Running water returned to Harbin, a city of 3.8 million people, on Sunday, ending a five-day shutdown blamed on a chemical spill into the Songhua River that embarrassed the government and highlighted China’s mounting environmental problems. However, officials warned that what was coming out the tap still was too dirty to drink.
Canada: Riders trapped in gondola
One of the safety switches on a ski gondola at Canada’s Lake Louise resort in Alberta malfunctioned late Sunday afternoon, trapping about 65 people on board for hours as darkness fell and temperatures dropped. Eight teams of ski patrollers were working to evacuate the trapped passengers, who included children.
Vatican: Pope ushers in Advent
Pope Benedict XVI ushered in the Christmas season Sunday, calling it a time for joy when Christians should find it within themselves to hope that they can change the world. The pontiff addressed the crowds in St. Peter’s Square during his traditional Sunday blessing that also marked the beginning of Advent, which starts four Sundays before Christmas and is the beginning of the ecclesiastical year.
Russia: Chechens go to polls
Chechens voted Sunday in their first parliamentary elections since Russia sent troops back to the Caucasus region six years ago to crush a separatist insurgency. Critics fear the new parliament will amount to a rubber stamp for Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed governing elites.
Liechtenstein: Abortion supported
Voters on Sunday soundly rejected an initiative that critics said would have prevented abortion, birth control, assisted suicide and living wills. Less than 20 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of the constitutional amendment supported by the country’s Roman Catholic archbishop.
Honduras: Teen recaptured
Police in Tegucigalpa recaptured 16-year-old Herlan Colindres, who is accused of killing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent and has escaped five times in three years from a crumbling prison, an official said Sunday. Colindres and his 13-year-old bodyguard were arrested in July in the killing of Michael Timothy Markey.
Yemen: Extremist executed
A suspected al-Qaida ally was executed by a Yemeni firing squad Sunday after being convicted of killing a prominent politician and plotting a deadly attack on three American missionaries in a hospital in 2002. Ali al-Jarallah was blindfolded and shot in the courtyard of the central prison in San’a.
From Herald news services
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