Toronto :
Suspended more than a 1,000 feet (300 metres) above downtown Toronto, six new Canadians took the oath of citizenship from the edge of one of the world’s tallest structures.

Canadian Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen administered the oath to the new citizens, hailing from six different countries, as they were held in cables off a 116-story-high platform known as the EdgeWalk, on the side of the landmark CN Tower.

The tower, which soars 1,815 feet (553 metres), has hosted citizenship ceremonies before, but not one from such breathless heights, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Canada, which prides itself on the country’s multiculturalism, accepted more than 2,70,000 new immigrants in 2017.

“The sky is the limit with #Canadian citizenship,” tweeted the minister after the ceremony.

Nairobi :

At least 50 people were killed in a bus crash between Nairobi and Kenya’s western city of Kisumu on Wednesday, police told the Daily Nation, and President Uhuru Kenyatta said authorities were investigating what he called a catastrophic incident.

Witnesses said the bus swerved off the road while driving down a steep slope, the newspaper said.

Reuters could not immediately reach a police spokesman to confirm the toll.

Kenyatta said the authorities were investigating the cause of the accident.

“As authorities investigate the cause of the accident with a view of taking action, I would like to remind drivers to always exercise caution to avoid such catastrophic incident,” he said on Twitter.

“My heartfelt condolences to the families of fellow Kenyans who lost their lives in a tragic road accident at Fort Ternan in Kericho County this morning and wish those in hospital quick recovery.”

Washington :

US President Donald Trump Wednesday slammed his predecessor Barack Obama for being “impotent” and not stopping China from expanding its influence in the South China Sea, saying the Chinese Navy was now posing a confrontational challenge for America in the disputed region.

President Trump’s remarks came hours after he was briefed at the White House by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on his meetings with the top Chinese leadership in Beijing this week.

“The Obama administration was impotent about the South China Sea,” Trump said during an interaction with reporters Abroad Air Force One.

He said the Chinese Navy was now posing a confrontational challenge for America in the disputed region.

China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and with Japan in the East China Sea. Both the areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources. They are also vital to global trade.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the area.

The US has been conducting regular patrols in the South China Sea to assert freedom of navigation in the area where Beijing has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region.

During Pompeo’s trip, Trump earlier told reporters at the White House that China was sending a message to him, but those messages did not work.

He said Pompeo was treated him great respect during his trip to Beijing.

“They’re just trying to get me a message. But those messages don’t work. They don’t work. But no, I think they treated him with great respect, actually. You know, they had meetings besides just the news conference. And I think they treated him with great respect,” he said when asked if he was concerned the way the Chinese treated Pompeo.

Trump also said Pompeo did not have a great meeting in China.

“It wasn’t so much - I guess he was giving them a message, and they were giving him a message to come back to me,” Trump said.

However, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters at a news briefing that Pompeo had a good, constructive meetings with his Chinese counterparts.

“They’re certainly a competitor. It’s a complex and broad-based relationship that we have with China, as you all saw in the comments and exchanges between the Secretary and his counterparts. We have areas of common interest. North Korea is one of them,” Nauert said.

“Working to combat illegal narcotics is another area where we work well together. We also have areas of disagreement and areas where we have challenges, and we’ll keep working together on that. It’s obviously an important relationship that we need to work hard to maintain,” she said.

Aangna (Nepal) :

Ravi Ale has worked the family’s two hectares of land in eastern Nepal since he was old enough to help his father. But after a lean harvest this year, and with his cash running out, he will leave next month to look for work in India, along with five of his friends in the village.

The problem is drought – one that has lingered for more than a year in a region only rarely previously hit by dry conditions.

“Paddy (rice) and maize almost failed to grow as the monsoon brought no rain,” said Ale’s wife, Sunita, sitting outside her home in Aangna, a village of about 570 households.

“After a long winter drought we had expected a fair monsoon rain but the drought still won’t go.”

She said she earns some money working as a seamstress in a nearby market, but with the family’s harvests so poor her earnings can’t sustain the family of five.

Climate change is bringing tougher times for many farmers around the world, including those in eastern Nepal. A prolonged winter drought hit tea production in the region, and a weak monsoon season means vegetables and other food crops are expected to fail in many areas, farmers said.

“Water scarcity and drought were something alien to us a few years ago but they have become a new normal now,” said Ale.

Agricultural experts and local officials say they are worried by the increasing severity of drought in a region with only limited previous problems with it.

“Such successive spells of drought in a district ranked low in drought vulnerability is a surprising fact,” said Ananta Prakash Subedi, an environmental science professor at the Agriculture and Forest University in Chitwan.

He said Nepal’s National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) had ranked Panchthar district as one of the less-drought-vulnerable districts in a 2010 vulnerability mapping exercise.

And drought is just one problem facing the district, he said. Unusually high temperatures, which have brought worse-than-usual pest and disease problems, also are damaging crops, Subedi said.

“Even drought-resistant crops cannot stand as a strong option in such conditions as they are consumed by pests if not by drought,” he said.

Limited help

The local district government has been providing relief grain and other food in drought-hit areas since August, said Narahari Niraula, an agriculture officer at the Panchthar District Agriculture Development Office.

But villagers worry the support won’t be sustained, and say it covers only a small percentage of their losses.

“For a month or two we can make a go with it but then we have to struggle,” complained Ale, who said he has never previously needed to migrate to find work.

Niraula said that many local people have used up their reserves of food and animals and now fear worsening hunger, particularly if the kind of drought seen over the last year becomes more frequent.

Making villages more resilient to worsening climate stresses will require changes, from more harvesting and storage of water to better pest management and the use of field schools to teach farmers new techniques, Subedi said.

Such changes are already underway in a range of villages in Nepal, and harvests are improving in those areas, residents say.

But the techniques have not yet reached Panchthar district, Ale said – in part because no one knew that they would be needed.

As a result, in Aangna, a growing trickle of farmers are now looking to migrate to tide them over until the next rain.

“I want to live here with my family but at the same time I can’t see my children go hungry,” Ale said.

Los Angeles :
Taylor Swift, straight off a controversial dive into US politics, was the big winner at the American Music Awards on Tuesday where she used her platform to again urge her fans to get out and vote.

The 28-year-old pop singer won a record fourth artist of the year trophy at the fan-voted American Music Awards, beating rappers Drake and Post Malone, as well as Britain’s Ed Sheeran and rock band Imagine Dragons for the top prize.

She also picked up three other awards, for best female pop artist, best tour, and best pop album for “reputation,” the biggest seller of 2017.

Swift provoked a storm by breaking her silence on politics and announcing she would vote for two Democrats in Tennessee in the US congressional midterm elections in November. Her comments drove a spike in voter registration.

The “Fearless” singer told the American Music Awards audience in Los Angeles and millions watching at home to go and vote.

“This award and every single award given out tonight is voted on by the people. And you know what else is voted on by the people? - The midterm elections of Nov 6. Get out and vote,” Swift said when accepting her trophy.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, New York rapper Cardi B, brought down the house with an exuberant performance of dance hit “I Like It” with J.Balvin and Bad Bunny.

Cardi B, who has had a breakout 12 months, was also named favorite hip-hop/rap artist, but she lost the best new artist category to Cuban-born Camila Cabello.

Other winners included Post Malone (male pop/rock artist), Khalid (male soul/R&B artist), and country star Carrie Underwood, who accepted her 13th American Music Award.

Boy band BTS became the first Korean group to win an American Music Award, taking the trophy for favorite social artists.

Glady Knight led a tribute to Aretha Franklin, who died of cancer in August at age 76. Other performers included Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Missy Elliott.

Some of music’s top stars, including Drake, Ed Sheeran, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Rihanna and Kanye West, were absent on Tuesday. West was snubbed in the nominations while Beyonce, Rihanna and Grande got just one nomination each.

Apart from Swift, the show was largely politics free.

Host Tracee Ellis Ross sported a white T-shirt for part of the evening saying “I am a voter,” and presenter Billy Eichner, best known for the TV comedy “Parks and Recreation,” urged the youth audience to register to vote.

“You can go to vote.org, like Taylor Swift told you to,” Eichner said.