China: Second mine flooded
BEIJING — Water rushed into a coal mine in southwestern China and trapped eight workers, a newspaper reported Friday, one week after similar flooding left 181 miners missing and presumed dead.
More than 200 rescuers were trying to reach the eight miners, who were trapped Thursday, the West China Metropolitan Daily reported. There was no word on their condition.
England: 3 arrested in shooting
LIVERPOOL — Police arrested a third teenager Friday in the shooting of an 11-year-old boy whose death has confronted a shocked Britain with the problem of youth violence and gang culture.
The victim, Rhys Jones, was kicking a soccer ball around with friends Wednesday night when he was hit in the back of the neck by a bullet — reportedly fired by one of two youths riding by on a BMX bicycle. Police said they believed a long-barreled, black pistol was used. Britain outlawed the possession of handguns in 1997 in response to the massacre of 16 children, and the country has one of the lowest gun homicide rates in the world. Nonetheless, illicit guns are being smuggled into the country.
Gaza Strip: Hamas, Fatah scuffle
GAZA CITY — Hamas security agents clashed with supporters of the rival Fatah movement Friday, firing into the air and beating journalists covering a demonstration against the Islamic militant group's rule in the Gaza Strip.
It was the second time in recent weeks that Hamas has scuffled with Fatah protesters, a signal of possible cracks in the Islamic group's two-month-old takeover of Gaza. The demonstrators gathered after weekly Muslim prayers in an open square in Gaza City, organized by Fatah activists who say they have not been welcome in mosques since the Hamas takeover.
Mexico: Husband kills teacher
MEXICO CITY — A junior high school teacher was shot dead Friday by her husband in front of horrified students at a school in southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Maria Elena Toledo, 42, was teaching social sciences in the town of Ixtepec, when her husband came into the classroom and shot her several times, the state prosecutors office said in a news release. Toledo's husband, Arturo Fuentes, then shot himself in the chest and was taken to a hospital where he remains in critical condition, it said. None of the 40 students in the class was injured but several were severely traumatized by the shooting, authorities said.
Puerto Rico: Bandits' blackout
SAN JUAN — Copper thieves plundered power lines in a suburb of Puerto Rico's capital, knocking out electricity to thousands of people on Friday.
Nearly all of the inhabitants of Toa Alta, a suburb of roughly 20,000 people located just west of San Juan, were without power after bandits, emboldened by high copper prices, stripped 900 feet of wiring from a high voltage tower. There were no arrests.
United Nations: Lebanon vote
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to keep peacekeepers in Lebanon for another 12 months, recognition that the country remains unstable more than a year after Israel's war with Hezbollah.
The force was deployed after the war to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into the south for the first time in decades and create a buffer zone free of Hezbollah fighters.
West Bank: Boy killed in raid
NABLUS — An Israeli raid in search of militants in a West Bank village Friday sparked a firefight that left two Palestinians dead, including an 11-year-old boy, Palestinian officials said.
Mahmoud Ibrahim Karnawi, 11, was shot after Israeli troops moved into Saida village in the northern West Bank, witnesses said. They said the troops were trying to arrest his older half brother, a wanted Islamic Jihad militant. A gunfight erupted as they approached the family's home. Neighbors said the boy was inside and hit in the crossfire.