Italy seeks inquiries after flood deaths
MILAN -- Italy's environmental minister on Tuesday urged prosecutors to look at possible criminal responsibility and administrative lapses that may have contributed to the deaths of 10 people swept away by a flash flood as they hiked through a narrow gorge in the southern region of Calabria.
Rescue workers saved 34 people Monday after a torrent about 8 feet deep filled the narrow Raganello Gorge, which features rock faces as high as 2,300 feet inside the vast Pollino National Park. Of those, 11 were hospitalized, including at least four children -- several of whom lost either one or both of their parents.
Three people who had been listed as missing had changed plans and were located elsewhere, and officials called off the search for victims.
"Italy is tired of crying for the dead. Enough," environment minister Sergio Costa said during a visit to the scene. "If what happened is the result of negligence, sloppiness or a lack of awareness of the risks, we are facing a serious situation that we need to get to the bottom of."
Italian prosecutors on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into the gorge deaths, and the government has asked for a separate administrative proceeding to determine if there were lapses that contributed to the deaths.
Meeting of pope, abuse victims hinted
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican said Tuesday that Pope Francis is expected to meet with victims of sexual abuse during his weekend visit to Ireland and to speak out about the problem.
Spokesman Greg Burke effectively confirmed the meeting during a briefing Tuesday. He said Francis always meets with victims when he visits countries where abuse "is a reality" and that any information would be released after the fact, based on what the survivors decide.
"The important thing for the pope is to listen," he said.
Francis is under pressure to speak out strongly against abuse given Ireland's history of priests who raped and molested children and bishops who covered up for them. The trip is likely to be dominated by the issue given recent revelations of misconduct at the highest levels of the Catholic Church in the U.S., Chile and beyond.
The fact that Burke essentially confirmed a meeting with victims ahead of time was an indication that the Holy See is well aware of the expectations going into the visit.
Francis will also pray for abuse victims before a candle in St. Mary's cathedral in Dublin on Saturday.
Kids' fake-gun display riles Indonesians
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian officials have defended a street parade that involved veiled kindergartners carrying replica weapons, with police saying they will arrest the person who uploaded a video of the event to Facebook.
The video of children dressed head-to-toe in black marching with wooden guns has caused a sensation in Indonesia, which in May suffered one of its worst attacks in years when militants used their children as suicide bombers in the country's second-largest city, Surabaya.
Probolinggo Police Chief Alfian Nurrizal said Tuesday that police were investigating who uploaded the video. He said it may have been edited to convey the wrong impression.
Local media reported that Education and Culture Minister Muhajir Effendy said the parade was misinterpreted and the staff of the school, located inside a local military command, had no intention to instill radicalism in children.
However, the principal of the school apologized.
India scales down rescue operations
KOCHI, India -- The Indian military is scaling down rescue operations in the southern state of Kerala, a tropical tourist haven where intense floods killed more than 200 people and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes.
As rains and floodwaters decrease, the navy can cut back on its rescue teams in Kerala, navy spokesman Capt. D.K. Sharma said in a statement Monday. The navy has rescued nearly 16,000 people in the state.
The annual monsoon rains were already underway in Kerala when it was hit by torrential downpours beginning Aug. 8. The rains had decreased substantially by Monday, and meteorologists are expecting light-to-moderate rains in coming days.
Thousands of people have been leaving Kerala's relief camps over the past two days, heading home to check on damage and begin the long process of cleaning up.
Volunteers at the camp estimate that up to 10,000 people were jammed into the schools' buildings a week ago. Now there are around 1,500.
While water and electricity have returned to parts of Kerala, the state's utilities were working to restore service to vast areas that still have no service, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
A Section on 08/22/2018