of the vote.

Opposition leader Bob Akitani had filed an appeal to contest the official outcome, complaining ballot boxes were stuffed and stolen, and voter lists were tampered with.

Gnassingbe, 39, is expected to be inaugurated within 48 hours.

Indonesia

Strain of polio detected for first time in 10 years

A strain of polio circulating in parts of Africa appears almost identical to one that has reached Indonesia, raising the prospect that a migrant worker may have brought it back to the Asian nation, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

However, the U.N. health agency said it is confident the isolated import will not result in a major outbreak in Indonesia because the country’s children are well protected by the polio vaccine and cases are quickly detected due to strong surveillance.

An 18-month-old girl in the West Java village of Girijaya was diagnosed with polio on April 21, becoming the first Indonesian to contract the disease since 1995.

Authorities say the strain is genetically similar to one in Nigeria, where the disease spread rapidly after Muslims boycotted the vaccine in 2003 amid rumors of a U.S.-led plot to render them infertile or infect them with AIDS. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

Somalia

Prime minister escapes deadly explosion at rally

Somalia’s prime minister escaped unharmed in a blast Tuesday that sent panicked supporters at a rally rushing out of Mogadishu’s stadium, leaving at least 10 people dead and 60 injured.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether most of the casualties were from the blast or the stampede that followed.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said the explosion was an accident, but investigators said they were still looking into the cause and whether anybody was behind the blast, which underlined the security fears that have kept the nation’s government in exile.

Tuesday’s blast happened about 10 yards from Gedi, according to Deputy Parliament Speaker Ismail Ilmi Boqore.

Col. Abdi Hassan Awale initially said at least seven were killed as people panicked and rushed out of the stadium, with some jumping over the walls in what he called “a virtual stampede.”

Three other people died in Medina Hospital after they were brought from the stadium with injuries, said the hospital’s Dr. Abdi Ibrahim Jiya.

Pakistan

Building collapses after explosion, killing 25

A gas explosion caused an apartment building to collapse in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 25 people and injuring 20 others as they slept early Tuesday, police and rescue officials said.

Rescue workers were sifting through the rubble in a search for at least three others feared trapped inside the three-story building that housed workers’ quarters, low-end apartments and an ice cream parlor.

City police chief Aftab Cheema said it was not immediately clear what triggered the explosion. Survivors, some in critical condition, said gas cylinders had been stored in the building’s basement and they had long feared they would explode.