Hostages moved to IS stronghold

Hostages moved to IS stronghold

BEIRUT

Islamic State militants have moved a large group of Christians they abducted to one of their strongholds as fighting raged Wednesday between the extremists and Kurdish and Christian militiamen for control of a chain of villages along a strategic river in northeastern Syria, activists and state-run media said.

The Khabur River in Hassakeh province, which borders Turkey and Iraq, has become the latest battleground in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria. It is predominantly Kurdish but also has populations of Arabs and predominantly Christian Assyrians and Armenians.

N. Ariz. hit by phone, Internet outage

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.

People across northern Arizona couldn’t use the Internet, their cellphones or landlines for several hours Wednesday after someone vandalized a fiber-optic line that brings communications to a large part of the state, officials said.

Businesses couldn’t process credit-card transactions, ATMs didn’t function, law-enforcement databases were unavailable, and even weather reports were affected in an area stretching from north of Phoenix to Flagstaff, about 100 miles away.

CenturyLink spokesman Alex Juarez said all customers should be back online by 3 a.m. today.

Ex-Toronto mayor auctions off items

TORONTO

Anyone interested in buying a piece of Rob Ford history has the chance to do so.

The notorious former Toronto mayor and now city councilor is auctioning off some of the memorabilia he has collected over the years, including what appears to be the football tie he wore when he admitted smoking crack cocaine.

Ten percent of the proceeds will go toward research and care facilities for liposarcoma, the form of cancer for which Ford is being treated.

Afghan avalanches kill at least 124

PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan

Avalanches caused by a heavy winter snow killed at least 124 people in northeastern Afghanistan, an emergency official said Wednesday, as rescuers clawed through debris with their hands to save those buried beneath.

The avalanches buried homes across four northeast provinces, killing those beneath, said Mohammad Aslam Syas, the deputy director of the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority.

Pot set to become legal today in DC

WASHINGTON

The city that brought America government shutdowns and all-night filibusters is set to make pot legal today. But by the time the chaos over implementing the law is settled, most everyone in the District of Columbia might wish they were smoking some.

Residents voted overwhelmingly in November to allow growing and possessing small amounts of marijuana. But Congress, using its oversight authority over the nation’s capital, inserted a provision into a massive December spending deal that prevented the local government from enacting the law.

A dispute over the meaning of “enact” has left a significant haze of uncertainty over what exactly is legal. It also has sparked a standoff between the Democratic mayor, Muriel Bowser, and the Republican-led Congress, which has made oblique threats of jailing city officials if they proceed with legalization.

Combined dispatches