Canadian police say three foreign skiers been killed in an avalanche in southeastern British Columbia. Royal Canadian Mounted Police say the three were among 10 skiers who went to the slopes by helicopter and who were caught by the slide on Wednesday. The avalanche took place near the Panorama Mountain Resort, near Invermere, British Columbia. Authorities did not immediately release nationalities of the victims. RCMP Cpl. James Grady says everyone in the group has been accounted for, and four are injured but are expected to recover. He sys all the skiers except the guide were from outside Canada, but did not release their hometowns.
World News
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Sudanese official says 48 killed in tribal clashes in Darfur
A Sudanese refugee camp official says at least 48 people were killed in tribal clashes in Darfur last week. It was the latest round of inter-communal violence to hit the African country’s neglected peripheries. The official said on Wednesday the actual death toll could be higher in the clashes between the Misseriya and the Rezeigat tribesmen that erupted a week ago. The United Nations says 24 of the victims were killed on Saturday, after gunmen opened fire on people trying to mediate in the conflict. Meanwhile, four months of sporadic eruptions of tribal clashes have killed more than 350 people in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile state.
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Chinese police shoot dead would-be bank robber, free hostage
Police in eastern China say they shot dead a would-be bank robber and freed the hostage he had taken. A notice on the social media account of the Tai’an city police department said Tuesday’s attempted robbery began around noon and ended with the suspect’s death about an hour later after officers issued multiple warnings. The notice gave no further details about the suspect, whether he was armed or the name of the bank, saying the case remained under investigation. Violent crime is relatively rare in China, whose ruling Communist Party maintains tight surveillance over citizens and bans private ownership of firearms. However, amid a slowing economy protests have broken out by bilked depositors targeting banks they accuse of malfeasance.
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Attacks on army posts kill 4 assailants, soldier in Pakistan
Pakistan’s military says attackers targeted two security posts in southwestern Pakistan, triggering firefights that killed four assailants and a soldier. The first of the two attacks on Wednesday happened in Banjgur, a district in the Baluchistan province. A military statement says soldier died in the exchange of fire there. Hours later, assailants tried to sneak into a security camp in Naushki in Baluchistan, but troops foiled the attempt and killed four attackers. Baluchistan has been the scene of numerous separatists and militant attacks in recent years. Later on Wednesday evening, the newly formed Baluchistan Nationalist Army claimed responsibility for the attacks in a post on Twitter.
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Explosions at Serbia munitions factory force evacuations
A series of explosions at a munitions factory in central Serbia forced the evacuation of workers and nearby residents. The blasts at the Sloboda factory in the town of Cacak early Friday caused a huge fire and panic but no injuries. It was not immediately clear what caused the detonations in an ammunition depot at the factory. Workers hid in the basement when the explosions started. Officials said later Friday they expected the fire to be fully extinguished by next week and the factory to back in operation on Monday.
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Villagers in Pakistani Kashmir hail cease-fire with India
Pakistani villagers living on one of the world’s most militarized frontiers in the disputed Kashmir region are hailing a two-month-long cease-fire between nuclear rivals Pakistan and India. But residents also demanded Monday a solution to the decades-old issue of Kashmir and a durable peace for the Himalayan region. Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. Villagers spoke with journalists who were taken to Salohi village in Pakistan-administered Kashmir by the military. The visit came two months after the Pakistani and Indian armies pledged to halt cross-border fighting and adhere to a 2003 accord that has been largely ignored in Kashmir.
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Radioactivity hike seen in northern Europe; source unknown
Nordic authorities say they detected slightly increased levels of radioactivity in northern Europe this month that Dutch officials said may be from a source in western Russia and may “indicate damage to a fuel element in a nuclear power plant.” But Russian news agency TASS quoted a spokesman with the state nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom on Saturday as saying the two nuclear power plans in northwestern Russia haven’t reported any problems. The Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish radiation and nuclear safety watchdogs said this week they’ve spotted small amounts of radioactive isotopes harmless to humans and the environment in parts of Finland, southern Scandinavia and the Arctic. They didn’t speculate about a possible source.
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African states soften call for more scrutiny of racism in US
African countries have backed off their call for the U.N.’s top human rights body to launch its most intense scrutiny on the hot-button issue of police brutality and systemic racism in the United States. Diplomats said it comes after American officials carried out back-channel talks to air U.S. opposition to the initiative. The American outreach with other delegations comes even though the United States is not a member of the 47-member Human Rights Council. The Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the council in 2018. The U.S. has been increasingly in the spotlight on the issue after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
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URI Professor Reflects on the Legacies of World War 2
URI History Professor Miriam Reumann says World War 2 had a lasting impact on American society.
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As Shutdown Continues, RI Delegation Calls For End
Rhode Island’s entire congressional delegation gathered at T.F. Green Airport Warwick Monday to condemn the partial government shutdown, now in its fourth week. TSA officers and air traffic controllers are some of the many across the country have continued to work the nation’s airports. The state’s two Democratic Representatives and two Senators took the […]