A powerful tropical cyclone ripped the roofs off buildings and uprooted trees in northeastern Australia, tearing across the region today with devastating winds that pinned emergency workers inside despite pleas from terrified residents. With winds up to 180 mph, Tropical Cyclone Larry smashed into the coastal community of Innisfail, about 60 miles south of Cairns, a popular jumping-off point for the Great Barrier Reef, sending hundreds of tourists and residents fleeing for higher ground.
Colombia: Nine youths die in slide
A mudslide swept down on a scouting expedition on Saturday near the snowcapped Nevado del Ruiz volcano close to their home city of Manizales, killing nine young hikers and leaving two others missing, authorities said Sunday. The scouts, ranging in age from 12 to 19, were bathing and practicing knots when they were swept away, survivors said.
Belarus: President is re-elected
Thousands of protesters thronged the main square of Minsk on Sunday, refusing to recognize a presidential vote that gave a landslide – and largely expected – victory to the iron-fisted incumbent, President Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko won a third term with 82.6 percent of the vote, compared with 6 percent for Alexander Milinkevich, the main opposition candidate, the Central Election Commission chief said early today.
France: Job law stands, official says
French unions threatened a one-day general strike, and socialists warned Sunday that protests would increase unless the government rescinds a law weakening job protections for young people. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, however, said the measure will stand. Protesters who have been demonstrating for weeks have urged President Jacques Chirac against signing the measure into law.
Pakistan: Roadside bomb kills 7
Suspected Islamic militants set off three bombs Sunday, one of which exploded near a police van and killed seven people in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. The two other bombs damaged the walls of a police station and a government building.
S. Korea: Chinese cargo ship sinks
A Chinese cargo ship collided with an anchored freighter and sank off South Korea’s west coast today, killing at least three Chinese crew members, the coast guard said. Nine are missing. The 2,972-ton Chinese ship, carrying iron ore, was entering the port of Incheon when it slammed into an anchored South Korean vessel, a coast guard statement said.
From Herald news services
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