Coalition ships and planes were searching for a U.S. sailor who fell out of a Navy helicopter while flying over the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet said. The sailor, whose identity was not released, fell out of a MH-53 helicopter during a training mission off the coast of Saudi Arabia, the 5th Fleet said .
Mexico: Hurricane Stan hits coast
Hurricane Stan, at Category 1 strength, slammed Mexico’s Gulf coast south of Veracruz on Tuesday, spawning related storms across the region and leaving at least 66 people dead, most from landslides in El Salvador, before weakening into a tropical storm. About 38,000 people abandoned their homes and stayed in some of the 2,000 shelters set up all along the coastline.
Indonesia: Militants not outlawed
Indonesia shrugged off calls to outlaw the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, suspected in the deadly suicide bombings Saturday on Bali island. Two men were being held for questioning, but they have not been named as suspects, the Bali police chief said. Bali port police hunted Tuesday for three men in separate vehicles who reportedly raced from the scene of the bombings, which killed 22 people, and may now be trying to leave by sea.
China: Typhoon toll reaches 50
Emergency workers found 50 bodies and were searching for dozens of people missing after Typhoon Longwang (“dragon king” in Chinese) slammed into southeastern China and unleashed raging floods, state media reported Tuesday. Among the missing were 59 members of a paramilitary police brigade swept away in Fujian province Sunday night after the typhoon came ashore with 74 mph winds, state media said.
Israel: Woman stabs Israeli soldier
A Palestinian woman brandishing a knife stabbed and moderately wounded an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday before other soldiers shot and killed her, the army said.
Switzerland: Natural disaster toll
December’s Indian Ocean tsunami caused the global death toll from natural disasters in 2004 to triple from 2003 to about a quarter of a million, the highest total in almost 30 years, the international Red Cross said today in Geneva. Discounting the tsunami, the 2004 total would have been about 25,000 – one of the lowest figures on record, the agency said in its annual World Disasters Report.
From Herald news services
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