US drone kills four

PESHAWAR: Suspected US missiles killed four people in northwest Pakistan, the latest in a surge of such attacks since a suicide bomber staged a deadly assault on CIA employees just across the border in Afghanistan. The attack on Friday was the sixth in just over a week in North Waziristan. A pair of missiles hit a house and a vehicle in a village near Miran Shah in North Waziristan. Four people were killed and three injured. The attacks since last week have killed 31 people, many of them militants, according to Pakistani officials.

Four climbers killed

ROSTOV-ON-DOV: Officials in Russia say an avalanche in the southern Caucasus mountain range has killed three rookie climbers and their instructor. An emergency official says a group of eight climbers in their early 20s were hit by the snow slide as they were ascending the Gedan-tau peak on Friday. The body of their instructor was found immediately, and a search operation, including helicopters and 100 rescuers, turned up three frozen corpses on Saturday morning. The mountaineers were climbing the mountain, near Europe’s highest peak Elbrus, along the simplest route and were extremely well equipped. The North Caucasus is a popular destination among Russian climbers but suffers from underdeveloped infrastructure.

WWII damages sought

TEHRAN: Iran’s hardline president has ordered the formation of a team to study the damages the country suffered from the 1941 Allied invasion in order to demand compensation. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran suffered immensely after it was invaded by Britain and the Soviet Union during World War II despite its declared neutrality and was never compensated. “A team has been assigned to calculate all the damages (inflicted on Iran) in the Second World War. This will be an invoice they (Allies powers) must pay to the Iranian nation,” he said in remarks broadcast live on state television Saturday.