Nation & World Glance
Specialist teams hope to recover last 2 volcano victims
WHAKATANE, New Zealand — Specialist teams were due to return to New Zealand’s volcanic White Island on Sunday to resume a land search for the bodies of two victims of an eruption which has now claimed 15 lives.
Two four-person teams wearing protective clothing and using breathing apparatuses were to land on the island by helicopter early morning in the hope of finding the bodies which have not been located since the island erupted Dec. 9.
“They will be wearing the same protective clothing as the eight New Zealand Defence
Force personnel who were on the island on Friday,” Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims said. “However, their breathing apparatus will be different, meaning they will only be able to stay on the island for up to 75 minutes.
“We remain committed to finishing the task at hand and returning the two remaining bodies to their loved ones,” he added.
While scientists said the possibility of a second eruption appeared to have receded, White Island remains “highly volatile.”
New Zealand police said the toll from the eruption has risen to 15 with the death in hospital on Saturday night of a severely burned victim.
Fighting rages near Libya’s capital amid push by rebel army
CAIRO — Just two days after rebel Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter declared a “final” and decisive battle for the capital Tripoli, heavy fighting raged for a 24-hour period between his troops and militias loosely allied with the internationally backed government based in the city, officials said Saturday.
The fighting came after Hifter, the leader of the self-styled Libyan National Army, said Thursday that the “zero hour” of his battle for Tripoli had begun, nearly eight months after he began an offensive to take the city from the country’s Government of National accord supported by the U.N.
The LNA’s media office shared images of reinforcements arriving in Tripoli, including ground troops and pickup trucks with mounted machine guns and of clashes in southern parts of the city. Hifter’s forces took control of the town of al-Tawghaar, just south of Tripoli, the LNA said. But Tripoli-based forces disputed that claim.
Under pressure, Hallmark pulls gay-themed wedding ads
NEW YORK — Under pressure from a conservative advocacy group, The Hallmark Channel has pulled ads for a weddingplanning website that featured two brides kissing at the altar.
The family-friendly network removed the ads because the controversy was a distraction, a spokesperson said in an interview Saturday. “The debate surrounding these commercials on all sides was distracting from the purpose of our network, which is to provide entertainment value,” said a statement provided by Molly Biwer, senior vice president for public affairs and communications at Hallmark. In an interview, she added: “The Hallmark brand is never going to be divisive. We don’t want to generate controversy, we’ve tried very hard to stay out of it ... we just felt it was in the best interest of the brand to pull them and not continue to generate controversy.”