Ukraine

Vacation bus crash kills 17 miners

A bus carrying miners headed for a seaside holiday veered off a mountain road and plunged into a deep ditch on Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, killing 17 people and injuring 19 others, officials said Thursday.

The driver lost control of the bus Wednesday night on the road from the Crimean capital of Simferopol to the Black Sea resort city of Alushta, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. A preliminary investigation indicated the brakes had failed.

The miners were from the city of Pavlohrad in Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, and had been awarded the weeklong trip in recognition of superior work.

Pakistan

Kashmir talks possible

Pakistan said Thursday it was willing to begin expanded discussions on the future of Kashmir, the divided Himalayan province at the heart of its five-decade feud with India, a new step in improved relations between the South Asian giants.

Top officials said Pakistan was willing to discuss other solutions than those laid down in a long-standing U.N. resolution that calls for a referendum in the disputed region to determine its future.