CANNON BALL, N.D. – Law enforcement officials said on Wednesday they are poised to remove about 200 protesters trying to halt the completion of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota after the demonstrators refused to leave private land owned by the pipeline company.
Officers with county sheriff’s offices, the state Highway Patrol and the National Guard asked protesters to move off the site on Wednesday morning and were rebuffed. The authorities then left.
Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney later told reporters that authorities don’t want a confrontation but that protesters “are not willing to bend.”
ROME – A pair of strong aftershocks shook central Italy late Wednesday, crumbling churches and buildings, knocking out power and sending panicked residents into the rain-drenched streets just two months after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 300 people.
One person was injured in the epicenter of Visso, where the rubble of collapsed buildings tumbled into the streets. But the Civil Protection Agency, which initially reported two injured, had no other immediate reports of injuries or deaths.
The first quake carried a magnitude of 5.4, but the second one was eight times stronger at 6.1, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Because many residents had already left their homes after the first one struck at 7:10 p.m., they weren’t home when the second one hit two hours later, possibly saving lives, news reports said.
Associated Press
