WORLD BRIEFS

NORWAY: Avalanche kills 5 skiers

Five people were killed and one person was dug out alive after Swiss and French skiers were buried by an avalanche Monday on Norway's Arctic fringe. The victims were found through beacons from their radio transceivers, but only the first person rescuers found survived, a Swiss who was taken to a hospital in stable condition. A 3,000-foot wall of snow came crashing down on the skiers on Sorbmegaisa mountain, 40 miles east of Tromsoe, police said. The last victim was found under 20 feet of snow. Four Swiss and one French skier died in the avalanche, which started at a height of 3,600 feet and was 2,000 feet long. The victims were among 12 people out skiing when the avalanche struck about 2:30 p.m. One of the six who escaped called to alert authorities.

POLAND: Walesa pleads for Cubans

Former President Lech Walesa has written to Pope Benedict XVI urging him to "take up the defense of those Cubans who are demanding freedom" during his visit to the communist-ruled island next week. "I beg Your Holiness to intercede for those who are in prison because of their convictions" wrote Walesa, who headed the Solidarity labor movement that helped oust Poland's communist government. The letter, dated March 8, was made public Monday by the Lech Walesa Institute in Warsaw.

MEXICO: 12 police killed in ambush

Gunmen ambushed and killed 12 police officers sent to investigate the beheadings of 10 people in southern Guerrero state, authorities said Monday. State police spokesman Arturo Martinez said six state and six local officers were killed Sunday night on a road leading out of the town of Teloloapan. Another 11 officers were wounded. The attack occurred as the officers were traveling in six patrol pickups, searching for the bodies of seven men and three women whose severed heads were dumped outside the town's slaughterhouse earlier Sunday. The heads were left with a message threatening the La Familia drug cartel, whose home base is in neighboring Michoacan state.