Typhoon strikes Chinese island, kills 1
BEIJING -- A powerful typhoon killed one person and damaged several houses on the southern Chinese island of Hainan on Friday after killing 54 in the Philippines.
Typhoon Rammasun made landfall on Hainan southwest of Hong Kong about 3:30 p.m. with winds as strong as 130 mph, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The agency said Rammasun was the most powerful storm in at least nine years and possibly since 1973.
A man in the town of Wengtian on Hainan died after he was struck by debris after his house collapsed in the typhoon, Xinhua reported.
More than 26,000 people on Hainan were evacuated, and authorities required resorts and tour bus companies to suspend operations through today. Xinhua said authorities had ordered the highest level of disaster alert for the region.
The storm was due to hit northern Vietnam after passing Hainan.
Rammasun barreled through the northern Philippines on Wednesday, and the nation's government raised the death toll Friday to 54. Three more people were missing and 100 were injured.
13 die in attack on Pakistan checkpoint
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A militant attack on a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, a roadside bomb and a drive-by shooting targeting police officers killed 13 people Friday, including a civilian, officials said.
The attack in the troubled northwestern tribal region took place before dawn, when a group of militants opened fire at a security checkpoint, killing eight troops, government administrator Iqbal Khan said.
Khan said the attack happened in Jamrud, a main town in the Khyber tribal region bordering Afghanistan, and that four of the attackers also died in the fighting. He added that authorities had launched a major operation in Jamrud to try to find the rest of the attackers. Jamrud is 25 miles west of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb Friday struck a vehicle carrying police in Peshawar, killing an officer and wounding two others, officer Ghaffar Khan said.
Sri Lankan politician sentenced in killing
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- A Sri Lankan court sentenced a ruling party politician to 20 years in prison with hard labor Friday for killing a British tourist and raping his Russian girlfriend more than two years ago.
Three others were given the same sentence as Sampath Vidanapathirana. The court found them guilty of murdering Khuram Shaikh, a Red Cross aid worker, and raping his girlfriend at a southern tourist resort on Christmas Day 2011.
The case attracted international attention amid allegations that Vidanapathirana was enjoying immunity because of his connections to the family of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The case was discussed in Britain's Parliament.
Amid increasing scrutiny and pressure over Sri Lanka's human rights record, charges were filed against Vidanapathirana and five other suspects. The court discharged two of them on Friday.
Merkel wants talks on alleged U.S. spying
BERLIN -- Germany wants "sensible talks" with the United States on the two countries' dispute over alleged American spying, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday, indicating that Berlin is still aiming for a formal accord.
Washington has dismissed the idea of a "no-spy" agreement demanded by Germany since reports last year that the U.S. National Security Agency was conducting mass surveillance of German citizens -- and eavesdropping even on Merkel's cellphone. The discovery of two alleged U.S. spies in Germany earlier this month further stoked German anger, prompting Merkel to demand the departure of the CIA station chief in Berlin.
Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany where state surveillance was a fact of life, said her administration and that of U.S. President Barack Obama have "different positions on what's needed to guarantee security and at the same time protect personal data."
While the Obama administration has remained largely silent, U.S. commentators have defended the need to spy on even close allies such as Germany, citing the country's close links to Russia and the fact that several members of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror cell lived in Hamburg before the attacks.
Despite the spy row, Merkel insisted that Germany and the U.S. remain close partners.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 07/19/2014