Three climbers have died on their descent from the summit of Mount Everest, tour agents and officials said Monday, bringing the season's death toll to five on the world's highest peak.

French prosecutors on Monday opened a preliminary investigation into accusations that disgraced ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn took part in a gang rape in the United States.

Thousands of people in northern Italy slept in tents and cars overnight as more than 100 aftershocks rocked the area hit by a magnitude 6.0 quake that killed seven and inflicted heavy damage to centuries-old sites.

The death of the only man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has left some victims' relatives relieved and others raising questions about his guilt and whether others went unpunished.