Rains subside in Himachal, efforts on to rescue 1,500
Shimla, Sep 26 : As rains subsided in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday, the evacuation of over 1,500 tourists still stranded in snow-marooned Lahaul-Spiti district continued on a war footing, an official said.
"There was no heavy rainfall in the state but precipitation at many places since Tuesday," a Met official told IANS. Most rivers which were in spate saw a decline in water levels. Similar weather was likely to continue till Friday.
The government and the Indian Air Force (IAF) stepped up efforts to airlift the thousands stranded since September 22 after landslides in different spots snapped road links on the hills.
Early snowfall in the higher reaches and cloud bursts devastated large parts of the state between September 22 and 24. Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti were the worst affected districts.
"Once evacuated, the Indian Air Force and the state government helicopters will bring the rescued to Kullu town," Kullu Deputy Commissioner Yunus Khan told IANS.
The IAF has deployed three helicopters. A total of 300 people were evacuated by Tuesday evening, most of whom were faculty and students from IITs Mandi, Roorkee, Guwahati and Mumbai and some foreigners.
Heavy snowfall on the Rohtang Pass has cut off the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys, affecting a large number of tourists. They have been stranded at number of isolated locations, the Broader Roads Organisation (BRO) said.
The BRO was clearing snow from roads. Some stretches have over eight feet of snow.
Shimla on Wednesday recorded a low of 14 degrees Celsius, while it was minus 0.7 degrees in Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district. It was 7 degrees in Manali and 6.4 degrees in Kalpa in Kinnaur district.
The water level in the Satluj, Beas and Yamuna rivers and their tributaries has started to recede, a government spokesman said.
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Pope Leo XIV calls for aid to reach Gaza and an end to hostilities in his first general audience
Vatican City (AP): Pope Leo XIV called for humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip and for an end to the “heartbreaking” toll on its people, as he presided over his first general audience in St. Peter's Square.
The Vatican said that around 40,000 people were on hand for the audience, which came just days after an estimated 200,000 people attended the inaugural Mass on Sunday for history's first American pope.
Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, began the audience with a tour through the piazza in the popemobile and stopped to bless several babies. In addressing specific greetings to different groups of pilgrims, Leo spoke in his native English, his fluent Spanish as well as the traditional Italian of the papacy.
“I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entrance of dignified humanitarian aid to Gaza and to put an end to the hostilities whose heartbreaking price is being paid by children, the elderly, and sick people,” he said.
The general audience on Wednesdays is a weekly appointment that popes have kept for decades to allow ordinary faithful to have a face-to-face encounter with the pontiff. It features the pope delivering a brief reflection on a theme or Scripture passage, with summaries provided by others in different languages and the pope directing specific messages to particular faith groups.
The encounter, which lasts more than an hour, usually ends with a brief topical appeal by the pope about a current issue or upcoming event. Leo began it with his now-frequent mantra “Peace be with you.”
To that end, Leo on Tuesday reaffirmed the Vatican's willingness to host the next round of ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine during a phone call with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, the Italian leader's office said.
Meloni made the call after speaking with U.S. President Donald Trump and other European leaders, who asked her to verify the Holy See's offer.
“Finding in the Holy Father the confirmation of the willingness to welcome the next talks between the parties, the premier expressed profound gratitude for Pope Leo XIV's willingness and his incessant commitment in favor of peace,” Meloni's office said in a statement late Tuesday.
Trump had referred to the Vatican's longstanding offer to host talks in reporting on his phone call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While low-level talks could take place in Rome, Italy would be hard-pressed to allow Putin to fly into Rome for any higher-level negotiation. Putin is subject to an international arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, of which Italy is a founding member and therefore obliged to execute its warrants.
