Monday, April 29, 2019
Body in suitcase is pulled from lake
MITSERO, Cyprus
Cypriot investigators hunting for victims of a suspected serial killer retrieved a suitcase containing the decomposing remains of a woman from the bottom of a man-made lake Sunday.
The body is believed to be one of the victims of a Cypriot military officer who has confessed killing seven foreign women and girls. The suitcase was weighed down by a concrete block, the chief of Cyprus’ Criminal Investigation Department said.
Senior Inspector Neophytos Shailos said a coroner who examined the body at the scene said it was in an advanced stage of decomposition. He said a battery of tests and scientific examinations will be conducted to determine the woman’s identity.
4 German skiers die in avalanche
BERLIN
An avalanche in southern Switzerland has killed four German skiers, police said Sunday. Police in the region of Valais said the group was buried by the avalanche on Friday near the village of Fieschertal.
Planes and rescue personnel started looking for the group after they were reported missing, but because of severe weather conditions, the bodies were only found and recovered Saturday afternoon.
Police said the victims haven’t yet been formally identified, but German daily paper Rheinische Post reported that the four were all members of the Duesseldorf section of the German Alpine Association.
Socialists victorious in Spain’s election
MADRID
Spain’s governing Socialists won the country’s national election Sunday but will need the backing of smaller parties to stay in power, while a far-right party rode a groundswell of support to enter the lower house of parliament for the first time in four decades, provisional results showed.
Voters in Spain had become disillusioned as the country struggled with a recession, austerity cuts, corruption scandals, the divisive Catalan independence demands and a rise in far-right Spanish nationalism. As a result, after having only two main political parties for decades, Spain’s political landscape has fragmented into five leading parties.
With more than 90 percent of ballots counted, the Socialists led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez won nearly 29 percent of the vote, capturing 122 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies.
Sri Lankans hear Mass on television
AMPARA, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s Catholics celebrated Mass in their homes via a televised broadcast Sunday as churches across the island nation shut over fears of militant attacks, a week after the Islamic State-claimed Easter suicide bombings killed over 250 people.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, delivered a homily before members of the clergy and the country’s leaders in a small chapel at his Colombo residence – an extraordinary measure underlining the fear still gripping this nation of 21 million people.
Thousands at risk after 2nd cyclone
PEMBA, Mozambique
A second disaster unfolded Sunday in northern Mozambique in the wake of Cyclone Kenneth as raging floodwaters killed one person and began to cut off the region’s main city from the outside world. Some 160,000 people were at risk, with more torrential rain forecast for the days ahead.
Some houses collapsed, the United Nations said.
Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai ripped into central Mozambique and killed more than 600 people with flooding.
Associated Press