Landslides kill 30 in Nepal• Thirty people were killed in landslides triggered Tty torrential monsoon rains in a remote village in central Nepal, police said yesterday, Reuter reports from Kathmandu.

Relief workers dug the bodies of 14 victims from the site of the overnight landslides In Ghyaku village in Dolakha district, they said, A helicopter flew relief and to the village. Nearly 200 people have qjed In floods and landslides in the Himalayan kingdom in the past two months.

DPRK floods cause $1.7b in damage: North Korea said yesterday that flooding last month caused an estimated 1.7 billion dollars in damage. Reuter reports from Tokyo.

'“The flood damage caused by floods in late July in 117 cities and counties of eight provinces of the DPRK, including north and south Hwanghae provinces, is so far estimated at 1.7 billion dollars," the official Korea central news agency said.

Australian FM talks with Mahathir: ’ Australia s foreign minister held talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in the first step towards improving lukewarm relations. AP reports from Kuala Lumpur.

"f think we will let things unfold from here rather than be commentators on what happened in the past.'' Alexander Downer told the Australian Broadcasting Co. before leaving Australia. Downer, who arrived on a four-day visit, said the talks provided a chance "to get together and just to help develop the personal relationship which is so Important to the bilateral relationship."

Remains of 4 N Koreans return: The remains of four North Koreans, including two drowned soldiers, were handed across the border by UN and South Korean officials Wednesday, AP reports from Seoul.

The soldiers — a North Korean lieutenant and an enlisted man — were swept into South Korea by rain-swollen rivers late last month. Two other drowned North Koreans were found off the west coast Just south of the heavily guarded border. A UN honor guard handed over two brown wooden caskets containing the remains of the soldiers to North Korean border guards at the truce village of Panmunjom. In a separate ceremony an hour later, two sets of civilian remains were returned.