New Hampshire

Two killed in avalanche on Mount Washington

An avalanche on Mount Washington slammed into a trio of climbing parties Friday, killing two men, officials said.

Seven people in all were swept 1,000 feet down Tuckerman Ravine just before 11:30 a.m., state Fish and Game Lt. Martin Garabedian said. Others climbing in the area called for help.

Four of the men were buried in the snow, but one managed to free himself and another was hospitalized.

The dead were identified as Thomas Burke, 46, of Springfield, N.H., and Scott Sandburg, 32, of Arlington, Mass.

The 6,288-foot peak is the highest in the Northeast.

Venezuela

Referendum nullified; strike set for Monday

Venezuelan opposition leaders pledged to keep up pressure for a nonbinding referendum on President Hugo Chavez’s presidency after the Supreme Court quashed a decision to hold the vote, and said a nationwide strike would start as planned Monday.

“This brings us one step closer to chaos,” Pedro Pablo Alcantara, a lawmaker with the center-left Democratic Action party, said Friday.

The electoral council approved a Feb. 2 referendum in a 3-1 vote Thursday with one member absent, citing a new law allowing approval by a simple majority. But the high court said hours later that an old electoral law requiring approval by four council members still stood.

The vote would be nonbinding.