S. Africans rein in Cape Town wildfire
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- Firefighters in Cape Town finally brought a wildfire under control Monday after it swept across the slopes of the city's famed Table Mountain, burning the university's historic library and forcing the evacuation of some neighborhoods.
The smoldering fire is being watched for flareups amid high winds and hot, dry conditions.
City authorities said the fire, which started early Sunday, was "largely contained" more than 24 hours later.
The fire had already badly damaged the library and other buildings on the campus of the University of Cape Town on Sunday, as well as other historic buildings nearby. Fueled by the high winds, it spread through the wild bush on the mountain slopes toward the city's center and the surrounding residential areas.
Fire-fighting helicopters with water containers suspended on ropes had been scooping up water from swimming pools and the nearby ocean and dumping it on the fire. But they were grounded on Monday because of the strong winds.
Four firefighters were injured battling the blaze on the slopes, said officials. The South African army had offered to help with some of its aircraft.
Cape Town safety and security official JP Smith said the city had commissioned a forensic fire investigator to look into the cause.
Turks expand human-smuggling probe
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's Interior Ministry has launched a probe into six more municipalities in connection with an alleged human smuggling scheme where Turkish citizens wanting to migrate to Europe were, in exchange for a fee, issued special state passports allowing them visa-free travel.
The scandal first surfaced last week after it emerged that 43 out 45 people who had traveled to Hanover, Germany, in September to attend an environmental workshop never returned home.
The workshop had been organized by the ruling party-run municipality of the Yesilyurt district in Turkey's eastern Malatya province, which also reportedly arranged for the attendees to be issued special service passports. Those are reserved for public servants or for others travelling on official business.
Turkish media reports said members of the group had paid up to $9,620 each to be taken to Germany through the scheme.
Last week, authorities removed four people from office as part of the investigation, including the deputy governor of Malatya.
On Monday, an Interior Ministry statement said it had widened its investigation into the scandal to include six more municipalities. The ministry also said it was suspending issuing the special state passports to those who are not public servants.
300 advancing rebels killed, Chad says
N'DJAMENA, Chad -- Chad's military claimed that it has killed some 300 rebels advancing on the capital, N'Djamena, as the government on Monday deployed tanks and other armed vehicles in the city's streets.
The death toll given on state television and radio by army spokesman Azim Bermandoa Agouna came a day after the military declared that a rebel column had been "totally decimated" by Chadian soldiers.
It was not immediately possible to independently confirm the military's claims given the remote location where the fighting took place.
The government called for calm as residents of the capital lined up to purchase fuel and stocked up on food at markets.
The Chadian rebel group, known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, is believed to have armed and trained in neighboring Libya before crossing into northern Chad on April 11. Their arrival came on the same day that President Idriss Deby sought a sixth term on election day, seeking to extend his more than three decades in power.
Filipinos evacuated as typhoon caution
MANILA, Philippines -- An approaching powerful typhoon has left at least one person dead, another missing and prompted the evacuation of more than 100,000 people as a precaution in the eastern and central Philippines, although the unusual summer storm is not expected to blow into land, officials said Monday.
Typhoon Surigae was about 310 miles east of Infanta town in Quezon province on Monday afternoon with sustained winds of 121 miles per hour and gusts of up to 149 mph. It is forecast to slowly move northwestward and then veer eastward away from the northern Philippines around Thursday.
Vicente Malano, administrator of the government weather agency, said a high pressure area extending from China to Japan was blocking the typhoon from blowing inland.
The typhoon's 560-mile band of rainclouds and strong winds nevertheless flooded at least 22 villages and caused power failures in four provinces.
A 79-year-old man died in St. Bernard town in Southern Leyte province after being hit by a falling coconut tree, the Office of Civil Defense said. Another villager in San Jose town in Northern Samar province was missing after he went to a nearby island in a motorboat to secure his farm animals, it said.
--Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports