Nepal airport closed after plane skids off runway
Kathmandu: Nepal's only international airport was closed Friday after a plane skidded off the recently repaired runway, injuring two people, officials said.
The country has a poor flight safety record -- Nepali airlines are banned from European Union airspace -- and its airports are notoriously difficult to land in.
The Yeti Airlines ATR 72-500, arriving into Kathmandu from southern Nepal with 66 passengers, skidded about 15 metres (yards) into the grass.
"Our teams are working to remove the plane and reopen the airport," the airport's general manager Raj Kumar Chettri told AFP.
Chettri said that removing the Franco-Italian-made turboprop plane was taking a long time because heavy rain has made the area muddy.
Authorities took 11 hours to remove a domestic aircraft that suffered a similar runway excursion in September last year, months after a Malaysian jet with 139 people on board had aborted its takeoff and skidded off the runway.
In March 2018, a US-Bangla Airways plane crashed near the airport, killing 51 people.
The Himalayan nation has some of the world's most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge for even accomplished pilots.
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Naravane shares publisher's post on social media platform, says 'this is the status of the book'
New Delhi (PTI): Former army chief M M Naravane on Tuesday shared on X a statement issued by the publisher of his memoir "Four Stars of Destiny" that says no copies of the book "in print or digital form have been published, distributed, sold" or otherwise made available to the public.
"This is the status of the book," Naravane wrote.
The former army chief shared on the social media platform the statement that was issued on X by Penguin India on Monday night.
"In light of recent public discourse and media reporting, Penguin Random House India would like to clarify that we hold the sole publishing rights for the book 'Four Stars of Destiny', a memoir by General Manoj Mukund Naravane, former Chief of the Indian Army. We wish to make it clear that the book has not gone into publication. No copies of the book -- in print or digital form -- have been published, distributed, sold, or otherwise made available to the public by Penguin Random House India," the publisher said in its statement.
Amid the controversy, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday cited a December 2023 social media post by Naravane informing people that that his book is "available now", seeking to rebut the publisher's statement that the 'memoir' has not yet been published.
Gandhi said he believes the word of the former army chief over Penguin.
In another statement, the publisher on Tuesday said an announcement about a book or its availability for pre-order should not be interpreted as publication.
This is the status of the book. https://t.co/atLtwhJvl0
— Manoj Naravane (@ManojNaravane) February 10, 2026
