In brief: Gunmen attack Afghan airport with rockets

Kabul, Afghanistan – Gunmen used rockets to attack the Kabul International Airport in the Afghan capital today, a senior military official said.

The gunmen occupied two buildings, which were under construction, 700 yards north of the airport, and were using them as a base to fire rockets and gunfire toward the airport and ISAF jet fighters flying over Kabul, said Afzal Aman, a general in the Afghan army in Kabul.

The predawn attack comes during a tense time in Afghanistan as a recount is underway from the second round of a disputed presidential election.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.

Aman said several rockets hit the airport but no planes had been damaged so far. He said two attackers had been killed by Afghan forces.

Typhoon kills 20, forces evacuations

Manila, Philippines – A typhoon blew out of the northern Philippines on Wednesday after causing at least 20 deaths, knocking out power in entire provinces, damaging two parked jetliners and forcing nearly half a million people to flee from its lethal wind and rains, officials said.

The eye of Typhoon Rammasun made a late shift away from Manila, but its peak winds of 93 miles per hour and gusts up to 115 mph forced down trees and electric posts and ripped off roofs across the capital of 12 million people that largely shut down ahead of the deluge.

Although Rammasun packed far less power than Typhoon Haiyan, haunting memories of last year’s horrific storm devastation prompted many villagers to rapidly move to safety at the prodding of authorities.

Police arrest 660 suspected pedophiles

London – In a massive national dragnet, British police have arrested more than 600 suspected pedophiles who allegedly accessed pornographic images of children on the Internet, authorities said Wednesday.

The sweep comes at a time of heightened sensitivity over pedophilia in a country where sensational stories of the sexual abuse of minors regularly headline the tabloids, which some critics accuse of whipping up public hysteria over the issue.

Those arrested include doctors, lawyers, caregivers and former police officers, according to Britain’s National Crime Agency. Of the 660 suspects, 39 were known sex offenders.

The arrests culminated a six-month investigation involving 45 different law-enforcement agencies across Britain. The National Crime Agency declined to elaborate how detectives traced the suspects from their online activities but said that all the suspects had used the Internet to look at indecent images of children.