Typhoon tied to 12 deaths in south China
HONG KONG — A typhoon caused at least 12 deaths in southern China, authorities said Wednesday.
Macau’s Government Information Bureau said eight people were killed and 153 were injured in the gambling enclave.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday that another four were killed in the neighboring province of Guangdong, and one person was missing. Hato was the most powerful typhoon to hit the area in 53 years, packing winds up to 99 mph on Tuesday.
Xinhua said almost 27,000 people in southern China were evacuated to emergency shelters, while extensive damage to farmland and the loss of power to almost 2 million households also was reported.
In Macau, Hato knocked out power at famed casinos and at a hospital, where backup generators kicked in.
Trains were canceled, fishing boats returned to harbor and more than 4,000 fish farmers and their families went to shore, Xinhua said.
Flooding and injuries were reported in Hong Kong, which lies across the water 40 miles from Macau, but there were no reports of deaths there. Weather authorities there raised the hurricane signal to No. 10, the highest level, for the first time in five years.
Boat accident kills 10 people in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO — A boat carrying 70 people sank on a major river in northern Brazil, killing at least 10 people, authorities said Wednesday.
The public security office of the state of Para said 15 people made it to the shore and 10 bodies were recovered. The rest were missing.
Authorities said the boat was traveling on the Xingu River when it sank late Tuesday. The cause wasn’t immediately clear.
The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper said the vessel left Monday night from Santarem and was heading to Vitoria do Xingu.
Travel by river is common in Brazil’s northern states, which include the Amazon rain forest and have relatively few major roads.
Earlier this month, a cargo vessel collided with a tugboat on the Amazon River, also in the state of Para. Only two people were rescued out of 11 aboard the tugboat.
Concert canceled over terror-threat tip
A Netherlands concert featuring a Los Angeles rock band, Allah-Las, was canceled Wednesday after police uncovered a suspected terrorist plot.
Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said at a news conference that, after receiving a tip from Spanish police about a potential threat, police evacuated the concert at Maassilo, a music venue in a converted grain silo.
The mayor said a van with Spanish license plates containing several gas canisters was stopped near the venue and that the driver was detained, but police did not offer further information about the threat. Reports out of Europe have indicated that there doesn’t appear to be any connection to a recent attack in Barcelona, Spain.
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, a representative for the band said: “Details are not available at this time as the incident is still under investigation. The band is unharmed and are very grateful to the Rotterdam Police and other responsible agencies for detecting the potential threat before anyone was hurt.”
Police match torso to Swedish journalist
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A headless torso found on a beach off Copenhagen has been identified as that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who is believed to have died on an amateur-built submarine earlier this month, Danish police said Wednesday.
Wall, 30, was last seen alive Aug. 10 on Danish inventor Peter Madsen’s submarine, which police believe he intentionally sank off Denmark’s eastern coast the next day.
Madsen, 46, who was arrested on preliminary manslaughter charges, has denied having anything to do with Wall’s disappearance. Her family said the freelance journalist was working on a story about Madsen.
The torso was found Monday on a beach by a member of the public who was cycling on Copenhagen’s southern Amager island, near where Wall was believed to have died. Copenhagen police said Tuesday that her head, arms and legs had “deliberately been cut off” her body.
DNA tests confirmed the torso is Wall’s, Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen said Wednesday. He said it was attached to a piece of metal “likely with the purpose to make it sink.”
