Four dead in shooting at Aurora home

AURORA - Four people were dead, including the suspect, after a police standoff at a Colorado townhome. A police special weapons team was called after gunshots were heard at the home in Aurora. Three victims appeared to have been killed before officers arrived. The suspect was shot and killed when he exchanged fire with officers. A fifth person escaped uninjured. Aurora was in the spotlight in July after a gunman killed 12 people in a cinema. AP

Alaskan quake sparks tsunami warning

JUNEAU - A powerful earthquake sparked a tsunami warning for hundreds of kilometres of Alaskan and Canadian coastline, but the alert was cancelled when no damaging waves were generated. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake was centred about 95 kilometres west of Craig, Alaska, the US Geological Survey said. AP

Italian fashion designer on missing plane

MILAN - Italian fashion designer Vittorio Missoni, head of the eponymous fashion house, was aboard a small plane that has disappeared off the coast of Venezuela, a company spokeswoman said. Italian media reported that the plane went missing after take-off from the resort of Los Roques, an archipelago off the coast of Venezuela. Also reported to have been aboard the twin-engine plane with Missoni, 58, and his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, were another couple and two Venezuelan crew. Reuters

Six Russians killed in snowmobile crash

ROME - Six Russians were killed and two others were injured when their snowmobile slammed into a fence and flipped over into a ditch during a night run down an Italian ski slope. RAI state radio reported the crash occurred on an unlit slope on Mount Cermis in northeast Italy. Investigators suspect the crash was caused by excessive speed. They also were checking the possibility of a mechanical malfunction. Reports said the most of the passengers were on a sled being pulled by the snowmobile. AP