An avalanche killed eight high school students on a mountain-climbing trip in Japan Monday, with more than 30 people reportedly injured. More than 100 troops have been deployed in a major rescue effort after the avalanche hit ski slopes in Tochigi prefecture, with television footage showing rescuers climbing mountains as ambulances stood by. A group of 52 students and 11 teachers from seven high schools were on a three-day mountaineering outing when disaster struck, according to authorities.
Thousands of people including tourists were evacuated Monday as northeast Australia braced for a powerful cyclone packing destructive winds, with warnings of major structural damage and surging tides. Cyclone Debbie has been forming off the coast of Queensland state over recent days, the Bureau of Meteorology said, and is expected to make landfall as a category four storm -- on a scale of five -- after daybreak Tuesday. Residents, who have been sandbagging and boarding up homes, were being told to prepare for the worst storm to pummel the state since Cyclone Yasi in 2011, which ripped houses from their foundations and devastated crops.
Pakistan has begun building a fence on its disputed 2,500 km (1,500 mile) border with Afghanistan to prevent incursions by militants, Pakistan's army chief said, in a move likely to further strain relations between the two countries. Pakistan has blamed Pakistani Taliban militants it says are based on Afghan soil for a spate of attacks at home in recent months, urging Kabul to eradicate "sanctuaries" for militants. Citing the attacks, Islamabad earlier this month temporarily shut the main crossing points along the colonial-era Durand Line border, drawn up in 1893 and rejected by Afghanistan.
By Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) - Thousands of Australians fled their homes on Monday as a powerful cyclone bore down on coastal towns in Queensland, where authorities urged 30,000 people to evacuate low lying areas most at risk from tidal surges and winds of up to 300 km per hour (185 mph). Cyclone Debbie is expected to gather strength before making landfall in the northeast state early on Tuesday, with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecasting a category four storm, just one rung below the most dangerous wind speed level. The growing alarm persuaded the state government on Monday to warn some 25,000 people living in parts of Mackay, a city 950 kilometers (590 miles) north of the state capital Brisbane, to head south to higher ground.
An avalanche killed eight high school students on a mountain-climbing trip in Japan Monday, with more than 30 people reportedly injured. More than 100 troops have been deployed in a major rescue effort after the avalanche hit ski slopes in Tochigi prefecture, with television footage showing rescuers climbing mountains as ambulances stood by. A group of 52 students and 11 teachers from seven high schools were on a three-day mountaineering outing when disaster struck, according to authorities.
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