Today's other stories in brief
'Extraordinary' survival of buried skier
VALAIS – Swiss police yesterday hailed as “extraordinary” the survival of a young skier who was buried by an avalanche for 17 hours and emerged with only mild hypothermia.
The 21-year-old man was swept away by a 50-metre wide snowslide while skiing off-piste on Saturday.
“It’s extraordinary. We occasionally have people surviving after several hours, but after that is pretty much unheard of,” said a police spokesman. – (Guardian service)
Swiss man held in Libya not guilty
TRIPOLI – A Libyan court found Swiss businessman Rachid Hamdani not guilty of violating business rules yesterday, and his lawyer said he could soon return home after being stranded in Libya for a year and a half.
The case had disturbed ties between Libya and Switzerland and unsettled foreign investors who flocked to Libya after it emerged from isolation. – (Reuters)
Ethiopians seize family of militant
MOGADISHU – Ethiopian troops in armoured vehicles crossed into two border towns in south central Somalia and seized the family of a man with links to al-Shabaab insurgents, residents said yesterday.
They said troops went to El Barde and Yeed on Saturday seeking the man. Washington says al-Shabaab is al-Qaeda’s proxy in the region and that it declared loyalty to it. – (Reuters)