Activists: Syrian airstrike kills 21

Activists: Syrian airstrike kills 21

BEIRUT

A Syrian government airstrike hit a crowded vegetable market in a rebel-held neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, shattering cars and storefronts and killing at least 21 people, activists said.

For nearly two weeks, President Bashar Assad’s warplanes and helicopters have pounded opposition-controlled areas of the divided city. Activists say the aerial assault has killed more than 400 people since it began Dec. 15.

The campaign comes in the run-up to an international peace conference scheduled to start Jan. 22 in Switzerland to try to find a political solution to Syria’s civil war. Some observers say the Aleppo assault fits into Assad’s apparent strategy of trying to expose the opposition’s weakness to strengthen his own hand ahead of the negotiations.

Avalanches in Wyo. kill 2 within hours

JACKSON, Wyo.

An Idaho man died in an avalanche while snowmobiling in Wyoming’s Jackson area, the second person killed by a slide within two hours, authorities said.

Rex J. Anderson of Arco, Idaho, was killed Thursday while snowmobiling in Waterfall Canyon near the Idaho border, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported.

The slide occurred less than two hours after 29-year-old Jackson resident Michael Kazanjy was killed by an avalanche while he was skiing a slope known as Pucker Face.

Anderson, 39, was with three other snowmobilers when he was buried by the slide, the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center said.

Anderson’s companions were not caught in the slide.

De Blasio to be sworn in by Clinton

NEW YORK

Bill de Blasio will be sworn in as mayor of New York City by former President Bill Clinton.

The Democrat will be inaugurated as the 109th mayor of the nation’s largest city during a ceremony Wednesday on the City Hall steps.

His transition team announced Saturday that he will be sworn in by the former president. De Blasio worked in Clinton’s administration in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Clinton will use a Bible once owned by another former president, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The de Blasio transition team says former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also will attend the New Year’s Day ceremony.

Earthquake shakes coast of Turkey

ANKARA, Turke

A magnitude-6 earthquake struck Saturday in the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Turkish province of Antalya.

The quake caused panic, but no damage or casualties were reported.

The Istanbul-based Kandilli seismology center said the earthquake occurred at 5:21 p.m. and was centered some 52 miles southwest of the holiday resort of Alanya.

It also was felt in the neighboring province of Mersin and throughout the island of Cyprus, where people reported items swaying inside their homes.

The Cyprus Geological Survey had a slightly different reading, saying the tremor measured 6.3.

Associated Press