India train derails; 23 people killed
LUCKNOW, India — Six coaches of a passenger train derailed Saturday in northern India, killing 23 people and injuring at least 81, officials said.
Two of the coaches telescoped into each other, while four others toppled over after going off the track, said Arvind Kumar, a top official in Uttar Pradesh, the state where the derailment occurred.
Neeraj Sharma, a railway spokesman, said the accident took place near the small town of Khatauli.
Railway police and volunteers helped pull passengers out of the upturned coaches of the Kalinga-Utkal Express, which connects the Hindu holy city of Haridwar with the temple town of Puri, in the eastern state of Orissa.
Report on Ukraine hacker proves iffy
PARIS — A report that a cooperating witness has emerged out of Ukraine to help the FBI’s inquiry into the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee is drawing confusion and denials in Ukraine.
A front-page story published by The New York Times says a software author linked to the hacking of the committee’s servers had surrendered and was cooperating with authorities, citing a police cyber unit in Ukraine.
But Ukrainian authorities said Saturday that the unnamed individual had no established links to hacking and that it isn’t clear that the man is even an author of malware — software intended to infiltrate other computers.
The Times’ story has since been revised to eliminate the reference to a Democratic National Committee link. A Ukrainian lawmaker has been quoted as saying that the Times misidentified the hacker entirely.
Sierra Leone loses hope for survivors
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Survivors picking through the debris of Sierra Leone’s deadly mudslides were facing the reality Saturday that most, if not all, of the hundreds of people missing are dead, as relief and aid efforts intensified.
The death toll is already above 450 people from the flooding and mudslides that occurred early Monday in and around the capital, Freetown.
The number of missing could go higher than 600, according to Sierra Leone’s deputy minister of information and communications, Cornelius Deveaux.
Satellite images and census figures are being used to calculate a more accurate human toll.
Rescue officials have warned that the chances of finding survivors “are getting smaller every day.”
Large-scale burials began last week despite rainy weather that threatened even more mudslides.
The government of the impoverished West African nation in recent days has warned residents to evacuate a mountainside where a large crack has opened. Authorities have told Sierra Leone media outlets that thousands of people live in areas at risk, and the main focus is making sure they leave before further disaster.
The government plans to relocate those affected to temporary, and eventually permanent, shelters.