Sodden Kashmir faces more deadly rains
ISLAMABAD -- Heavy monsoon rains and flash floods have killed 128 people in Pakistan and 108 people in India, officials said Saturday, as forecasters warned of more rain in the coming days and troops raced to evacuate people from deluged areas.
The annual monsoon season has struck hard across the region, leaving people to wade through rushing water in towns and villages across Pakistan and in Indian-controlled areas of Kashmir, where authorities say they are seeing some of the worst flooding in decades.
Ahmad Kamal, a spokesman for Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority, said at least 69 people have died in the eastern Punjab province since Thursday. He said another 48 people died in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir and 11 died in northern Gilgit Baltistan province.
Kamal said officials believe most were killed when the roofs of their homes collapsed. He said the deluge has injured 261 people across the country.
He said the army was using helicopters and boats to evacuate people from affected areas and had set up nearly 50 relief camps to shelter them.
In India, authorities put the death toll at 108 people, including some 30 people killed when a bus filled with a wedding party washed away in a flooded stream.
Sierra Leone to try 3-day Ebola lockdown
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- Authorities are ordering people in Sierra Leone to stay inside their homes for three days later this month as part of an effort to stop the spread of Ebola, which has killed more than 2,100 people across West Africa, a government spokesman said Saturday.
Abdulai Bayraytay said the government is telling people to stay inside their homes Sept. 19, 20 and 21. The dates were chosen to give people enough time to stock up on food and other provisions before the ban on movement goes into effect, he said.
Already, though, some are questioning whether the measure will help. Doctors Without Borders said Saturday that "it has been our experience that lockdowns and quarantines do not help control Ebola as they end up driving people underground and jeopardizing the trust between people and health providers. This leads to the concealment of potential cases and ends up spreading the disease further."
Ebola has killed more than 400 in Sierra Leone.
Sectarian fray leaves 40 dead in Yemen
SANA, Yemen -- Clashes in Yemen between Shiite rebels and Islamist tribesmen killed 40 people over two days in the country's north, local security officials and tribal leaders said Saturday.
The combat took place in al-Jawf province, where Hawthi rebels fought tribesmen who are backed by an army unit and allied with the Muslim Brotherhood's Islah party.
The officials said 18 of the Hawthis and 22 of the tribesmen were killed in the battle and dozens on both sides were wounded.
Tribesmen have managed to take control of Hawthi positions some 109 miles east of the capital Sana, the officials added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
Norbert strikes, 1,250 homes in Mexico
Hurricane Norbert damaged more than 1,000 homes and forced thousands of people to seek higher ground as the storm roared northward off the coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
Norbert weakened late Saturday afternoon, but still remained a powerful Category 2 storm with winds of up to 105 mph. Though staying away from land, it was near enough to the coast to drench fishing villages and resorts and pound beaches.
High surf and waves broke a contention wall and flooded the fishing village of Puerto de San Carlos, said Venustiano Perez, mayor of the municipality of Comondu, which encompasses the village and is about 300 miles north of the tip of the peninsula.
Perez said 1,250 houses were damaged and some of the 2,500 people affected were evacuated to a shelter.
By Saturday morning, at least 2,000 people had been evacuated from Los Cabos, La Paz and Comondu, said the state government's civil protection director Carlos Rincon.
The Hurricane Center said Norbert was moving away from the coast and weather conditions for Baja California should improve. It said Norbert should become a tropical storm by today.
-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS
A Section on 09/07/2014