MOSUL, Iraq — Iraq's prime minister on Tuesday declared eastern Mosul “fully liberated” from Islamic State militants after a day of fierce fighting and more than three months after a massive U.S.-backed operation to retake the city began.

Iraqi forces drove the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, from one of their last bastions in the eastern half of the city, while aid groups expressed concern for the estimated 750,000 people still in the militant-held west.

In his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Haider al-Abadi hailed the “unmatched heroism of all security forces factions” and public support for the operation.

Mosul, one of Iraq's largest cities and the Islamic State group's last urban stronghold in the country, fell into the hands of the extremists in the summer of 2014, when the group captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq.

Asked how long it will take to liberate the western side of the city, al-Abadi said: “I can't tell now, but we are capable of doing so and we will do so.”

Hundreds of civilians fled from the northeastern Rashidiya neighborhood as Iraqi helicopters circled and fired on militants. At least two wounded Iraqi soldiers were brought back from the front lines after a suicide bombing.

A mortar attack in another neighborhood in eastern Mosul killed an Iraqi army colonel on Sunday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman.

The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, expressed concern for civilians in the western half of the city in a statement signed by 20 international and local aid groups. She said the cost of food is soaring, water and electricity are intermittent and that some residents are burning furniture to keep warm.

Deaths from Italy avalanche at 17; copter crash adds more woe

FARINDOLA, Italy — Hopes faded Tuesday that any more survivors of the devastating avalanche that buried an Italian resort hotel would be found after the death toll more than doubled to 17, with 12 people unaccounted for.

As Italy's central Abruzzo region and its rescue crews coped with the ongoing emergency, a second tragedy unfolded nearby when an emergency helicopter crashed at an Apennine ski resort, killing six people.

The helicopter was ferrying an injured skier from the Campo Felice ski area when it slammed into a mountainside obscured by fog. Five crew members and the skier were killed.

The death toll from the Jan. 18 avalanche, meanwhile, climbed to 17 on Tuesday with the discovery of 10 more bodies. Nine people previously had been pulled out alive from the rubble, the last one early Saturday.

U.K. government loses Brexit case, must consult Parliament

LONDON — Britain's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Prime Minister Theresa May must get legislative approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, raising the possibility that lawmakers will delay her plans to trigger negotiations by the end of March.

The 8-3 decision forces the government to put a bill before Parliament, giving members of the House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords the chance to debate and potentially offer amendments that could soften the terms of Britain's exit from the EU.

While the ruling won't scuttle Britain's departure, it once again highlights uncertainty about the timetable for negotiating the country's future relationship with the bloc of 500 million people, which is central to trade, immigration and security.

Drinking water lead-level falls below federal limit in Flint

LANSING, Mich. — Flint's water system no longer has lead levels exceeding the federal limit, a key finding that Michigan state said Tuesday is good news for a city whose 100,000 residents have been grappling with the man-made water crisis.

The 90th percentile of lead concentrations in Flint was 12 parts per billion from July through December — below the “action level” of 15 ppb, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality. It was 20 ppb in the prior six months.

Based on the sample of 368 residential sites, Flint's lead levels are again comparable to other similarly sized U.S. cities with older infrastructure, state officials said.

Residents are being told to continue using faucet filters or bottled water because an ongoing mass replacement of pipes.

Minn. Gov. Dayton says he has prostate cancer

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton announced Tuesday that he has prostate cancer, revealing the diagnosis hours after collapsing while delivering his State of the State address Monday.

The 69-year-old Democratic governor said he plans to finish the final two years of his term, during which he faces a unified GOP front after Republicans took control of the Senate and strengthened their House majority in November.

Asked whether he still felt up to the job, Dayton said: “I think I am. If I don't, I won't continue.”

He also said he doesn't believe the recent cancer diagnosis and his fainting were linked. Tests on what caused Dayton to collapse were scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He will return to Mayo next week to determine treatment for the prostate cancer.

House passes bill that bars federal funds for abortion

WASHINGTON — Emboldened by a Republican in the White House, the GOP-led House on Tuesday backed legislation that would permanently bar federal funds for any abortion coverage.

The measure, which passed 238-183, would also block tax credits for some people and businesses buying abortion coverage under former President Barack Obama's signature health care law.

Republicans passed a similar bill in 2015 — under veto threat from Obama — and the legislation went nowhere.

The GOP figures the bill would have a better chance under new President Donald Trump, a Republican and an abortion opponent.

But it would have to first get through the Senate, where it would need 60 votes and face considerable Democratic opposition.

Gambia seeks normalcy: Gambia's lawmakers on Tuesday lifted the country's state of emergency and revoked a three-month extension of ousted leader Yahya Jammeh's term, as the new government began dismantling his attempts to cling to power before President Adama Barrow return from Senegal.

LAPD officers cleared: Los Angeles police officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas acted in self-defense when they shot a 25-year-old mentally ill, black man during a struggle over an officer's gun and will not face criminal charges for the 2014 slaying that led to protests, prosecutors said Tuesday.