DETAILS OF MANASLU ACCIDENT Kathmandu, 24 Sept.: Rescue helicopters flew over the high slopes of a northern Nepal peak on Monday to search for climbers lost in an avalanche that killed at least nine mountaineers and injured others. Many of the climbers were French, German and Italian, AP reports from Kahmandu. The avalanche hit at about 4 a.m. Sunday while more than two dozen climbers were still sleeping in their tents high on the world's eighth-tallest peak, Mount Manaslu, said Dolraj Dhakal, government administrator in the area. He said no one saw it coming and they were unable describe its size. Rescuers brought down eight bodies by midday Monday and were trying to retrieve the ninth from the 7,000-meter (22,960-foot) area where the avalanche struck, police Chief Basanta Bahadur Kuwar said. Four helicopters were searching by air and climbers and guides were searching the slopes on foot. At least six more climbers were believed to be still missing. Kuwar said the identities of the climbers killed and missing were still unclear. The French Foreign Ministry said four French climbers were among the dead and two others were missing. Three French climbers were pulled from the snow and taken by helicopter to a hospital in Katmandu, it said. "The situation continues to evolve, due to the atmospheric conditions," it said in a statement Monday. Spain's Foreign Ministry said one Spanish climber was killed. Ten climbers survived, but many of them were injured and were flown to hospitals by rescue helicopters. Two Germans were transported to hospitals in Katmandu on Sunday, and two Italians were flown there Monday. Italian, German and French teams were on the mountain, with a total of 231 climbers and guides, but not all were at the higher camps hit by the avalanche. Sunday's avalanche came at the start of Nepal's autumn climbing season, when the end of the monsoon rains makes weather in the high Himalayas unpredictable. Spring is a more popular mountaineering season, when hundreds of climbers crowd the high Himalayan peaks. Mount Manaslu is 8,156 meters (26,760 feet) high and has attracted more climbers recently because it is considered one of the easier peaks to climb among the world's tallest mountains. Nepal has eight of the 14 highest peaks in the world. Climbers have complained in recent years that conditions on the mountains have deteriorated and risks of accidents have increased. Veteran guide Apa, who has climbed Mount Everest a record 21 times, traveled across Nepal earlier this year campaigning about the effects of global warming on the mountains. He told The Associated Press the mountains now have considerably less ice and snow, making it harder for climbers to use ice axes and crampons on their boots to get a grip on the slopes. Loose snow also increases the risk of avalanches. The cause of Sunday's avalanche was not immediately determined. Avalanches are not very frequent on Mount Manaslu, but in 1972 one struck a team of climbers and killed six Koreans and 10 Nepalese guides. Ang Tshering of the Asian Trekking agency in Katmandu, who has equipped hundreds of expeditions, said the low level of snow and increased number of climbers on Manaslu has made climbing conditions difficult. "It used to be a low-risk mountain in the past but now that has all changed," Tshering said, adding that conditions have become more unpredictable. Nnnn A RAJBIRAJ WOMAN DOES A BOBBIT Kathmandu, 24 Sept.: : A woman cut off her neighbour's penis at Madhawapur VDC in Saptari district this morning. The woman, 28-year-old Anjudevi Kamat, severed the private part of her neighbour 38-year-old Brahmananda Bhaskuliya Yadav, as he allegedly tried to rape her, RSS reports. Kamat went to the Area Police Office, Bhardaha with blood-stained hands to lodge a complaint against Yadav and the police there took her to the Area Police Office, Kanchanpur for that purpose. However, Yadav, who is believed to be severely injured due to the severing of his member, is absconding. Kamat said Yadav broke into her house at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday while she and her children were asleep. He then covered her mouth and tried to rape her. So, in self defence, she picked up a kitchen knife and cut off the intruder's penis. She said Yadav then ran away, shrieking. Kamat's husband is in Punjab, India since a month and she is living with her children. nnnn DEATH FOR 14 MILITANTS WHO KILLED MILITARY, POLICE IN SINAI Kathmandu, 24 Sept.: An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced 14 militant Islamists to death by hanging and four to life imprisonment for attacks on army and police forces in the Sinai Peninsula last year, Reuters reports from Ismailia, Egypt.. The verdicts showed the state's determination to deal firmly with militant activity in Sinai, which has increased since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. Security forces are mounting operations in the area following the killing 16 Egyptian border guards in August. The men, members of a militant group called Tawheed and Jihad, were charged by the prosecutor with killing three police officers, an army officer and a civilian in attacks carried out in June and July, 2011. Eight of the 14 death sentences were in absentia, court sources said. "This court decision is a milestone. It gives a strong message to the militant groups that the state, President Mohamed Mursi's government, will not tolerate attacks on the Egyptian armed forces and police," said Nageh Ibrahim, an Islamist researcher and a former militant. The verdicts were met with cries from the accused against President Mohamed Mursi, the Islamist head of state elected this year and who the defendants blamed for the court's decision. "Mursi is an infidel and those who follow him are infidels," shouted one defendant. Others cried "God is Great" as they listened to the judge from inside the metal cage in which they stood during trial sessions. The bearded men in the cage wore traditional white robes and some were seen holding the Koran, Islam's holy book. They were accused of opening fire on a police station and a bank in the city of Arish in North Sinai. The prosecutor said that Tawheed and Jihad group was propagating a hardline Islamist view which allows adherents to declare the head of state an infidel and to carry arms against the government. The same group was accused of carrying out a series of bomb attacks in 2004 and 2005 against tourist resorts in South Sinai, which lead to the deaths of 34 people. Egypt and Israel have said they are coordinating on the security operation in Sinai in which hundreds of Egyptian troops with tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters were sent in a joint operation with police to raid militant hideouts, arrest suspects and seize weapons. Ibrahim, who was jailed during the 1990s but later became one of the leading Islamists to call for an end to violence against the state, said the verdicts will deter other militants from attacking their neighbor Israel. "Mursi's government is adamant about stemming any attacks across the border because this will give Israel an incentive to reoccupy Sinai. Now is the time for development not war, "Ibrahim said. nnnn