Hopes fade for more survivors of Hurricane Michael
Reuters, Mexico Beach
The hunt for missing people in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael early Sunday is turning into a search for the dead, as hope of finding more people alive fades in the Florida Panhandle, U.S. officials said.
“We’re going into recovery mode, unfortunately,” said Fire Chief Alex Baird of Panama City, one of the coastal Florida communities clobbered by the hurricane that made landfall Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, packing more than 140 mph winds and deadly storm surges.
22 Afghan security forces killed in Taliban attack
Reuters, Kabul
Taliban militants killed at least 22 security forces, including a district police chief, in separate attacks on security checkpoints in two Afghan provinces, officials said on Sunday, ahead of parliamentary elections set for this week.
The Taliban have ramped up attacks in strategic provinces in their battle to expel foreign forces, topple the Western-backed government and restore their version of hardline Islamic law.
19 killed in migrant vehicle crash in Turkey
AFP, Istanbul:
Nineteen people, including children, died on Sunday when a vehicle carrying migrants reportedly heading for EU member Greece plunged off the highway into a waterway in western Turkey, state media said.
The vehicle, believed to be a lorry, was travelling on a highway in the Izmir region close to Izmir airport when it flipped over and fell into the channel several metres below, state-run Anadolu news agency said.
8 militants killed in Ghazni airstrike
Xinhua, Ghazni
At least eight militants have been killed and 12 others wounded after a U.S.-led NATO coalition forces-related airstrike attacked a Taliban hideout in eastern Afghan province of Ghazni, a statement said Sunday.
“The precise strike was launched in Landa Khel village of Ab Band district on Saturday. Three militants’ motorcycles were also destroyed after the raid,” the Afghan army Corps 201 Thunder based in the region said in the statement.
Cyclone Leslie slams into Portugal, leaves 27 injured
AP, Lisbon
A weakened hurricane Leslie has hit Portugal, leaving 27 people injured as it uprooted trees and smashed store windows with gusting winds and heavy rain.
Luis Belo Costa of Portugal’s National Protection Agency says Sunday those injuries were not life-threatening. He said over 60 people were forced to leave their homes by the storm.
Leslie had been downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone with winds of 110 kph (70 mph) by the time it landed on Portugal’s Atlantic coast late Saturday.
