Trump narrows down SC nominee list to 3
President Donald Trump has narrowed his choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy to three judges and said he expects to make his decision in the coming days.
A person familiar with the selection process said the three judges, all white men who sit on federal appeals courts, were on the list of 21 potential high court picks Trump announced during the presidential campaign.
Taliban tell Trump to leave Afghanistan
AP, Kabul
In a long rambling letter, the spokesman for the Taliban is telling U.S. President Donald Trump that it’s time to leave Afghanistan.
The letter, emailed to journalists Wednesday, was written on behalf of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesman, warns Trump that peace will be elusive as long as foreign troops are on Afghan soil.
Avalanches kill 5 in Kashmir
AP, Srinagar
Four members of a family and an Indian soldier were killed Wednesday when they were buried by two separate avalanches in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, officials said.
Police officer Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani said a home crumpled under the weight of heavy snow in the Gurez area, killing four people. He said one family member was rescued.
Belgian police in counter-terror raids in Brussels
AFP, Brussels
Belgian police on Wednesday raided eight homes in the Brussels region as part of a counter-terrorism operation that is ongoing, prosecutors said.
The raids are not related to either the Islamic State attacks in Paris in November 2015 or the bombings in Brussels in March last year, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office told AFP.
Italy copter crash kills all 6 aboard
AP, Farindola
Officials say a helicopter ferrying an injured skier off the slopes crashed into a central Italian mountainside and killed all six people aboard, in the latest tragedy to hit a region slammed by recent earthquakes, heavy snowfall and an avalanche.
Television footage and photographs from the scene showed the helicopter was smashed to pieces in the snow, with only the tail propellers and rear section still intact. Rescue crews brought the bodies down in sleds to waiting snowcats.
Italy avalanche death toll rises to 23
AP, Penne
Rescue crews recovered several more bodies from the rubble of a hotel crushed by an avalanche Wednesday, bringing the toll to 23, even as they mourned colleagues who were killed in a nearby helicopter crash.
The emergency helicopter slammed into a mountainside Tuesday as its crew was rescuing an injured skier. The two pilots, three crew members and the skier were killed.
