AP, Kabul
An Afghan official says at least 13 civilians, including women and children, have been killed after their house was hit by mortars during a battle in northern Faryab province.
Gen. Dilawer Shah Dilawer, Faryab provincial police chief, said Saturday that three other civilians were wounded after two mortars hit the house Friday evening.
Storms disrupt Beijing flights
Reuters, Beijing
Thunderstorms lashed Beijing on Saturday, disrupting hundreds of flights at one of the world’s largest airports, while authorities warned that rain and wind could cause landslides in the area where a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck this week.
Beijing authorities raised their weather alert level to “orange” from “yellow” early in the afternoon, warning against lightning, hail, wind and as much as 70 mm (3 inches) of rain, threatening flash floods in mountainous areas.
Cambodian PM says border crisis with Laos averted
AP, Phnom Penh
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who threatened Friday to use force over a border crisis with neighboring Laos, has announced less than 24 hours later that he has peacefully resolved it.
Hun Sen, an enthusiastic user of social media, announced on his Facebook page that he had successfully negotiated with his Laotian counterpart, Thongloun Sisoulith, to have a small contingent of Laotian troops withdrawn from disputed frontier territory. His Facebook page showed video of their meeting.
3 dead in California after SUV fleeing
border patrol crashes
AP, San Diego
An SUV fleeing from U.S. Border Patrol agents smashed through a guardrail and hurtled into a ravine off a San Diego freeway, killing three of the vehicle’s occupants and seriously injuring a fourth, authorities said Friday.
The chase started after two agents on routine patrol ran the license plate of the GMC Envoy and were alerted that the vehicle was associated with a possibly armed man suspected of murder and human smuggling, the agency said in a statement.
