Typhoon blasts Philippines, killing 4
BINALONAN, Philippines — At least four people were killed after Typhoon Haima smashed into the northern Philippines with ferocious wind and rains, flooding towns and forcing thousands to flee.
It slightly weakened this morning after slamming into a mountain range on its way to the South China Sea, officials said.
Two construction workers died when a landslide buried their shanty in La Trinidad town in the mountain province of Benguet, officials said, while two villagers drowned in floodwaters in Ifugao province, near Benguet.
The typhoon slammed into shore in Cagayan province late Wendesday, and lashed the mountainous province of Apayao at dawn with slightly weaker sustained winds of 127 mph and gusts of 176 mph. It was blowing northwestward at 15 mph toward the tobacco-growing Ilocos Norte, the last province before it exits toward the South China Sea, according to forecasters.
Officials were concerned because the powerful typhoon struck at night and is expected to hit towns and cities, taking out power. After Cagayan, Haima is forecast to blow across the mountainous province of Apayao and then lash Ilocos Norte province before exiting into the South China Sea this morning.
Czechs nab Russian in U.S. hacking
PRAGUE — A man identified as a Russian hacker suspected of pursuing targets in the United States has been arrested in the Czech Republic, police announced Tuesday.
The suspect was captured in a raid at a hotel in central Prague on Oct. 5, about 12 hours after authorities heard that he was in the country, where he drove around in a luxury car with his girlfriend, according to police. The man did not resist arrest, but he had medical problems and was briefly hospitalized, police said in a statement.
David Schon, a police spokesman, said Wednesday that the arrest of the man, whose name has not been released, was not announced immediately “for tactical reasons.”
The police statement said “the man was a Russian citizen suspected of hacking attacks on targets in the United States,” and that the raid was conducted in collaboration with the FBI after Interpol issued an arrest warrant for him.
The FBI said in a statement that the arrest was an example of the collaboration needed “to successfully defeat cyber adversaries,” but declined to provide any further details.
Boko Haram attacks military base
YOLA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamic extremists have overrun a remote military camp in the northeast, leaving 13 soldiers wounded and an unknown number missing, the army said Wednesday.
Monday’s attack comes a week after one faction of Boko Haram released 21 of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from northeastern Chibok town, and as Nigeria’s government is negotiating for the release of another 83 of the girls abducted 2½ years ago.
The attack on Gashigar, on the border with Niger, is the third reported attack on the military after months of a lull during which the Islamic extremists hit soft civilian targets.
Army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman called the attack a “temporary setback” committed by “remnants of Boko Haram” that forced the soldiers to retreat. An operation is in progress to find the missing troopers and “clear the Boko Haram terrorists at the general area,” his statement said.
Congolese found guilty in bribery trial
AMSTERDAM — A former Democratic Republic of Congo vice president was found guilty of bribing witnesses for an International Criminal Court trial that led to his imprisonment for war crimes committed by fighters he commanded.
“The chamber finds you guilty,” presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt told Jean-Pierre Bemba Wednesday at The Hague. Bemba, who served as vice president in a transitional government from 2003 to 2006, was in June sentenced to 18 years in prison, becoming the highest-ranking politician to be convicted by the international court.
Bemba founded and led the rebel Movement for the Liberation of Congo during Congo’s second civil war between 1998 and 2003. In 2002, he sent Movement soldiers into Central African Republic to help President Ange-Felix Patasse put down a rebellion. While there, his troops committed the rapes, killings and pillaging in 2002 and 2003 for which he was later held accountable.