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Nepal holds day of mourning
KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal held a day of mourning Monday to remember those killed in the Aug. 26 floods, with flags lowered at government offices and families concluding mourning rituals.
Monday was the 13th day since the flooding which killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet and left some 5,000 missing, including foreigners, according to Nepal's disaster management agency.
In predominantly Hindu Nepal, mourning periods last 13 days, during which close family members stay home and relatives visit to pay their respects. Rituals are held on the final day to pray for the souls of the departed.
Several people whose relatives remain missing performed symbolic funerals. Cremation is an important final rite in Hindu tradition, and performing the ceremony even without the bodies of their loved ones provided some families a sense of spiritual release.
The government had declared Monday an official day of mourning and ordered flags at government offices lowered to half-staff.
Meanwhile, search efforts continued for the missing, but some protested that not enough was being done.
Florida death row inmate seeks stay of execution
WASHINGTON -- Attorneys asked the Supreme Court Monday to stay the execution of a Florida death row inmate scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday for the 1996 kidnapping and strangulation of a man who was found nude and emasculated.
Daniel Conahan Jr., 72, was sentenced to death for the April 1996 killing of Richard Montgomery. The victim was found in a wooded area in Charlotte County, Florida, which was described as what appeared to be a dumping area that contained a lot of trash.
Authorities said Conahan killed Montgomery after paying him to pose f or nude photos. Authorities suspect him of similar homicides committed in the 1990s in southwest Florida.
Conahan has denied his involvement in Montgomery's murder. The petition said he has been requesting DNA testing since March 2025 of evidence collected at the scene and from Montgomery's body to "conclusively establish that he is not responsible for the death."
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant Aug. 11 while his motion for DNA testing was pending, the petition for the stay says. Within 24 hours of that warrant being signed the state postconviction court denied the motion.
"Mr. Conahan does not ask to be declared innocent at this posture. Nor does he ask to be released from prison. All he asks is for this Court to stay his imminent execution so that this Court can review his meritorious claims," the filing says.
Florida has executed 14 people this year.
Russia and North Korea open first road link across shared border
Russia and North Korea opened the first road bridge across their shared border on Monday, a development Russian officials hailed as boosting the nations' deepening ties.
The bridge over the Tumen River is 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) long and has two lanes and will allow up to 300 vehicles a day to pass through a newly built border crossing point, the Russian government said in a statement.
"I am convinced that the expansion of transport infrastructure near the border will give a powerful boost to the further development of trade, economic, technological, scientific and cultural cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," said Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who took part in the opening ceremony via video link.
Relations and exchange programs between Russia and North Korea have been flourishing in recent years, with North Korea supplying ammunitions and troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine.
North Korea has been receiving Russian tourists since February 2024 amid slowly easing pandemic curbs.
North Korea and Russia, which are already served by a railway bridge and air service, agreed in 2024 to construct a bridge for automobiles over the Tumen River, which runs along North Korea's borders with Russia and China. Construction began last year.
The Associated Press