Mass demos force Romania govt climbdown

were rated as free, while 30 percent were classified as partly free and the remainder as not free.

10 KILLED IN PAKISTAN AVALANCHES - OFFICIALS

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: At least 10 people were killed and three more trapped beneath thick snow after two avalanches crashed into a village and a border post in northern Pakistan on Sunday, officials said. Disaster struck the village of Shershal in Chitral district, with four women and four children among the dead. The avalanche hit eight homes at around 3:00 am, said Sheema Ayub Khan, a spokeswoman for the Disaster Management Authority in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She said three people had been rescued from the snow while at least three more were still trapped. The region has been hit by heavy snowfall that is four feet (1.2 meters) deep in some places. Shahab Hameed, a senior administration official in the area, confirmed the death toll, adding that most of the area’s roads had been blocked. “We are trying to reopen the roads and help people,” he said.

TRUMP TELLS POROSHENKO HE WILL TRY TO BRING PEACE TO UKRAINE

KIEV, Ukraine: US President Donald Trump told Ukraine’s leader on Saturday that he would work with Kiev and Moscow to try to end the bloodshed in the European Union’s backyard. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s first conversation with the new US leader came during a sharp escalation in violence in the Russian-backed separatist east that has claimed 35 lives in the past week. It also took place as the former Soviet republic worries that Trump is seeking to build a friendship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Some analysts linked the escalation of the violence to this potential thaw in relations while others attributed it to more local issues. Yet Poroshenko’s hope of the same US commitment to his impoverished country as the one seen under the Barack Obama administrations appeared to have been dashed by a rather neural statement from Trump. “We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border,” the White House quoted Trump as saying.