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Nepal Recovers First Body from Buses Swept away by Landslide

A person crosses a suspension bridge during monsoon rainfall in Kathmandu, Nepal, 11 July 2024. EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA
A person crosses a suspension bridge during monsoon rainfall in Kathmandu, Nepal, 11 July 2024. EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA
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Nepal Recovers First Body from Buses Swept away by Landslide

A person crosses a suspension bridge during monsoon rainfall in Kathmandu, Nepal, 11 July 2024. EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA
A person crosses a suspension bridge during monsoon rainfall in Kathmandu, Nepal, 11 July 2024. EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA

Nepali rescue teams on Saturday recovered the first body from around 50 people missing after monsoon rains triggered a landslide that swept two buses off a highway and into a river.
The force of Friday's landslide in central Chitwan district pushed the vehicles over concrete crash barriers and down a steep embankment, at least 30 meters (100 feet) from the road.
"One body has been found about 55 kilometers (35 miles) from the accident site," police spokesman Kumar Neupane told AFP.
District official Khimananda Bhusal told AFP that roughly 50 people remained unaccounted for, revising down the number of missing from the 63 reported by authorities on Friday.
"It is hard to confirm the total number because we don't know if the buses stopped to add or remove passengers along the way," he said.
Dozens of rescuers spent hours struggling to comb the raging Trishuli river with rafts, sensor equipment and dive teams to find any trace of the passengers or the vehicles.
Fierce currents made worse by this week's torrential downpours have hampered their efforts so far.
"We will employ all our abilities for search and rescue despite the water levels, current and the water's muddiness," Chitwan district chief Indra Dev Yadav told AFP.
The accident happened before dawn on Friday along the Narayanghat-Mugling highway, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Kathmandu.
One bus was heading from the capital to Gaur in Rautahat district in southern Nepal, and the other was en route to Kathmandu from southern Birgunj.
A driver was killed in a separate accident on the same road after a boulder hit his bus. He died as he was being treated at a hospital.
Deadly crashes are common in the Himalayan republic because of poorly constructed roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.
Nearly 2,400 people lost their lives on Nepal's roads in the 12 months to April, according to government figures.
Twelve people were killed and 24 injured in an accident in January when a bus heading to Kathmandu from Nepalgunj fell into a river.
Road travel becomes deadlier during the annual monsoon season as rains trigger landslides and floods across the mountainous country.
Monsoon rains across South Asia from June to September offer respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water supplies, but also bring widespread death and destruction.
Floods, landslides and lightning strikes have killed 88 people across the country since the monsoon began in June, according to police figures.

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World

Israel Bombs Central Tehran; Trump Gives Iran 48 Hours to Open Strait of Hormuz

People on motorcycles ride past a large billboard with images of Iranian missiles, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
People on motorcycles ride past a large billboard with images of Iranian missiles, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
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Israel Bombs Central Tehran; Trump Gives Iran 48 Hours to Open Strait of Hormuz

People on motorcycles ride past a large billboard with images of Iranian missiles, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
People on motorcycles ride past a large billboard with images of Iranian missiles, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

President Donald Trump warned the US will “obliterate” power plants in Iran if the Iranian Republic doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, while Iranian missiles struck two communities not far from Israel’s main nuclear research center late Saturday, leaving buildings shattered and dozens injured in the attacks.

The developments signaled the war was moving in a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week, The Associated Press said.

Trump, who issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home, said he’s giving Iran 48 hours to open the vital waterway or face a new round of attacks. He said the US would destroy “various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”

Iran warned early Sunday that any strike on its energy facilities would prompt attacks on US and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets in the region, according to a statement citing an Iranian military spokesperson carried by state media and semiofficial outlets.

The Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Arabian Gulf to the rest of the globe’s oceans, is a critical pathway for the world’s flow of oil. Attacks on commercial ships and threats of further strikes have stopped nearly all tankers from carrying oil, gas and other goods through the passage, leading to cuts in output from some of the world’s largest oil producers, because their crude has nowhere to go.

Iran strikes area near Israeli nuclear site

Israel’s military said it was not able to intercept missiles that hit the southern cities of Dimona and Arad, the largest near the center in Israel’s sparsely populated Negev desert. It was the first time Iranian missiles penetrated Israel’s air defense systems in the area around the nuclear site.

“If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected Dimona area, it is, operationally, a sign of entering a new phase of the battle,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X before word of the Arad strike spread.

Rescue workers said the direct hit in Arad caused widespread damage across at least 10 apartment buildings, three of them badly damaged and in danger of collapsing. At least 64 people were taken to hospitals.

Dimona is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the nuclear research center and Arad around 35 kilometers (22 miles) north.

Israel is believed to be the only Middle East nation with nuclear weapons, though its leaders refuse to confirm or deny their existence. The UN nuclear watchdog said on X it had not received reports of damage to the Israeli center or abnormal radiation levels.

The Iranian strikes in Israel came after Tehran’s main nuclear enrichment site at Natanz was hit earlier in the day.

Israel denies responsibility for attack on Natanz

Israel earlier Saturday denied responsibility for the strike on Natanz, nearly 220 kilometers (135 miles) southeast of Tehran. The Iranian judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan, said there was no leakage.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the bulk of Iran’s estimated 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium is elsewhere, beneath the rubble at its Isfahan facility. It said on X it was looking into the strike.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the strike on Natanz, which was also hit in the first week of the war and in the 12-day war last June. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said such strikes posed a “real risk of catastrophic disaster throughout the Middle East.”

The US and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’s leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs and its support for armed proxies. There have been no signs of an uprising, while internet restrictions limit information from Iran.

The war’s effects are felt far beyond the Middle East, raising food and fuel prices.

World

US Says ‘Took Out’ Iran Base Threatening Blocked Hormuz Oil Route

18 August 2022, Strait of Hormuz: A satellite image, captured by NASA, shows the Strait of Hormuz. (NASA/dpa)
18 August 2022, Strait of Hormuz: A satellite image, captured by NASA, shows the Strait of Hormuz. (NASA/dpa)
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US Says ‘Took Out’ Iran Base Threatening Blocked Hormuz Oil Route

18 August 2022, Strait of Hormuz: A satellite image, captured by NASA, shows the Strait of Hormuz. (NASA/dpa)
18 August 2022, Strait of Hormuz: A satellite image, captured by NASA, shows the Strait of Hormuz. (NASA/dpa)

The US military declared on Saturday it had taken out an Iranian bunker housing weapons threatening oil and gas shipments in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US statement appeared designed to calm the concerns of energy markets and of Washington's skeptical international allies, more than 20 of whom issued a statement vowing to back efforts to re-open the key sea lane.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, said US war planes had dropped 5,000-pound bombs on an underground facility on Iran's coast that was storing anti-ship cruise missiles, mobile launchers and other equipment.

"We not only took out the facility, but also destroyed intelligence support sites and missile radar relays that were used to monitor ship movements," Cooper said in a video statement, revealing details of a strike first announced on Tuesday.

A statement from the leaders of mainly European countries, including the UK, France, Italy and Germany, but also South Korea, Australia, the UAE and Bahrain, condemned the "de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces".

"We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preliminary planning," they said.

As consumers count the cost of attacks on energy facilities in the Gulf, including the world's largest gas hub, US President Donald Trump has slammed NATO allies as "cowards" and urged them to secure the strait.

Iran has choked the channel, through which around a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes during peacetime.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had only imposed restrictions on vessels from countries involved in attacks against Iran, and would offer assistance to others that stayed out of the conflict.

Iran also denies claims -- cited in the 20-country joint statement -- that it has deployed mines in the channel.

The standoff has sent crude oil prices soaring, with a barrel of North Sea Brent crude up more than 50 percent over the past month and now comfortably more than $105.

Meanwhile, Tehran marked the end of Ramadan as the war entered its fourth week.

Iran's supreme leader traditionally leads Eid al-Fitr prayers, but Mojtaba Khamenei, who came to power earlier this month after his father was killed in US-Israeli strikes, has remained out of the public eye.

Instead, the head of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, attended prayers at central Tehran's Imam Khomeini grand mosque, which was overflowing, with worshippers flooding the streets outside.

The previous evening, airstrikes had darkened the mood as the city celebrated Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

Iran's ally Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to Khamenei, saying he "wished the Iranian people strength on overcoming these severe trials and emphasized that during this difficult time, Moscow remained a loyal friend".

World

Iran ‘Unsuccessfully’ Targeted Diego Garcia Base, Reveals Source

US Military personnel take away Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), removed from a US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber at RAF Fairford in southwest England on March 15, 2026. (AFP)
US Military personnel take away Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), removed from a US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber at RAF Fairford in southwest England on March 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran ‘Unsuccessfully’ Targeted Diego Garcia Base, Reveals Source

US Military personnel take away Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), removed from a US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber at RAF Fairford in southwest England on March 15, 2026. (AFP)
US Military personnel take away Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), removed from a US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber at RAF Fairford in southwest England on March 15, 2026. (AFP)

Iran was "unsuccessful" in targeting the joint UK-US Indian Ocean military base at Diego Garcia, a UK official source confirmed to AFP on Saturday, after the Wall Street Journal reported Tehran fired two ballistic missiles at it.

Diego Garcia, which is around 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) from Iranian territory, is one of the two bases the UK has allowed the United States to use for "defensive operations" in its war against Iran.

On Friday, the UK government said it would allow Washington to use its bases in Diego Garcia and Fairford in southwest England to target Iranian "missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz".

The UK official source confirmed that Iran's "unsuccessful targeting of Diego Garcia" took place before Friday's announcement.

The source did not confirm additional details about the attack.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing US officials, that while neither of the two ballistic missiles hit their target, the launch suggests that Tehran has missiles with longer ranges than previously thought.

The Pentagon declined to comment.

One of the missiles failed in flight, and the other was targeted by an interceptor fired from a US warship, though it was not clear if the missile was hit, the WSJ reported.

"Iran's reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies," a UK Ministry of Defense spokesperson said Saturday.

"This government has given permission to the US to use British bases for specific and limited defensive operations."

Iran has "always had missiles of that sort of range that we've known about, maybe not declared", former UK Royal Navy commander and defense expert Tom Sharpe told AFP.

The attack "shows that they can still move these mobile launchers around, undetected, spin up and fire without being struck", said Sharpe, adding however that they would not be a "game changer" in the war.

- 'Strategic messaging' -

"Depending on the weight of the warhead, Iran can increase the range of some of its missiles," explained Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the Crisis Group.

"But this was less about battlefield utility than strategic messaging -- signaling to the United States and Israel that misreading Iran's resolve and capabilities could prove a costly mistake," said Vaez.

US President Donald Trump has been critical of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's response to the war against Iran, initially refusing to be involved before allowing Washington limited use of the two bases.

American forces have stationed bombers and other equipment at Diego Garcia, a key hub for Asia operations, including the US bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Trump has also slammed Britain's decision to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after holding it since the 1960s. Under that agreement, the UK would maintain a lease for the base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his UK counterpart Yvette Cooper on a Thursday phone call that any US use of British bases would be considered "participation in aggression", according to Tehran's foreign ministry.

In turn, Cooper warned Araghchi "against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly", according to a UK foreign office statement.