3 PUPPIES FOUND ALIVE IN AVALANCHE-HIT HOTEL

Rescuers digging out an Italian hotel buried by an avalanche discovered three puppies that survived for five days, raising hopes for more than 20 people still missing in the wall of snow.

Search teams have been working around the clock since Wednesday, when up to 16 feet of snow careened down a mountain and engulfed the Rigopiano Hotel near the resort town of Farindola. Central Italy had been slammed with as much as 3 feet of falling snow when a series of severe earthquakes rocked the region, triggering the avalanche.

The discovery of the shaggy Abruzzo sheepdog pups means pockets of air could remain in the collapsed, luxury hotel. “It’s an important sign of life, which gives us hope,” firefighter Fabio Jerman told Agence France-Presse.

— John Bacon

TALKS ON SYRIA’S CIVIL WAR OFF TO A SLOW START

Talks between the Syrian government and representatives of rebel factions got off to a rocky start Monday after their first face-to-face meeting in Kazakhstan that marked a major shift in the war’s dynamics and confirmed Russia’s role as regional heavyweight.

The gathering in Astana, the Kazakh capital, is the latest in a long line of diplomatic initiatives aimed at ending the nearly 6year-old civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced half of Syria’s population.

The talks are focused on shoring up a shaky cease-fire declared Dec. 30, not on reaching a larger political settlement. Syria’s bitter divide was on vivid display as the delegates emerged from a closed, hour-long session marked by cold glances and sharp exchanges.

After an opening ceremony, both sides split and did not meet face-to-face again. The meeting later concluded until Tuesday.

— The Associated Press

HEATHER WILSON IS PICK FOR AIR FORCE SECRETARY

President Trump plans to nominate former congresswoman Heather Wilson to serve as Air Force secretary, the White House announced Monday.

Wilson, a Republican, represented New Mexico from 1998 to 2009. She has been president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology since 2013.

“Heather Wilson is going to make an outstanding Secretary of the Air Force,” Trump said in a statement.

Wilson ran for the Senate in 2008 but lost in the primary.

— Tom Vanden Brook

ALESSANDRO DI MEO, EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY Rescuers carry three puppies found alive Monday in the rubble of the Rigopiano Hotel in Abruzzo, Italy. The sheepdog puppies are said to be in good health after being buried in the snow for nearly five days after an avalanche buried the hotel.