In brief: Airlift helps patients flee cyclone

SYDNEY – Authorities scrambled to airlift hospital patients from the path of a cyclone roaring toward waterlogged northeastern Australia and urged low-lying communities to evacuate because of potentially deadly flash floods.

Cyclone Yasi was expected to slam into the coast of Queensland state Wednesday as a Category 4 storm and dump up to three feet of rain on communities already saturated from months of flooding.

“This storm is huge and it is life threatening,” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said. “I know many of us will feel that Queensland has already borne about as much as we can bear when it comes to disasters and storms, but more is being asked of us – and I am confident that we are able to rise to this next challenge.”

North Korea urged to change behavior

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s president pressed North Korea on Monday to take responsibility for two deadly attacks last year and to change its pattern of provocations if it wants to improve relations with the outside world.

President Lee Myung-bak also said he was open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Il for talks – but that North Korea must change its behavior and show sincerity first.

“North Korea has a good opportunity to change” its behavior, he said during a panel discussion televised live. “I have high hopes for a change.”

Lee’s appeal comes as the two Koreas negotiate on holding high-level defense talks, the first in more than three years, to ease months of hostility on the Korean peninsula that have raised fears of war.

Volcano eruption shakes Japan

TOKYO – A revived volcano in southern Japan erupted Tuesday with its biggest explosion yet, shooting out a huge plume of gas, boulders and ash and breaking windows 5 miles away.

The danger zone around Shinmoedake volcano was widened to keep residents safe. The largest eruption since it burst back to life last week covered wide areas in ash, shot boulders onto distant roads, knocked down trees and broke hundreds of windows in hotels and offices.

No serious injuries have been reported since the initial eruption last Wednesday, but public broadcaster NHK said a woman suffered cuts from shattered glass in Tuesday’s blast.

EU to freeze Tunisian leader’s assets

TUNIS, Tunisia – The European Union said Monday it plans to impose an asset freeze on ousted former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife.

The 27 EU foreign ministers said at their monthly meeting that they also will do their utmost to help the North African nation move toward full democracy after autocratic Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14 following widespread violent protests over corruption and repression.

Tunisia has issued an international arrest warrant for Ben Ali, accusing him of taking money out of the country illegally.

Chilean miners walk in Disney parade

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Chilean miners and their rescuers paraded down Main Street at Magic Kingdom, receiving a heroes’ welcome as part of their Walt Disney World vacation Monday afternoon.

The rescued men, trapped for more than two months in a collapsed copper and gold mine last year, were fronted by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The group gamely wore miners’ helmets with mouse ears for the parade. Thirty-one of the 33 trapped miners, plus four rescuers and their families, are spending six nights at Disney World at the invitation of Robert Iger, Walt Disney Co. president and chief executive.