Flooding forces residents to flee

Flooding forces residents to flee

HATTIESBURG, Miss.

Downpours – part of a system affecting Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama – submerged roads and cars, washed out bridges and forced residents to flee homes.

At least three people have died in Louisiana alone. Mississippi officials were still looking for two missing fishermen, but had no reports of injuries or deaths, said Lee Smithson, head of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, or MEMA. A Hancock County deputy sheriff was hospitalized after his patrol car skidded into a ditch Friday night, but is now recovering at home, Chief Deputy Don Bass told the Sun Herald.

MEMA reported major damage to 95 homes, minor damage to 277 others, with reports still coming in from 41 of the state’s 82 counties.

Human-rights office in Moscow closing

GENEVA

Russian officials said the U.N. human-rights office in Moscow is closing, an outcome the U.N.’s top human-rights official had feared amid concerns about a government crackdown on public debate in Russia.

The Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva has confirmed a report from Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, saying a decision was made to end the OHCHR mission in Moscow.

Ambassador Alexey Borodavkin was quoted as saying the office had already helped to create human-rights institutions in Russia and “we do not see anything extraordinary” in its closing.

On Thursday, U.N. rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein expressed concern about “signals” that Russia might close the office. In January, Human Rights Watch lamented a “sinister turn” last year to a Russian government crackdown on public debate.

Earthquakes rock Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

A 4.5-magnitude earthquake rocked south-central Alaska on Saturday and was felt in the state’s largest city, Anchorage.

The National Tsunami Warning Center said the quake hit at 12:57 p.m. and was centered 50 miles northwest of Homer, a city near the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula.

The quake did not generate a dangerous tsunami.

It was the third notable quake of the day for the state.

The Alaska Earthquake Center reported a 6.1-magnitude quake at 9:06 a.m. in the Andreanof Islands. The quake was felt in Adak. No damage was reported.

The Alaska Earthquake Center also reported a 5.0-magnitude quake at 4:23 a.m. in the Andreanof Islands.

The center received no reports that it had been felt or caused damage.

Officials: Unrest at prison in Alabama leaves 2 hurt

Inmates set a fire, seized control of a dormitory and stabbed two corrections officials during a violent uprising at a prison in southern Alabama, authorities said Saturday. The riot prompted the governor to repeat an earlier call for measures to modernize the state’s prisons to make them safer and easier to control.

The William C. Holman Correctional Facility, which serves as the state’s only execution facility, was on lockdown hours after a riot erupted late Friday. Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Horton said the prison warden and a corrections officer were stabbed at one of the dormitories at the prison, just outside of Atmore. He said their injuries were not life-threatening.

About 100 inmates were involved, Horton said.

Associated Press