QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I am not looking to drown Israel with millions of refugees to change its nature.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking to Israeli students about Palestinian refugees returning to lost properties Article, this page

Plane crash in Nepal kills 18 on board

KATMANDU, Nepal - Rescuers today found the wreckage of a passenger plane that slammed into the side of a snow-covered mountain in Nepal, killing all 18 people on board, including a small child, authorities said.

Moving slowly on foot through thick snow, rescuers pulled out 13 bodies from the crash site and were scouring the area for the remains of the others, said police official Bam Bahadur Bhandari.

A helicopter was able to spot the wreckage on a mountainside near Machinelek, about 160 miles west of the capital, Katmandu, a day after the Nepal Airlines Twin Otter lost contact in bad weather.

The plane was flying from Katmandu to Jumla, about 250 miles to the west, when it made an unscheduled fuel stop in Pokhara, about a third of the way into the journey. Visibility was poor because of snow, rain and fog, Bhandari said.

Bhandari said the remote area was covered by snow, and it took rescuers several hours to reach the area by foot from the nearest town 8 miles away.

The de Havilland Canada-manufactured aircraft had 15 passengers and three crew members on board. One of the passengers was believed to be a Danish national, while the rest were Nepalese.

S. Africa: Illegal miners refuse rescue

JOHANNESBURG - Emergency workers in South Africa cleared a mine-shaft entrance of debris Sunday, allowing miners who had been trapped below the chance to escape. The only problem was that the miners were working illegally at the abandoned mine, and some stayed underground because they feared arrest if they came out, officials said.

At least 11 miners were escorted to safety at the mine in Benoni, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, but an undetermined number of their comrades were still in the gold mine, emergency responder Kobus Du Plooy said late Sunday.

After nightfall, some mine-security officials remained at the site, but rescue workers had packed up and left, leaving behind a ladder in the shaft for those still below.

“Should they have a change of heart and mind, they then have at least some access to get out of the shaft,” Du Plooy said.

He said he didn’t know how many people were still in the shaft. Earlier, more than 200 miners had been trapped, according to reports. But the ones who emerged were tightlipped about the colleagues they left behind.

Those who were rescued received medical attention and were arrested, the Department of Mineral Resources said. They were thought to have been trapped since Saturday morning, and police patrolling in the area heard their screams for help.

More than 50 killed in Nigerian attacks

YOLA, Nigeria - Chanting “Allah is great,” suspected Islamic militants gunned down dozens of villagers and slit the throats of others in the latest attack in a northeast Nigerian area where the military has been bombing extremists out of forest hideouts, survivors said Sunday.

Local government chairman Maina Ularamu said he has reports of more than 50 people killed in Saturday night’s attack on Izghe village in Borno state.

Sunday afternoon, funeral rites were held for 52 Muslim victims at the central mosque in the nearby town of Madagali, mosque officials confirmed.

Boko Haram terrorists routinely attack civilians after they are attacked by the military.

On Wednesday, the air force began daily aerial bombardments near Izghe of extremist hideouts in the Sambisa Forest along the border with Cameroon. Soldiers moved in on foot after the bombing and at least nine troops and several militants were killed in a fierce hourslong battle, according to hospital and military sources.

Bus bombing in Egypt kills 3 S. Koreans

CAIRO - An explosion ripped through a tourist bus near a border crossing between Egypt and Israel on Sunday, killing at least three South Koreans and the Egyptian driver.

The targeting of foreign tourists was the first to take place in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula in nearly a decade, when a bomb devastated a luxury hotel in Taba, killing 34 people, mostly foreign tourists.

The security officials said the source of the explosion was not clear, but they think it was either a car bomb or a roadside bomb that was detonated by remote control.

Almost all 33 passengers on the bus were wounded by the explosion, with 12 suffering serious injuries.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/17/2014