Vietnam flooding deadly; capital at risk
HANOI, Vietnam -- Seasonal floods have killed three people and threaten to submerge parts of Vietnam's capital, officials said Tuesday.
Two children and a man drowned Monday in Chuong My district, a suburb of Hanoi, where water has overflowed one bank of the Bui River and engulfed several villages, the officials said.
On the other side of the river, sandbags have been piled for 6 miles to prevent water in a dike from spilling into the inner city of the capital, Hanoi, which has a population of 7.5 million.
"It is extremely important to keep the dike safe to protect [central] Hanoi," Mayor Nguyen Duc Chung said.
Weather forecasters are predicting more rain upstream, which would further swell the Bui River.
Pastor's house arrest stands in Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey -- A Turkish court rejected an appeal Tuesday to end the house arrest of an American pastor who is at the center of a diplomatic row between Turkey and the United States, Turkey's state-run news agency reported.
The court in Izmir also refused to lift a travel ban that prevents Andrew Craig Brunson, 50, from leaving Turkey, ruling there was no change in the "strong criminal suspicion" against the pastor, the Anadolu news agency said.
Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for more than two decades, was arrested in December 2016 on espionage and terror-related charges. He had been jailed until he was released to home detention on July 25.
The evangelical Christian pastor denies any wrongdoing. He faces a prison sentence of up to 35 years if he is convicted on both counts at the end of his ongoing trial.
President Donald Trump has demanded Brunson's release and talked about the possibility of sanctions against Turkey, a crucial NATO ally. The Turkish government has refused to back down, calling on the U.S. to respect Turkey's judicial process.
Brunson was detained in the aftermath of a failed 2016 coup. He was accused of supporting outlawed Kurdish rebels and a network led by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkey blames Gulen for the unrest, but the cleric denies involvement in the coup attempt.
Aeromexico jetliner crashes on takeoff
MEXICO CITY -- An Aeromexico jetliner crashed while taking off during a severe storm in northern Mexico on Tuesday, hitting a field and then catching fire. But officials said it appeared that everyone on board had survived the accident.
Durango state Gov. Jose Aispuro, who initially reported there were no deaths but later said authorities were searching the charred Embraer 190 to make sure, announced late Tuesday that "no person has died."
He said the pilot and one other person were in serious but stable condition. Earlier, he said a total of 49 people had been taken to hospitals, and officials said most had minor injuries.
Officials said 99 passengers and four crew members were on the plane.
The state civil-defense office published photos of a burning but relatively intact plane lying on its belly in a field.
Officials and witnesses differed on whether the plane either fell shortly after takeoff or ran off the runway without gaining altitude. But they agreed that the plane was trying to take off during a storm, with some describing marble-size hail.
Aispuro said a gust of wind hit the plane shortly after it took off, causing the jet to lose speed and hit the ground with its left wing, knocking both engines loose.
Israel Solano Mejia, director of the civil-defense agency in Durango city, said the plane "made it off the ground but fell nose-first" a few hundred yards from the end of the runway.
Attack, roadside blast kill 26 Afghans
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A coordinated assault on a government compound in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 15 people, and a roadside bomb in the western part of the country killed 11 others, Afghan officials said Tuesday.
A suicide car bomb went off outside a repatriation center in the eastern city of Jalalabad, allowing two gunmen to storm the compound and setting off a six-hour battle. Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the militants killed at least 15 people, including a woman and a policeman.
He said another 15 people were wounded before the two gunmen were killed by security forces.
In the western Farah province, 11 people were killed and 31 civilians were wounded in a bus bombing, according to Abdul Jabar Shahiq, the provincial health department chief. He said the bus was on its way from Herat province to the capital, Kabul, and that women and children were among the casualties.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Taliban and the Islamic State militant group carry out frequent attacks in Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital. The Taliban also have a strong presence in Farah.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 08/01/2018