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 The pilot of a Yeti Airlines plane which crashed in Nepal killing 71 people said before the crash there was no power from the aircraft's engines, a preliminary investigation report said on Wednesday.

The plane crashed just before landing in the tourist city of Pokhra on Jan. 15 in one of Nepal's worst airplane accidents in 30 years.

There were 72 passengers on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal's Yeti Airlines, including two infants, four crew members and 10 foreign nationals. Rescuers recovered 71 bodies, with one unaccounted person presumed to be dead.

The report said the pilot flying the aircraft handed over the control to the pilot monitoring before it crashed.

The information in the preliminary report may change as the investigation progresses, it said.

The panel has up to the end of February to submit its final report.

Earlier this month, the panel said an analysis of the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder showed the propellers of both engines went into "feather in the base leg of descending."

Aviation expert K.B. Limbu said then that propellers going into feather meant there was "no thrust" in the engine, or that it did not produce any power. (Reuters)

North Korea may have launched a military unit tasked with operating new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in line with its recent restructuring of the military, state media video footage suggested.

During a nighttime parade last week, North Korea showcased multiple ICBMs that are large enough to strike nearly anywhere in the world. The missiles included what some analysts said could be a prototype or mockup of a new solid-fuel ICBM in canister launchers.

A video aired on Feb. 9 by the reclusive country's official broadcaster and seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed that a previously unknown flag was attached to the new ICBM's launcher, indicating the military might have created a separate unit to operate the weapons.

Cho Han-bum, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said the flag "effectively confirmed the new ICBM unit" and could signal a forthcoming test of a solid-fuel weapon.

Many of North Korea's specialised units have their own flags. The ICBMs shown at past military parades were decorated with the national flag or nothing.

The new red-gold flag, with a black missile soaring into the sky inside a circle, was also displayed among other military flags when leader Kim Jong Un and his family walked into the parade venue.

Another flag was seen at the parade, apparently featuring the massive Hwasong-17 ICBM, which can most likely reach the U.S. mainland. It was marked with "2022.11," which could refer to the date when the North successfully launched the Hwasong-17 as it resumed ICBM testing for the first time since 2017.

The potential creation of the ICBM unit came after Kim called for developing more ICBMs and a larger nuclear arsenal this year to counter threats from the United States and its allies.

North Korea's state media reported on a restructuring of its Korean People's Army (KPA) and redesign of its flags this week, saying the change was in line with its push for "building a powerful army."

"Many units of services and arms of the People's Army have been expanded and reorganised, major operational combat duties assigned to them as required by the new situation and environment and the strategic and tactical missions of overall units changed," the official KCNA news agency said on Monday. (Reuters)

A North Korean food crisis appears to have deteriorated, South Korea said on Wednesday, as a newspaper reported that North Korea has cut rations to its soldiers for the first time in more than two decades.

North Korea has effectively acknowledged serious food shortages, South Korea's unification ministry said, referring to a North Korean state media report this month about plans for an "urgent" ruling party meeting on agriculture.

"Its food situation seems to have deteriorated," the South's unification ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, said in a statement.

North Korea has over recent decades suffered serious food shortages, including famine in the 1990s, often a result of natural disasters such as floods damaging harvests.

The isolated country is under strict international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes and in recent years its limited border trade was virtually choked off by self-imposed lockdowns aimed at preventing COVID-19.

South Korea's DongA Ilbo newspaper said on Wednesday that North Korea has reduced daily food rations to its soldiers for the first time since 2000, citing an unidentified senior South Korean official.

The unification ministry said it could not confirm details of the media report but it and other agencies were monitoring the situation.

North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported on Feb. 6 that the Workers' Party of Korea had called a meeting of the party's Central Committee for late February for the "very important and urgent task to establish the correct strategy for the development of agriculture".

The South's unification ministry said it was rare for North Korea to call such a special meeting.

Last month, the U.S.-based monitoring group 38 North said North Korea's "food availability has likely fallen below the bare minimum with regard to human needs", with food insecurity at its worst since the famines of the 1990s.

South Korea's Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said recent North Korean media reports of leader Kim Jong Un's daughter appearing at state functions could be aimed at drumming up unity and shoring up loyalty to the ruling family amid deepening humanitarian woes.

"North Korea's food situation doesn't seem very good," Kwon told parliament. "We're seeing a number of signs ... though it doesn't yet look like there's a stream of people starving to death."

Kwon also said North Korea has asked the U.N. food agency, the World Food Programme, for help but talks did not progress because of differences over the monitoring of any aid.

The WFP, which has helped North Korea over the years, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. (reuters)

The Philippines and the United States will this year carry out their biggest joint military drills since 2015, Manila's army chief said on Wednesday, against a backdrop of growing tensions with China in the South China Sea.

The exercises underscore improved ties with the United States under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and come as the Philippines condemns China's "aggressive" actions in the disputed waterway, including its use of a "military-grade laser" against one of Manila's vessels earlier this month.

The annual 'Balikatan' exercises will be conducted in the second quarter and involve more than the previous year's 8,900 troops, army chief Romeo Brawner told reporters.

"All of these exercises that we are doing are in response to all types of threats that we may be facing in the future, both man-made and natural," Brawner said.

President Marcos on Tuesday summoned China's ambassador to express "serious concern" over the intensity and frequency of China's activities in the South China Sea, most of which China claims as its territory.

China's use of a laser against a Philippine vessel on Feb. 6, which its foreign ministry insists was legal, has sparked expressions of concerns and support from Australia, Japan, and the United States.

Washington "will redouble its efforts with our Philippine ally" to bolster the Philippine military and coast guard's defence capabilities "as we work shoulder-to-shoulder to uphold the rules-based international order," Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said on Twitter.

The Philippines has granted Washington greater access to its military bases as part of the latter's efforts to deter China's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea and tension over self-ruled Taiwan.

In 2015, more than 11,000 troops from both countries participated in the joint military exercises.

"The exercises will involve a myriad of activities, not just focused on developing the war fighting capability of both armed forces, but also of the other non-traditional roles such as humanitarian assistance and disaster response," Brawner said. (Reuters)