Weekend avalanches kill 10 in Austria and Switzerland

Published

2 months ago

2023/02/6

Priyan

Some 30 avalanches were reported on Saturday alone in western Austria (picture BBC)

BBC reported that ten people have been killed in several avalanches across the Austrian and Swiss Alps over the weekend.

Tourists from New Zealand, China and Germany were among the dead at a number of different ski resorts.

Austrian authorities put in place a level four avalanche alert – the second highest – following intense snowfall and wind in the area.

Despite the warnings, ski resorts in western Austria have been filling up due to school holidays in Vienna.

Austrian police announced five deaths on Sunday, including that of a 59-year-old man who was using a snow plough in the western region of Tyrol.

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Mississippi tornado kills 24 and brings devastation to US state

Published

1 day ago

2023/03/26

Priyan

(picture BBC)

BBC reported that Search and rescue efforts are under way after one of the deadliest tornadoes to have ever hit the US state of Mississippi.

At least 24 people have died following Friday night’s tornado, with more thought to be trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings. The twister caused devastation in several rural towns, tearing down trees and power lines.Several southern states are also braced for powerful storms.

The storm system which ripped through Mississippi produced a tornado that has caused catastrophic damage to communities across the state. The biggest twister obliterated dozens of buildings in several small towns, flipping cars on their sides and toppling power lines.

One of those small towns, Rolling Fork, located in Sharkey County in western Mississippi, has essentially been wiped out, according to its mayor.

Foreign News

Putin announces deal to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus

Published

1 day ago

2023/03/26

Priyan

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, says he struck a deal with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in the neighbouring country (Aljazeera file pic)

Russia has struck a deal with neighbouring Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory, President Vladimir Putin says.

Putin made the announcement on Saturday as tensions grow with the West over the Ukraine war and as some Russian commentators speculate about possible nuclear strikes.

The deal with Belarus would not violate nuclear nonproliferation agreements, Putin said, adding that the United States had stationed nuclear weapons in the territory of its European allies for decades.

“We agreed that we will do the same – without violating our obligations, I emphasize, without violating our international obligations on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons,” Putin said.

Putin told state television that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had long raised the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in his country, which borders NATO member Poland.

(Aljazeera)

Foreign News

Gandhi says disqualification ‘politically motivated’

Published

1 day ago

2023/03/25

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Gandhi was convicted by for comments about PM Modi's surname at an election rally (pic BBC)

The leader of Indian’s opposition Congress Party Rahul Gandhi has said his disqualification by parliament was politically motivated.

On Friday, India’s parliament stripped Gandhi of his MP status a day after he was sentenced to two years in prison in a defamation case.

He was convicted by the court for 2019 comments about PM Narendra Modi’s surname at an election rally. The governing BJP says his expulsion conformed with parliamentary rules.

A 2013 Supreme Court order says that a lawmaker convicted in a crime and sentenced to two or more years in jail stands disqualified from the parliament with immediate effect.

(BBC)