Scores dead in floods, avalanches
Flooding and an avalanche have killed at least 51 people and destroyed hundreds of homes over the last 10 days, following warm weather and heavy spring rains across much of Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.
In Ashtarlai and Khidir districts, a total of 781 homes were destroyed and 4,200 cattle were killed by the flooding, Uruzgani said.
In the remote northwest portion of neighboring Pakistan, avalanches hit two villages, killing at least 29 people and leaving 14 others missing, police said Sunday.
KATMANDU, Nepal
Six ex-rebels sworn into government
Six former communist rebels were sworn in Sunday as part of Nepal’s interim government, a major step in a peace process that ended their decade-long insurgency.
“This day marks the beginning of a new Nepal,” said the top Maoist rebel leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who goes by the name Prachanda. “Our next goal is to provide some immediate relief to the people and then turn toward long-term development of the country.”
Prachanda said the rebels’ main focus would be the June elections for a special assembly that will rewrite the constitution and decide whether Nepal will continue as a constitutional monarchy. The Maoists had fought for 10 years to replace Nepal’s monarchy with a republic.
HARARE, Zimbabwe
Police raid club in crackdown
Heavily armed paramilitary police raided a popular nightclub in an affluent, predominantly white area of Zimbabwe’s capital, attacking teenagers with riot batons and detaining scores for hours, witnesses said Sunday.
The raid came after police shut down bars and beer halls in impoverished black townships as part of its latest crackdown on dissent. It was the first time an upscale establishment patronized by the nation’s dwindling white community has been targeted.
Most of those detained were teenage girls, many of them white, and they were released after daybreak. Several of the youths were treated for shock. The government has routinely accused whites, mainly the descendants of colonial-era British settlers, of backing its opponents. An estimated 30,000 whites live in Zimbabwe, down from about 270,000 when the country became independent in 1980.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
Officers die after clash with suspect
Two police officers shot during a struggle with a suspect outside an apartment complex died early Sunday, and the suspect was charged with murder, authorities said.
Sean Clark, 34, and Jeffrey Shelton, 35, were responding to a disturbance call at the apartment complex in Charlotte late Saturday. They were shot in the parking lot, and both died at a hospital, according to police.
Neither officer fired his weapon, Charlotte- Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Darrel Stephens said.
Demetrius Antonio Montgomery, 25, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, said police spokesman Officer Bob Fey.
MINNEAPOLIS
Missing brothers found dead
Two brothers missing since November were found dead in the northern Minnesota town of Red Lake on Sunday, authorities said.
An FBI spokesman said the boys’ bodies, encased in ice, were found in a lake about a half-mile from their home by a volunteer search and rescue team.
Tristan Anthony White, 4, and Avery Lee Stately, 2, had been missing since Nov. 22. They disappeared while playing outside their home on the Red Lake Indian Reservation near the Canadian border.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.
Only woman on FBI list arrested
The lone woman on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list was captured and charged with one count of second-degree murder, authorities said.
Shauntay L. Henderson, 24, was arrested Saturday when she answered the door at an apartment, police said. Authorities had gone to the apartment in search of someone she knew, authorities said.
Henderson, a reputed gang member, is charged with the September 2006 shooting death of DeAndre M. Parker, 20, and with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. She was caught Saturday night just before the television show “America’s Most Wanted” announced her inclusion on the list.