Extremist attack kills Somali official
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Gunmen set off a suicide car bombing and then stormed a government building Saturday in Somalia's capital, killing at least five people including the country's deputy labor minister, police said. It was the latest attack by extremists in the troubled Horn of Africa nation.
After an hourslong gunbattle with at least five attackers, Somalia's security forces by afternoon had taken back control of the building in Mogadishu that houses the labor and public-works ministries, police Capt. Mohamed Hussein said.
Saqar Ibrahim Abdalla, the deputy minister of labor and social affairs, was killed in his ground-floor office shortly after gunmen forced their way into the building, Hussein said.
Hussein said at least 10 other people were wounded in the attack, for which the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group has claimed responsibility.
Dozens of people were inside the building at the time because Saturday is a workday in Somalia. The building is not far from the headquarters of the Somali intelligence agency.
Austria avalanche leaves 1 person dead
BERLIN -- Authorities say one person was killed and a second was seriously injured in an avalanche in Austria.
Police told the Austrian news agency APA on Saturday that the two people were part of a group that was in the Rax mountain range in Austria, near the town of Reichenau, when the avalanche hit in the afternoon.
The seriously injured person was flown to a hospital by helicopter.
Officials say no other people have been reported missing but that as a precaution the area was searched, and no signs were found of anyone else who had been hit by the wet snow.
There were no other immediate details on the two victims.
Venezuela says hit men in foes' plot
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's government is outlining accusations against a jailed top aide to opposition leader Juan Guaido.
Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez went on state television Saturday alleging that Roberto Marrero was the ringleader of a plot in which Central American hit men would carry out assassinations in Venezuela.
He showed screen grabs of cellphone conversations that he said are proof Marrero was orchestrating the hit men's payment.
Marrero was taken from his home in the middle of the night Thursday by masked agents in a dramatic operation that has drawn international condemnation.
President Nicolas Maduro has refrained from having Guaido arrested, but analysts say Marrero's detention was a clear attempt to weaken his political foe.
Guaido characterized the operation as a sign that Maduro is losing his grip on power.
Copters try to pluck passengers off ship
HELSINKI -- A cruise ship with engine problems issued a mayday call Saturday off Norway's western coast, then began evacuating its 1,300 passengers and crew in stormy seas and heavy winds in a high-risk helicopter rescue operation.
The Norwegian newspaper VG said the Viking Sky cruise ship ran into propulsion problems as bad weather hit Norway's coastal regions Saturday and the vessel started drifting toward land. Police in the western county of Moere og Romsdal said the ship, fearing it would run aground, managed to anchor in Hustadsvika Bay, between the western Norwegian cities of Alesund and Trondheim, so the evacuations could take place.
Helicopters and boats were sent to evacuate the cruise ship under extremely difficult circumstances.
Norwegian public broadcaster NRK said passengers needed to be hoisted from the cruise ship to the five available helicopters one by one. By 6 p.m. local time, some 100 people had been rescued.
Authorities told NRK that a strong storm with high waves was preventing rescue workers from using lifeboats or other vessels in taking passengers ashore.
"It's a demanding exercise, because they [passengers] have to hang in the air under a helicopter and there's a very, very strong wind," witness Odd Roar Lange.
According to the cruisemapper.com website, the Viking Sky was on a 12-day trip that began March 14 in the western Norwegian city of Bergen.
A Section on 03/24/2019