CR MAG

Two days after tragedy struck in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range whenat least eight skiers were killed in an avalanche and one remains missing, search teams facing brutal winter conditions and the threat of more avalanches, will not be able to recover the bodies of the victims, officials said Feb. 19.

The skiers were part of a group of 15 guides and clients of a mountain guide company in the Lake Tahoe area. They were backcountry skiing from remote huts in an avalanche-prone area on Feb. 17 when the incident happened. Six people survived and were rescued hours later, and eight people have been located deceased. One was still missing but is presumed dead as of the latest update from authorities on Feb. 18.

It is thedeadliest avalanche in the United Statesin almost 45 years, according to theColorado Avalanche Information Center.

The Nevada County Sheriff's Office said Feb. 19 that "hazardous weather conditions" were preventing the recovery of the victims, and the efforts are expected to stretch into the weekend. Forecasters on Feb. 19 warned ofanother winter stormexpected to bring heavy snow and a heightened avalanche risk. Officials previously said on Feb. 18 that none of the eight bodies were removed from the mountain because it has been too difficult for crews to access them.

"Due to the ongoing challenges of the weather, the avalanche conditions, the effort remains ongoing, as well as our search for the remaining skier," Sheriff Shannan Moon said on Feb. 18.

Visual story:See how six skiers survived the deadly Tahoe avalanche

The region is under a winter storm advisory and an avalanche warning. Another over a foot of snow could fall on Feb. 19, after2 to 4 feet have already fallenin the Lake Tahoe area, according to the National Weather Service office in nearby Reno, Nevada.

"The longer that we continue to have people out there and exposed, the higher chance we put our rescuers in danger," Capt. Rusty Greene of the Nevada County Sheriff's Department said.

Inside the search for missing skiers after California avalanche

Avalanche was the deadliest in decades

The group of 15 skiers included four guides from the Blackbird Mountain Guides company and 11 clients, officials said. They were at the end of a three-day trip to the remote Frog Lake huts, which require miles of skiing, snowboarding or snow shoeing to access. The company said the group was returning to the trailhead at the end of the trip.

The avalanche happened in the Castle Peak area northwest of Lake Tahoe at about 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 17. Six people who survived had to shelter for hours until search and rescue crews could reach them. Two had injuries that weren't life threatening and were taken to hospitals later that evening.

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The surviving group located three of the missing people deceased, and rescuers found another five people deceased. One was still missing, officials said Feb. 18.

It was thedeadliest avalanche since 11 people were killed in 1981while attempting to climb Mount Rainier in Washington state.

Harsh conditions, threat of avalanches as recovery continues

The Feb. 17 avalanche came amid the strongest winter storm in the region of the year, reported the Reno Gazette Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. Officials said the weather conditions, which included heavy snow and gusty winds creating whiteout conditions, made it extremely difficult to reach the survivors and find the victims.

Moon described the weather conditions as "horrific." At times, it was "impossible" to see in the conditions, Moon said on Feb. 18. The eight bodies that were located were not yet removed from the mountain because of the conditions and the risks to the search crews, authorities said. Search teams used a snowcat vehicle but had to ski the remaining 2 miles to reach the people stranded to avoid triggering another avalanche, she said.

On Feb. 19, forecasters said another 12 to 18 inches of snow could fall at elevations over 7,000 feet and 6 to 12 inches in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Ridge-top wind gusts will reach 45 mph, the weather service said.

There is also a high risk for large avalanches in backcountry areas of the Tahoe region, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center. Greene said on Feb. 18 that there was a concern that additional avalanches could rebury the victims' bodies, but officials also have to weigh the safety of the search team, which consists of volunteers.

"We've done everything we can to make it so that given the opportunity, we can get in and do a fast recovery if the weather gives us that chance," Greene said.

The searchers placed avalanche poles, probes that can help them later find the bodies' exact locations, but recovery will depend on how the weather acts over the next few days, he said.

"We want to really make sure that our first responders are safe and have all of the confidence that they can get there," Moon said.

Contributing: The Reno Gazette Journal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Latest on missing skier after avalanche at California's Lake Tahoe

Feb 19 (Reuters) - The Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday ‌that Amazon.com must face ‌lawsuits brought by families with relatives who took ​their own lives by consuming sodium nitrite they bought on the online retailer's platform.

It rejected a lower ‌court's ruling ⁠that the families could not pursue negligence claims under ⁠a Washington state product liability law, because suicide was a superseding ​cause of ​their relatives' ​deaths.

Four families accused ‌Amazon of promoting the sale of sodium nitrite on its website alongside other products that could assist people in carrying out suicides.

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They said ‌the Seattle-based retailer ​has known of the ​link between ​sodium nitrite and suicide ‌for years yet continued ​to sell ​the product without restrictions.

Amazon and its lawyers did not immediately ​respond to ‌requests for comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan ​Stempel in New York; Editing ​by Joe Bavier)

The Taliban has passed a law that allows men to beat their wives as long as it does not cause "broken bones or open wounds".

The Telegraph obtained the 60-page penal code – signed by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supreme leader, and distributed to courts across Afghanistan – which classifies spousal beatings as "ta'zir" – discretionary punishment – rather than a criminal act.

A husband may strike his wife and children freely, provided the violence does not leave visible bone fractures or open wounds.

Even where serious injury can be proven, the maximum sentence is 15 days in prison.

The law is written to ensure that the bar is almost never met.

To pursue a complaint, a woman must present her wounds in person to a male judge while remaining fully veiled and accompanied by a male guardian.

In the majority of domestic violence cases, that guardian is the husband who committed the beating.

There is no provision in the code prohibiting physical, psychological or sexual violenceagainst women.

For those who do attempt to flee, thelaw offers another trap.

Article 34 says that a woman who goes to her parents' home without her husband's permission – even to escape violence – faces up to three months in prison. Family members who shelter her face the same sentence.

The code dismantles the legal framework established under Afghanistan's previous government, including a 2009 law that criminalised forced marriage, rape and gender-based violence and imposed sentences of between three months and one year for domestic abuse.

Working-class Afghans at the bottom of the hierarchy face imprisonment and corporal punishment.

The code explicitly distinguishes between"free" citizensand "slaves."

The requirement to bring a male chaperone to court – where that chaperone is, in most cases, the abuser – makes justice structurally impossible.

The criminalisation of fleeing to a parent's home makes escape structurally impossible.

The Taliban has since ruled that discussing the penal code is itself a criminal offence.

Narges, a former university student in western Herat, told The Telegraph: "The world has always shown its unjust side to us. I do not feel like I am living, and this feeling is shared by everyone I know."

She added: "Our life is more like a constant resistance against everything out there. No one sees us.No one cares about us.

"This new law is not just a law – it is making our bodies their field of control.No one would see our painunless our bones are broken. They are legalising fear. We are living in fear and silence."

Article 59 criminalises dancing – performing it and watching it – without providing any legal definition of what dancing constitutes.

"Dance for boys and girls, and those who play music for them, or the people who watch (attend) the show, are all criminals. The judge shall sentence each one of them to two months' imprisonment."

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The new law also criminalises thought. Criticising any action banned by the Taliban leadership is itself a criminal offence, including criticism of the ban on girls' education, which Taliban courts now classify as a lawful restriction.

Under Article 23, insulting Taliban leaders carries 20 lashes and six months in prison.

Any Afghan who witnesses opposition activity and fails to report it to Taliban authorities faces two years in prison.

There is no right to a lawyer anywhere in the legal document.

The entire edifice of fair trial has been stripped out and replaced with the discretion of Taliban judges, operating without oversight, without appeal, and now with the force of signed, distributed, enacted law.

Religious minorities face their own specific jeopardy.

Article 2 designates followers of non-Hanafi Islamic schools – including Shia Muslims, Ismailis, Salafis and Ahl-e-Hadith, roughly 15 per cent of the population – as "innovators" or apostates.

Teachers are permitted to beat children in their care, with only the most extreme injuries – broken bones, torn skin, heavy bruising – defined as excess.

Other physical violence, all psychological violence, all sexual violence against children are not prohibited.

Article 48 explicitly permits fathers to physically punish sons from the age of 10. The code frames this as acting in the child's interest.

Article 9 divides Afghan society into four formal tiers: religious scholars, elites, middle class, lower class.

The same crime committed by a scholar earns advice. Committed by an elite, it earns a court summons. If committed by a middle-class Afghan, the punishment is prison. And if committed by a working-class Afghan, the result is prison and corporal punishment.

Article 17 criminalises "mockery" of Islamic rulings with two years in prison, with no definition of what mockery means, leaving judges to decide arbitrarily.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has systematically curbed women's rights in Afghanistan.

The restrictionsaffect their daily lives, ranging from preventing them from showing their faces in public or driving a car, to forbidding conversations with men and restricting how they dress.

Women have already been ordered to cover their faces "to avoid temptation and tempting others" and refrain from speaking in the presence of unfamiliar men who are not husbands or close relatives.

Afghan women have also been ordered not to speak loudly inside their homes, to prevent their voices from being heard outside.

Women who defy the new rules will be arrested and sent to prison, the Taliban said.

In July 2024, a United Nations report said the ministry for promoting virtue and preventing vice was contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through its edicts and the methods used to enforce them.

However, in recent months, there have been increasing signs of discord from within the ranks of the Taliban as it tries to transform itself from a guerrilla force to a functioning government.

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.

Feb 19 (Reuters) - The Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday ‌that Amazon.com must face ‌lawsuits brought by families with relatives who took ​their own lives by consuming sodium nitrite they bought on the online retailer's platform.

It rejected a lower ‌court's ruling ⁠that the families could not pursue negligence claims under ⁠a Washington state product liability law, because suicide was a superseding ​cause of ​their relatives' ​deaths.

Four families accused ‌Amazon of promoting the sale of sodium nitrite on its website alongside other products that could assist people in carrying out suicides.

Advertisement

They said ‌the Seattle-based retailer ​has known of the ​link between ​sodium nitrite and suicide ‌for years yet continued ​to sell ​the product without restrictions.

Amazon and its lawyers did not immediately ​respond to ‌requests for comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan ​Stempel in New York; Editing ​by Joe Bavier)

The Taliban has passed a law that allows men to beat their wives as long as it does not cause "broken bones or open wounds".

The Telegraph obtained the 60-page penal code – signed by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supreme leader, and distributed to courts across Afghanistan – which classifies spousal beatings as "ta'zir" – discretionary punishment – rather than a criminal act.

A husband may strike his wife and children freely, provided the violence does not leave visible bone fractures or open wounds.

Even where serious injury can be proven, the maximum sentence is 15 days in prison.

The law is written to ensure that the bar is almost never met.

To pursue a complaint, a woman must present her wounds in person to a male judge while remaining fully veiled and accompanied by a male guardian.

In the majority of domestic violence cases, that guardian is the husband who committed the beating.

There is no provision in the code prohibiting physical, psychological or sexual violenceagainst women.

For those who do attempt to flee, thelaw offers another trap.

Article 34 says that a woman who goes to her parents' home without her husband's permission – even to escape violence – faces up to three months in prison. Family members who shelter her face the same sentence.

The code dismantles the legal framework established under Afghanistan's previous government, including a 2009 law that criminalised forced marriage, rape and gender-based violence and imposed sentences of between three months and one year for domestic abuse.

Working-class Afghans at the bottom of the hierarchy face imprisonment and corporal punishment.

The code explicitly distinguishes between"free" citizensand "slaves."

The requirement to bring a male chaperone to court – where that chaperone is, in most cases, the abuser – makes justice structurally impossible.

The criminalisation of fleeing to a parent's home makes escape structurally impossible.

The Taliban has since ruled that discussing the penal code is itself a criminal offence.

Narges, a former university student in western Herat, told The Telegraph: "The world has always shown its unjust side to us. I do not feel like I am living, and this feeling is shared by everyone I know."

She added: "Our life is more like a constant resistance against everything out there. No one sees us.No one cares about us.

"This new law is not just a law – it is making our bodies their field of control.No one would see our painunless our bones are broken. They are legalising fear. We are living in fear and silence."

Article 59 criminalises dancing – performing it and watching it – without providing any legal definition of what dancing constitutes.

"Dance for boys and girls, and those who play music for them, or the people who watch (attend) the show, are all criminals. The judge shall sentence each one of them to two months' imprisonment."

Advertisement

The new law also criminalises thought. Criticising any action banned by the Taliban leadership is itself a criminal offence, including criticism of the ban on girls' education, which Taliban courts now classify as a lawful restriction.

Under Article 23, insulting Taliban leaders carries 20 lashes and six months in prison.

Any Afghan who witnesses opposition activity and fails to report it to Taliban authorities faces two years in prison.

There is no right to a lawyer anywhere in the legal document.

The entire edifice of fair trial has been stripped out and replaced with the discretion of Taliban judges, operating without oversight, without appeal, and now with the force of signed, distributed, enacted law.

Religious minorities face their own specific jeopardy.

Article 2 designates followers of non-Hanafi Islamic schools – including Shia Muslims, Ismailis, Salafis and Ahl-e-Hadith, roughly 15 per cent of the population – as "innovators" or apostates.

Teachers are permitted to beat children in their care, with only the most extreme injuries – broken bones, torn skin, heavy bruising – defined as excess.

Other physical violence, all psychological violence, all sexual violence against children are not prohibited.

Article 48 explicitly permits fathers to physically punish sons from the age of 10. The code frames this as acting in the child's interest.

Article 9 divides Afghan society into four formal tiers: religious scholars, elites, middle class, lower class.

The same crime committed by a scholar earns advice. Committed by an elite, it earns a court summons. If committed by a middle-class Afghan, the punishment is prison. And if committed by a working-class Afghan, the result is prison and corporal punishment.

Article 17 criminalises "mockery" of Islamic rulings with two years in prison, with no definition of what mockery means, leaving judges to decide arbitrarily.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has systematically curbed women's rights in Afghanistan.

The restrictionsaffect their daily lives, ranging from preventing them from showing their faces in public or driving a car, to forbidding conversations with men and restricting how they dress.

Women have already been ordered to cover their faces "to avoid temptation and tempting others" and refrain from speaking in the presence of unfamiliar men who are not husbands or close relatives.

Afghan women have also been ordered not to speak loudly inside their homes, to prevent their voices from being heard outside.

Women who defy the new rules will be arrested and sent to prison, the Taliban said.

In July 2024, a United Nations report said the ministry for promoting virtue and preventing vice was contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through its edicts and the methods used to enforce them.

However, in recent months, there have been increasing signs of discord from within the ranks of the Taliban as it tries to transform itself from a guerrilla force to a functioning government.

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.