World/Nation Briefs September 25, 2012

Terrifying hour in darkness after Nepal avalanche

KATMANDU, Nepal - The mountaineers were in darkness when they heard the thunderous boom, the crush of snow. Helplessly, they slid down Mount Mansalu, the world's eighth-highest peak.

It would take an hour for the sun to rise and for the survivors to see what horrors the avalanche had wrought.

Pieces of tents and bodies of victims were strewn around on the snow on the Himalayan peak in Nepal. Several other people were injured, and more still were simply gone.

"It was only a few seconds and we did not know what happened, but we had slid more than 200 meters," Italian climber Silvio Mondinelli told The Associated Press on Monday. "All we wanted was for it to stop."

Rescuers have brought down eight bodies - four French, one each from Germany, Italy and Spain, and a Nepali guide. Many of the 10 survivors, including Mondinelli, were injured and flown to hospitals by rescue helicopters.

The number of climbers unaccounted for is unclear. Officials had said Monday that they were attempting to recover a ninth body, and that six other people remained missing, but they were more tentative about those numbers Tuesday.

Police Chief Basanta Bahadur Kuwar said there was lot of confusion among the climbers and since the avalanche occurred at an elevation of 22,960 feet, it was difficult for anyone but trained Sherpa guides to reach.

Syria's crisis set to deepen with onset of winter

TEL RIFAAT, Syria - The days are still warm across the fertile plains of northern Syria around Aleppo, but night brings a chill - an ominous harbinger of winter's approach and the deepening of the already severe humanitarian crisis gripping a country wracked by civil war.

Warm temperatures and plentiful food have cushioned the blow somewhat for hundreds of thousands of Syrians displaced from their homes or living in refugee camps across the border. But the arrival of near-freezing temperatures could mean greater suffering and even deaths from exposure, as international aid agencies scramble to cope.

Among the first things to go will be the practice of sleeping outside to avoid the artillery and airstrikes that rain down late night death on homes.

"Most people sleep in the fields at night, out of fear of the bombardments of the towns," said Abu Mohammed, who has taken to sleeping in the olive orchards outside Tel Rifaat, a rebel-controlled town north of Aleppo. "In the winter the suffering will only increase."

Like many people in Syria, he asked that his real name not be used for fear of retribution should the government retake his town.

Marines to court-martial two staff sergeants

WASHINGTON - Two Marine non-commissioned officers will be court-martialed for allegedly urinating on the bodies of Taliban fighters last year in Afghanistan and posing for unofficial photos with casualties, the Marine Corps said Monday.

The charges against Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin and Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola are in addition to administrative punishments announced last month for three other, more junior Marines for their role in the urination episode.

The disclosure in January of a video showing four Marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead men led to a criminal investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as well as a Marine investigation of the unit involved, the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, which fought in the southern Afghan province of Helmand for seven months before returning to its home base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., last September.

In the video, one of the Marines looked down at the bodies and quipped, "Have a good day, buddy."

In a statement Monday, the Marine Corps said disciplinary actions against additional Marines will be announced later. It also said there are "other pending cases related to this incident."

Police chief asks for patience in amputee shooting

HOUSTON - A caretaker at a group home for the mentally ill called police in the middle of the night because a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair was angry and wouldn't calm down.

What happened next is the subject of an investigation that now involves the FBI. One of the two Houston police officers who entered the home fatally shot the double-amputee in the head, saying he was cornered by the wheelchair and thought his partner was being threatened by what turned out to be a ballpoint pen.

Houston's police chief responded Monday to escalating criticism about the weekend shooting by cautioning against a rush to judgment. Community and civil rights groups say the incident is another example of problems that the Houston Police Department has with using excessive force.

"It is my desire to have everyone reserve judgment until all the facts and evidence in this investigation have been gathered," Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland said.

Officer Matthew Marin shot 45-year-old Brian Claunch early Saturday after responding to a call that the man, who reportedly lost two limbs in a train accident, was causing a disturbance. Police say Claunch cornered and threatened to kill Marin, who reportedly told investigators he didn't know the object in Claunch's hand was a pen.

- The Associated Press