As night fell in Italy’s Apennine Mountains on Thursday, prospects dimmed of finding survivors of an avalanche that had swept over a small resort hotel the previous night. At least 30 people were missing, according to the authorities.
The avalanche occurred after four earthquakes struck central Italy, which has been hit hard in recent months.
Giampiero Parete, a cook at the Rigopiano hotel and one of the two known survivors, had gone out to get something from his car when the avalanche struck. His wife and two young children remained inside and are among the missing.
Quintino Marcella, a restaurateur, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he had received a frantic call for help from Mr. Parete on Wednesday night.
Mr. Parete told him that the hotel had been wiped out: “The hotel isn’t here anymore, it’s not here,” Mr. Marcella told the newspaper. He said that the guests had been waiting for a snow plow to clear the roads. “All the guests had their bags packed and were waiting to leave,” he said.
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As many as 30 people were reported missing at the hotel.
Alpine and Speleological Rescue Team, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been extradited to the United States, Mexico’s government said Thursday, a little more than a year after the Sinaloa cartel leader was caught following his brazen escape from a maximum-security prison.
Several U.S. jurisdictions want to try the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel on federal drug trafficking charges, including prosecutors in San Diego, New York, El Paso, Texas, Miami and Chicago.
A plane carrying Guzman landed at MacArthur Airport on Long Island, New York, at around 9:30 p.m., where dozens of U.S. marshals and other law enforcement officers were gathered.
The Justice Department said Guzman was will “face criminal charges in connection with his leadership of the Mexican organized crime syndicate known as the ‘Sinaloa Cartel,” and is charged in six separate indictments in the U.S.
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Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers during a presentation in Mexico City, Jan. 8, 2016. On Jan. 19, 2017, Mexican government officials announced that El Chapo would be extradited to the United States. Tomas Bravo / Reuters
Last year was the hottest year ever recorded, marking the third year in a row that average global temperatures hit record-setting levels, NASA and NOAA said Wednesday.
“That’s pretty unusual, but what’s going on is this a long-term underlying trend that’s driven mainly by greenhouse gases and the fact that carbon dioxide is continuing to increase,” NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies Director Gavin Schmidt told NBC News.
The average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 58.69 degrees Fahrenheit, 1.69 degrees above the 20th century average, NOAA said Wednesday morning.
NASA and NOAA, which separately analyze global temperature data, have both found that global temperatures surpassed records for the past three years. Schmidt described the trend as remarkable.
Dozens of people were killed when a Nigerian fighter jet mistakenly bombed a camp for the internally displaced during an operation against Boko Haram militants, according to Nigerian officials and the Red Cross.
The Nigerian government provided no official death toll, but Elhadj As Sy, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, said that 53 people were killed Tuesday at the camp in Rann in the northeastern state of Borno.
Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, a Nigerian army commander, said during a news conference in Maiduguri that two soldiers were “affected” during the operation. He did not elaborate.
“There are casualties and wounded but the actual numbers,” he said, “I am yet to get the numbers of casualties of civilians (who) were killed.”
While George H.W. Bush remains in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital after experiencing “shortness of breath,” the former president’s wife, Barbara, has also been admitted for a separate health issue, the couple’s spokesman said Wednesday.
The former first lady was taken to Houston Methodist Hospital on Wednesday morning “as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing,” spokesman Jim McGrath said in a new statement following an update on her husband’s condition.
Her husband, 92-year-old Bush, was taken to Houston Methodist Hospital to treat an acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia, the statement said.
“Doctors performed a procedure to protect and clear his airway that required sedation,” McGrath said. “President Bush is stable and resting comfortably in the ICU, where he will remain for observation.”
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Former President George H.W. Bush, and former first lady Barbara Bush attend the Texas A&M University commencement ceremony in College Station, Texas, December 12, 2008. Larry Downing / Reuters
Four-year-old Daliyah Arana was invited to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday at a school outside of Atlanta, where she read MLK’s famous speech.
Donald Trump will become president Friday with an approval rating of just 40%, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, the lowest of any recent president and 44 points below that of President Barack Obama, the 44th president.
Following a tumultuous transition period, approval ratings for Trump’s handling of the transition are more than 20 points below those for any of his three most recent predecessors. Obama took the oath in 2009 with an 84% approval rating, 67% approved of Clinton’s transition as of late December 1992 and 61% approved of George W. Bush’s transition just before he took office in January 2001.
Trump’s wobbly handling of the presidential transition has left most Americans with growing doubts that the President-elect will be able to handle the job. About 53% say Trump’s statements and actions since Election Day have made them less confident in his ability to handle the presidency, and the public is split evenly on whether Trump will be a good or poor president (48% on each side).
The President-elect dismissed the poll findings on Twitter: “The same people who did the phony election polls, and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls. They are rigged just like before.”
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will stage the final performances of “The Greatest Show on Earth” in May, ending a 146-year run.
The announcement comes after the show saw a steep drop in ticket sales, after the circus’ owners ended the use of live elephants in performances. The circus was involved in protracted legal battles with animal rights groups over the use of elephants in the show.
“Ringling Bros. ticket sales have been declining, but following the transition of the elephants off the road, we saw an even more dramatic drop,” Kenneth Feld, chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment which owns the circus, said in a statement issued Saturday night.
Animal rights groups welcomed the news of the circus’ imminent end.
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A circus performer hangs upside down during a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performance in Washington, D.C., on March 19, 2015. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP – Getty Images
Britain’s Prime Minister finally laid out her plans for Brexit Tuesday, nearly seven months after the shock U.K. vote to quit the European Union (EU).
Theresa May, who came to power after the referendum result prompted the resignation of her predecessor David Cameron, said Britain will seek a so-called ‘hard Brexit’ — meaning the U.K. wants to quit the EU completely after four decades of membership, along with the single market for goods.
The European single market affords preferential rates between EU member states, something many in Britain saw as a key benefit of the trading bloc. However, it also requires the free movement of citizens across EU borders, leading to high levels of immigration. Populist concern over immigration was successfully exploited by the “Leave” campaign.
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Pound coins site beside dollar bills. Matt Cardy / Getty Images
Meryl Streep was honored at the Golden Globes for a lifetime of notable work, and she took her moment in the spotlight to give an acceptance speech of a lifetime.
In her nearly 6-minute address while accepting the Cecil B. Demille Award, the actress highlighted the importance of the “most vilified segments in American society right now” — “Hollywood, foreigners and the press.”
Without referencing him by name, the actress also blasted president-elect Donald Trump for mocking a reporter with a disability in 2015.
“Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners and if we kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts,” she said to huge applause from the room.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
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