Monsoon deaths mount; Nepal toll at 78
GAUHATI, India — Monsoon flooding and landslides continued Tuesday in South Asia, with the death toll rising to 78 in Nepal and authorities in neighboring northeastern India battling to take aid to more than 4 million people in Assam state, officials said.
Nepal’s emergency agency said more than 40,000 soldiers and police were using helicopters and roads to rush food, tents and medicine to thousands of people hit by the annual flooding. Rescuers also were searching for 32 people.
In Bangladesh, more than 100,000 people were affected by flooding in the north, and forecasters warned that major rivers continued to swell across the country.
In the Indian state of Assam, officials said floodwaters have killed at least 19 people and affected some 4.5 million others.
After causing flooding and landslides in Nepal, three rivers have been overflowing in India and submerging parts of eastern Bihar state, killing at least 24 people, said Pratata Amrit, a state government official.
More than 2.5 million people have been hit by the flooding in 12 of the 38 districts of Bihar state, Amrit said.
Suspect said to confess in Crete slaying
ATHENS, Greece — A 27-year-old man was charged with murder and rape Tuesday in the killing of an American scientist who disappeared on the Greek island of Crete and whose body was found in a tunnel formerly used as a storage site during World War II.
Crete police said a Greek man from the island confessed to the “violent criminal act,” telling investigators he struck Suzanne Eaton with his car and abducted her “motivated by the intention to commit sexual assault,” Crete police spokesman Eleni Papathanasiou said.
Eaton, 59, disappeared July 2 while attending a scientific conference in Crete. Her body was found six days later after an extensive search.
The suspect remains in police custody. He has not been publicly named in accordance with Greek law.
Papathanasiou said a coroner determined Eaton had “many broken ribs and facial bones, and multiple injuries to both hands” and died from asphyxiation on the day of her disappearance.
The suspect said he hit Eaton twice to stop her, the police spokesman said.
“According to his claims, he placed the victim, unconscious, in the trunk of his car and transferred her to a ventilation drain in the wartime storage [tunnel], where after raping her, abandoned her there.”
12 fatalities counted in Mumbai collapse
MUMBAI, India — A four-story dilapidated residential building collapsed Tuesday in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital, killing at least 12 people, an official said. Rescuers were searching for several others feared trapped in the rubble.
“The building crashed with a heavy sound and we thought there was an earthquake,” a resident told the New Delhi Television news channel.
Fire official Ashok Talpade said dozens of rescuers were at the site in Dongri, a crowded residential section of Mumbai, and had pulled out 11 survivors who were taken to a hospital. The survivors included a child who was allowed to go home after being treated.
A 16-year-old girl trapped under a heavy door was taken out by rescuers after crews cut through iron beams and cleared the debris using hydraulic cutters, the news channel reported.
Building collapses are common in India during the June-September monsoon season, when heavy rains weaken the foundations of structures that are poorly constructed.
German confirmed for top EU position
BRUSSELS — Ursula von der Leyen was confirmed as the European Commission president Tuesday, becoming the first woman to hold one of the most prestigious positions in the European Union.
The European Parliament voted 383-327 with 22 abstentions to approve von der Leyen’s nomination. The confirmation required an absolute majority of 374 votes and the outgoing German defense minister scraped through with nine votes to spare.
Von der Leyen will replace Jean-Claude Juncker when his term expires at the end of October.
She was put forward as a last-minute candidate by EU leaders as part of an overall appointments package, sidestepping parliamentary wishes. Many legislators said they would oppose her out of principle, not over personal considerations.
Her approval was a key part in the package of top jobs that EU leaders agreed upon earlier this month. Under the deal, the free-market liberal Renew Europe group got Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel as European Council president and the Socialists won the top parliament job. France’s Christine Lagarde was put forward as head of the European Central Bank.
