Flooding kills hundreds

Heavy rains spawned flooding that left “hundreds” dead or missing in North Korea and destroyed more than 30,000 homes, the country’s state media reported today.

The official Korean Central News Agency said preliminary information revealed massive casualties after the storms that began last week, but gave no specific figures.

It said the rain also flooded tens of thousands of acres of farmland in the impoverished country that suffers from regular food shortages.

“The heavy rain destroyed at least 800 public buildings, over 540 bridges, 70 sections of railroads and at least 1,100 vehicles, pumps and electric motors,” KCNA said.

Kabul, Afghanistan

Taliban release two hostages

Taliban kidnappers freed two South Korean female hostages Monday, a move the fundamentalist militants described as a gesture of goodwill while they negotiate the fate of the 19 other Christian aid workers they still hold.

The two women were released into the custody of Afghan elders and then handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in a rural roadside exchange just west of Ghazni province, where they were abducted while traveling with a group of 23 South Korean volunteers July 19.

The Taliban have killed two male hostages, including the leader of the church group.

They continue to hold 16 women and three men.

SEOUL, South Korea

Ferris wheel fall kills five in family

Five family members fell 65 feet to their deaths from a Ferris wheel Monday after the car they were riding in overturned at an amusement park, police said.

Two members of the family in the car clung to handholds and survived without injury, police officer Yoon Jae-man said.

Jeon Un-sung, 70, one of those rescued from the car in the southern city of Busan, said “the slowly moving gondola suddenly stopped and turned upside down, and family members fell in a flash” when the window behind the seats fell out of the car, according to Yonhap news agency.

From wire reports