Hundreds Dead, Many Missing After Rainstorm in Philippines
MARAGUNDON, Philippines -- A powerful rainstorm triggered landslides and flash floods that killed at least 338 people in the eastern Philippines, officials said Tuesday, and rescuers raced to save those stranded in three coastal towns before a typhoon strikes the hard-hit region.
At least 150 people were reported missing after the overnight storm, and the region was largely cut off by landslides and floodwaters that washed away bridges and roads. Helicopter crews struggled to find places to land and dropped food to residents huddled on rooftops.
Haitians celebrate the release from jail of Gerard Jean-Juste, a prominent Catholic priest.
(Ariana Cubillos -- AP)
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Authorities planned to send a coast guard boat to stricken towns in Quezon province, east of the capital, to deliver supplies and pick up evacuees.
Asia
• KABUL, Afghanistan -- Rescuers found the wreckage of a missing plane contracted to the U.S. Air Force and recovered the bodies of several Americans who were aboard when it crashed in snow-covered mountains over the weekend, Afghan police said.
The transport plane, which was carrying three U.S. soldiers and three American crew members, was located southeast of Bamian in the heart of the Hindu Kush mountains, said Ghulam Mohammed, a senior police official in Bamian. He said several bodies were recovered and taken to the main U.S. military base at Bagram, north of Kabul. Mohammed said he had no information on the identities of the bodies, but there was no suggestion that anyone survived the crash.
• KABUL, Afghanistan -- Thousands of U.S. soldiers are preparing for an operation against Taliban insurgents to preempt an expected spring offensive that could upset plans for Afghan parliamentary elections, a senior U.S. general said.
The operation will begin within days of the Dec. 7 inauguration of Hamid Karzai as Afghanistan's first directly elected president, an event that is considered a potential target, Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson said.
• SRINAGAR, India -- Thousands of people in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir protested the killing of a 55-year-old man by soldiers during a search operation, police and witnesses said.
It was the second time in two days that protesters have taken to the streets in the strife-torn Himalayan region to demonstrate against alleged abuses by Indian troops trying to quell a 15-year-old Muslim separatist revolt.
• BEIJING -- The death toll in a massive coal mine explosion in central China rose Wednesday to 166 after scores of missing miners were declared dead, government radio reported.
The report on the Web site of China National Radio, the government's main radio network, cited a spokesman for the rescue command headquarters at the mine. The death toll had previously been reported at 65.
The Middle east
• JERUSALEM -- Mahmoud Abbas, the interim Palestinian leader, ordered a halt to anti-Israel incitement in government-controlled media, officials said, meeting a key Israeli demand and adding to the new signs of goodwill that have emerged since the death of Yasser Arafat.
