Downed helicopter, Taliban say in video
ISLAMABAD — A militant video purports to show Taliban fighters with a surface-to-air missile, saying they used a similar one to shoot down a Pakistani helicopter carrying diplomats.
The video includes a message from the Pakistani Taliban saying they fired a missile from a distance of 1.9 miles to down the helicopter Friday.
“The missile hit the tail rotor,” a written message in Urdu says at the video’s start.
The crash killed the ambassadors to Pakistan from the Philippines and Norway and the wives of the ambassadors from Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as three Pakistani crew members. Twelve passengers were injured.
Previously, Pakistan said a technical failure caused the crash and dismissed an earlier Taliban claim.
However, the surface-to-air missile shown in the video appeared real. The video was released late Saturday via militant websites and corresponded to other messages distributed by the Pakistani Taliban, though The Associated Press could not independently verify it.
Airbus A400Ms grounded after crash
PARIS — Four of the five countries that operate the Airbus A400M military transport plane said Sunday that they were temporarily grounding their fleets after a fatal crash during a test flight near the southern Spanish city of Seville.
Britain, Germany, Malaysia and Turkey have all suspended operations of the 37-ton, four-engine turboprops as a precaution, said Maggie Bergsma, an Airbus spokesman. France said it would await further information from Spanish crash investigators before deciding whether to ground them.
An A400M crashed about 15 minutes after takeoff in a field about a mile north of Seville’s San Pablo Airport on Saturday, killing four of six Airbus employees on board.
The crash is the first fatal accident for the A400M, which is assembled in Seville. Airbus has received a total of 174 orders for the A400M, although only a dozen planes have been delivered so far.
Mexico halts vaccines after 2 babies die
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s public health system has suspended infant vaccines and mounted an investigation after two babies died and 29 were sickened in an impoverished community in southern Mexico.
Six of the 29 babies were in grave condition after receiving vaccinations for tuberculosis, rotovirus and Hepatitis B, which are generally administered between birth and 6 months, according to a national schedule. The cause of the adverse reactions is not known, the Mexican Institute for Social Security said Sunday.
The institute said it stopped vaccines nationwide Saturday as a precaution.
The Rev. Marcelo Perez, a Roman Catholic priest, said families of the babies said they became sick within hours. The adverse reactions started Friday, and the babies were being treated in a hospital in Simojovel, Chiapas, where 93 percent of the people live in poverty, with 69 percent in extreme poverty, according to government statistics.
The hospital “doesn’t have adequate personnel or equipment,” Perez said.
The federal and state government, in a statement Sunday, promised to provide the best medical care for the babies and to stay in contact with the parents.
Poles cast ballots in presidential race
WARSAW, Poland — The Poles cast their ballots Sunday in a nationwide presidential election in which analysts expected the incumbent, Bronislaw Komorowski, re-elected but not in the first round of voting.
Ten other candidates were running, but none were likely to receive more than 50 percent of the vote, which is needed to avoid a May 24 runoff. The incumbent comes from an aristocratic family and embodies Polish tradition. His challengers include a punk rock star, a former actress and TV presenter, and a vodka producer who once wielded a gun at a news conference.
With most power in the hands of Poland’s prime minister and the government, the presidency has many ceremonial duties. However, the president is the commander of the armed forces and has the power to propose and veto legislation.
Official results could be announced late today, the commission said.