Missing tourist found alive in US

 7 May 2011 Last updated at 09:04 ET  The couple took a detour while driving from British Columbia to Las Vegas A Canadian tourist missing in a remote wooded area of the US state of Nevada for seven weeks has been found alive near her stranded vehicle by hunters.

Rita Chretien, 56, told police her van had got stuck in mud in mid-March, and that her husband Albert, 59, had gone to get help on foot.

She said she had survived since then on "trail mix" snack food and water.

Police abandoned the search for the couple in April but have now resumed the hunt for Mr Chretien.

The couple were driving from their home in Penticton, British Columbia, to Las Vegas, when they decided to go off-road to see the landscape in Elko County, one of America's largest and most sparsely-populated counties.

One of their three sons, Raymond Chretien, said the family was "stunned" that their mother had been found alive.

"We haven't fully digested it. This is a miracle," he told the Portland Oregonian.

He said his mother, who lost 20-30lb (9-14kg) during her ordeal and is now recovering in hospital, doubted if she would have survived another three days in the woods.

She had apologised for the worry she had caused her relatives, he added.

Officials said weather over the past month in the area where the couple got lost had included snow, rain and chilly temperatures.

"I don't believe they were prepared for winter weather," Raymond Chretien said. "They don't go camping."

New Ivory Coast mass graves found

 8 May 2011 Last updated at 18:14 ET  The UN has said it is aware of several other mass graves linked to Ivory Coast's recent political unrest The UN's human rights chief in Ivory Coast has told the BBC new mass graves have been found there containing the remains of more than 50 male victims.

Guillaume Ngefa said two burial sites had been found in a suburb of Abidjan.

He said local people allege that many of the victims were killed by former President Laurent Gbagbo's supporters.

They said the massacre in the Yopougon district happened the day after Mr Gbagbo was seized by supporters of his opponent, President Alassane Ouattara.

Football field

Mr Ngefa said the UN was examining all mass graves, including those alleged to contain the bodies of Mr Gbagbo's supporters.

The UN had announced on Friday its investigators were heading to a suspected mass grave site at a football pitch in Yopougon.

Last month, UN investigators found at least 200 bodies in a mass grave in the western Ivorian town of Duekoue.

In January, as the political violence escalated, UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay said Gbagbo loyalists had denied her officials access to three mass graves in the country.

Mr Ouattara, Ivory Coast's internationally recognised president, was sworn in last week.

Mr Gbagbo's refusal to cede power after losing a November election sent the nation close to repeat of its 2002-03 civil war.

He is now under house arrest and is being investigated for alleged human rights abuses.

Some 3,000 people are believed to have been killed during the unrest in the world's largest cocoa producer, previously one of West Africa's richest countries.

New Ivory Coast mass graves found

 8 May 2011 Last updated at 22:14 GMT  The UN has said it is aware of several other mass graves linked to Ivory Coast's recent political unrest The UN's human rights chief in Ivory Coast has told the BBC new mass graves have been found there containing the remains of more than 50 male victims.

Guillaume Ngefa said two burial sites had been found in a suburb of Abidjan.

He said local people allege that many of the victims were killed by former President Laurent Gbagbo's supporters.

They said the massacre in the Yopougon district happened the day after Mr Gbagbo was seized by supporters of his opponent, President Alassane Ouattara.

Football field

Mr Ngefa said the UN was examining all mass graves, including those alleged to contain the bodies of Mr Gbagbo's supporters.

The UN had announced on Friday its investigators were heading to a suspected mass grave site at a football pitch in Yopougon.

Last month, UN investigators found at least 200 bodies in a mass grave in the western Ivorian town of Duekoue.

In January, as the political violence escalated, UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay said Gbagbo loyalists had denied her officials access to three mass graves in the country.

Mr Ouattara, Ivory Coast's internationally recognised president, was sworn in last week.

Mr Gbagbo's refusal to cede power after losing a November election sent the nation close to repeat of its 2002-03 civil war.

He is now under house arrest and is being investigated for alleged human rights abuses.

Some 3,000 people are believed to have been killed during the unrest in the world's largest cocoa producer, previously one of West Africa's richest countries.