China

1 million flee homes ahead of typhoon

Typhoon Haitang churned into southeastern China Tuesday, bringing torrential rain and high winds to coastal areas where more than 1 million people had fled their homes.

Haitang weakened after moving inland, a day after slamming into Taiwan, where it killed four people, caused heavy flooding and damaged cities and farms. There were no immediate reports of casualties on China’s mainland.

Chinese government forecasters predicted the typhoon would be soon be downgraded to a tropical storm, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The typhoon hit the mainland at the coastal town of Huangqi in Fujian province at 5:10 p.m., with wind speeds at its center up to 74 mph, said a provincial weather bureau official who identified herself only as Miss Li.

Heavy rain drenched much of the southeastern province. State television showed villages awash, their streets turned into rivers. Soldiers delivered boxes of food to people in temporary shelters.

Moscow

Moratorium on U.S. adoptions sought

A senior lawmaker called Tuesday for a moratorium on U.S. citizens adopting children from Russia – a sharp escalation in a campaign against foreign adoptions triggered by a series of deaths of Russian children in the United States.

Yekaterina Lakhova, chairwoman of a parliamentary committee that oversees adoption legislation and member of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, urged authorities to impose restrictions on countries where adopted children have been abused.

She did not mention the United States by name but noted that 13 Russian children had been killed there in recent years. “When 13 children die in one country … I would make some statement and introduce a temporary period, a moratorium for that country,” she told a news conference.

In the most recent case, a North Carolina woman was arrested in early July on charges of fatally beating a 2-year-old Russian girl she had recently adopted. Earlier this year, an Illinois woman was imprisoned for 12 years for the death of her 6-year-old son just weeks after he was adopted from Russia.

South Korea

Nuclear talks to resume July 26

South Korea said Tuesday that North Korea would resume nuclear disarmament talks on July 26 after a 13-month boycott, with diplomats from five nations stepping up pressure on Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea agreed earlier this month to return to the talks after being assured by the top U.S. nuclear envoy that Washington recognized its sovereignty. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the talks would convene July 26. No closing date was given.

The previous three rounds, which started in 2003, lasted for several days and failed to lead to any breakthroughs. South Korea is pressing for this round of the six-nation talks to be more flexible and last longer – possibly up to a month or more.

Thailand

Emergency rule imposed in south

Thailand’s Cabinet on Tuesday imposed emergency rule in three provinces in the Muslim-dominated south, letting authorities detain suspects without charge and censor the media as the military battles an 18-month insurgency.

The declaration, which took immediate effect, came under a new decree that grants Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sweeping authority to combat the insurgency, which has left 900 people dead since it began.

Critics say the decree was enacted too hastily and gives Thaksin too much power at the expense of human and civil rights.

The declaration covers Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, the only Muslim-dominated provinces in mostly Buddhist Thailand.

The decree, which lets Thaksin unilaterally declare emergency rule, was signed into law by the country’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

“We will use the least power provided by this decree in order to least affect civil liberties, but we aim to use this law to create peace in the southern provinces,” said Interior Minister Chitchai Wannasathit.

Russia

Chechen insurgents kill 14 in attack on troops

Insurgents set off a bomb Tuesday near a police minibus in breakaway Chechnya after luring the security forces into a trap, killing 14 people, including two children, and wounding more than 20 others, regional officials said.

The attackers set the trap by firing at a corpse left in a stolen police jeep to make the Interior Ministry troops believe a gun attack was taking place and get them to go to the scene, said the head of the Chechen Security Council, Rudnik Dudayev.

“When the security detachment arrived at Znamenskoye, the bomb went off,” he said, according to the Interfax news agency. Earlier, officials had said the attackers opened fire on a vehicle carrying security forces and then set off a bomb when a second vehicle came to help.

Russian news reports citing unidentified officials said one child was killed while riding a bicycle past the scene.