18 die, 90 missing in Indonesia mudslide

18 die, 90 missing in Indonesia mudslide

BANJARNEGARA, Indonesia

Heavy rains in central Indonesia loosened soil and collapsed a hill, setting off a landslide that killed at least 18 villagers and left 90 others missing under piles of mud, officials said.

Residents of Jemblung village in Central Java province’s Banjarnegara district said they heard a roaring sound followed by the rain of red soil that buried more than 100 houses late Friday.

Hundreds of rescuers, including soldiers, police and residents, dug through the debris Saturday with their bare hands, shovels and hoes, while others carried body bags containing bodies.

Taliban attacks kill 19

KABUL, Afghanistan

Three separate Taliban attacks killed at least 19 people in Afghanistan on Saturday, including a senior judicial official and personnel working to clear one of the most heavily mined regions of the world.

The attacks came amid a spike in violence just weeks before the international military mission in Afghanistan comes to an end Dec. 31, 13 years after the Sept. 11 attacks sparked a U.S.-led invasion to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban’s extremist regime.

Nigerian troops win back their cities

MUBI, Nigeria

With a military escort instead of the usual pomp, the Emir of Mubi was reinstalled Friday in his palace, where until recently flew the black-and-white flag of Nigeria’s Islamic extremists, Boko Haram.

After weeks of setbacks and reports that soldiers ran away when Boko Haram attacked, Nigeria’s military, including newly deployed Special Forces, have gone on the offensive and have recaptured some cities and towns that had been held by Boko Haram.

Mubi, a major commercial center of more than 200,000 with an important cattle market that draws traders from across Nigeria’s borders, is the biggest city to be recaptured.

Japan conducts vote

TOKYO

Japanese voters headed to the polls today in a parliamentary election that is expected to reaffirm the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s majority, though many analysts were predicting a record low turnout.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called today’s snap election for the lower house, saying he wanted a fresh mandate for his economic program and other policies. Abe said he will step down if the Liberal Democrats fail to obtain an outright majority, but weakness among opposition parties makes that unlikely.

Abe took office two years ago promising to revive the stagnant economy and restore Japan’s fading stature. Since then, share prices have risen and many companies have reported record profits as the Japanese yen has weakened in value, thanks to aggressive monetary easing.

6,000 still lack power

BERLIN, Vt.

About 6,000 customers were still without power in Vermont late Saturday, three days after a brutal storm pounded the state with heavy, wet snow and caused the worst outages in years.

Gov. Peter Shumlin and the head of the Vermont Electric Cooperative surveyed power line and tree damage by air as line crews continued to restore service to those still in the dark from outages that, at their peak, affected some 100,000 customers. Restoring power to everyone could take at least the weekend, officials said.

“It was an extremely difficult storm,” said Shumlin, who said 7 to 8 inches of snow was visible from the air encasing power lines in some spots. Parts of Vermont received more than a foot of snow Tuesday and Wednesday.

Associated Press