In brief: Typhoon Usagi claims more lives

BEIJING – A typhoon that slammed into southern China with winds that blew cars off the road has caused more deaths, bringing the toll in Asia to at least 33.

Typhoon Usagi, which was the season’s strongest storm at its peak, forced hundreds of flight cancellations and shut down shipping and train lines before weakening to a tropical depression over the southern Chinese province of Guangdong today.

China said 25 deaths occurred in Guangdong, where the typhoon made landfall late Sunday near Shanwei with record sustained winds of 109 miles per hour.

At least 13 of the 25 victims in China were killed in worst-hit Shanwei city, where winds blew cars off the road near a gas station and houses were toppled, Xinhua said.

China’s National Meterological Center said the typhoon would continue to weaken as it moves northwest and bring heavy rains later today and overnight to five southern provinces.

Suicide bomber kills 16 at funeral

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt among Sunni mourners attending a funeral in Baghdad on Sunday, killing 16 people and wounding 35 others, officials said, in the latest episode of the country’s near-daily violence.

Police officials said the evening attack took place when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt inside a tent where the funeral was being held in Baghdad’s southern neighborhood of Dora.

Two other attacks in the country’s north left two policemen dead and 37 others wounded, the officials added.

Sunday’s bloodshed came a day after a wave of attacks killed 104 people.

Earlier on Sunday, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a residential area in the city of Kirkuk, wounding 35 people.

Mortar lands in Russian Embassy

AMMAN, Jordan – A mortar round landed inside the Russian Embassy compound in Damascus on Sunday, state media said, as Moscow said it was willing to send military observers to secure Syrian efforts to surrender its chemical weapons to international control.

In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the attack, saying rebels fired mortars that landed on the grounds of their embassy. Three workers were injured in the attack, the ministry said, adding that the injuries were not life-threatening.

Tribal-militant clashes kill seven

SANAA, Yemen – Yemeni security officials say clashes between tribes and al-Qaida militants have killed seven people and wounded another eight from both sides.

The officials say militants opened fire on members of the el-Maely tribe in Obedia Valley in central Marib province, just east of the capital Sanaa. The officials say three members of the tribe and four al-Qaida fighters were killed in Sunday’s clashes.

They say the el-Maely tribe that came under fire had been demanding from the Obedia tribe they stop harboring al-Qaida militants, some of whom are from the valley.

The officials spoke anonymously in line with regulations.