Nation/World Briefly: Typhoon capsizes ferry carrying 740 in Philippines
Published 9:55 pm Saturday, June 21, 2008
MANILA, Philippines — Villagers found four bodies, children’s slippers and life jackets that washed ashore today near where a ferry carrying about 740 people capsized as Typhoon Fengshen battered the Philippines, an official said.
The dead were believed to be among the passengers or crew of the MV Princess of Stars, which initially ran aground a few miles off central Sibuyan island Saturday, then capsized, said a mayor on Sibuyan island.
The typhoon lashed the central Philippines for about four hours Saturday, setting off landslides and floods, knocking out power, and blowing off roofs.
Efforts resumed in stormy weather today to get to the ferry.
Afghanistan: Bombs kill 10 troops
Roadside bombs killed five foreign troops and five government soldiers Saturday. A roadside bomb hit a coalition convoy west of the main southern city of Kandahar on Saturday, killing four troops and wounding two others. To the east, a Polish soldier from the separate NATO-led force died when a bomb hit his patrol after midnight in Paktika province. In a separate incidents, attackers detonated bombs and opened fire on vehicles carrying Afghan troops in Zabul and Kunar provinces, killing five soldiers and wounding three.
China: Torch travels in Tibet
China paraded the Olympic torch through the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Saturday, which remained under virtual lockdown as security forces guarded the carefully selected crowds that cheered the scaled-down two-hour-plus relay from Luobulinka, a traditional Tibetan square, to the Potala Palace, the exiled spiritual leader Dalai Lama’s former seat of power. The Chinese Olympic relay has been dogged by controversy. Protests were staged by pro-Tibetan activists as the torch passed through major cities, including Paris and San Francisco.
Scotland: Trading smokes for food
Authorities in Dundee, starting in the fall, are offering smokers food vouchers if they quit. Health officials in Dundee say ex-smokers will be given the equivalent of $25 a week on an electronic card, and the credits can be redeemed in stores for fresh food and groceries. Participants will have to undergo weekly carbon monoxide breath tests to prove they have not started again.
Mexico: Girl, 13, a nightclub casualty
Mexico City’s mayor expressed outrage Saturday that teenagers were among the 12 people killed in a nightclub stampede and said the officials involved in the police raid that sparked the crush had been suspended. City prosecutors said a 13-year-old girl died along with other customers younger than 16. The legal drinking age in Mexico City is 18. Three police officers also died in the crush at the club.
N.Y.: Another car hits pedestrians
A car plowed into pedestrians on a New York City sidewalk for the fourth time in two days, hurting four people and raising the toll to nearly two dozen victims from the strange spate of wrecks. Saturday’s accident in Brooklyn, which injured two toddlers, came a day after cars veered onto sidewalks at three locations in Manhattan, hitting a total of 18 people. Three were hospitalized in serious condition; 11 others were treated for less serious injuries. Police said that the 16-year-old driver in the Saturday incident ran from the scene, but that officers caught up with him and arrested him.
From Herald news services
