Afghan insurgents shoot down NATO helicopter, 38 dead

A NATO helicopter carrying 31 Americans and seven Afghans was shot down Friday by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, killing all aboard, an official said.

Two dozen U.S. special forces were on a mission to rescue a team of military personnel when the helicopter was attacked, a U.S. official told CNN.

"It's a big loss. The numbers are high," the official said on condition of anonymity.

A statement from President Hamid Karzai's office in Kabul said the Chinook helicopter went down in the province of Warduk, CNN said.

In the statement, Karzai expressed "his sympathy and deep condolences to U.S. President Barack Obama and the family of the victims," the British broadcaster said.

NATO acknowledged the crash and said it was investigating.

The BBC said the military passengers were members of special forces who had been on a counterinsurgency mission in which eight Taliban militants were killed.

The Taliban issued a statement claiming responsibility for shooting down the helicopter.

The crash is the largest single loss of life for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 military intervention began.

More than 2,600 U.S. soldiers have died in the conflict, Defense Department statistics show.

Police cars set on fire at London protest

Two police cars were set on fire in London Saturday during a demonstration to protest the shooting death of a young man by police, police said.

A crowd estimated at 300 people gathered in Tottenham, north London, to demand justice for the man's death, Sky News reported.

The BBC reported Metropolitan Police said riot officers were deployed after the protesters threw projectiles at the squad cars, setting them ablaze. The officers also had bottles and other objects thrown at them, police said.

The British network said the demonstration was held in response to Thursday's shooting death of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four.

"... A number of bottles were thrown at these two cars -- one was set alight and the second was pushed into the middle of the High Road. It was subsequently set slight," the BBC quoted an unidentified police spokesman as saying.

"The officers were not in the vehicles and were unhurt."

One member of the crowd, Vanessa Robinson, said the protest started peacefully, but turned into "absolute chaos."

Maria Robinson of Tottenham called the situation "absolutely manic" and said people were throwing bottles, "making bottle bombs," setting fires and breaking into shops.

David Akinsanya, 46, who also lives in the neighborhood, said several shop windows had been smashed.

"It's really bad," he said. "There are two police cars on fire. I'm feeling unsafe. It looks like it's going to get very tasty. I saw a guy getting attacked."

City in China ends ban on dogs

The city of Jiangmen, China, has repealed its total ban on dogs after only nine days but still bars them in public areas, officials say.

The local ordinance was approved in June, and went into effect July 26, Xinhua reported. The regulation, which banned residents from having dogs within the urban areas of Jiangmen, also authorized stray dogs found roaming the streets to be euthanized, the state-run news agency said.

The regulation, issued by the municipal government, was prompted by the more than 12,000 dog bites in the city in 2010, 42 deaths due to dog attacks between 2008 and 2010, and more than 4,000 dog-related complaints police received between January and July of this year.

On Wednesday, in response to an outcry by residents, officials amended the law to permit dog ownership within the city, but still bans them from public spaces.

Mobile home tips, kills two

Two men died and a third was seriously injured when the mobile home they were moving in St. Amable, Quebec, tipped over on them, officials say.

Capt. Yannick Parent of the Richelieu-Saint-Laurent Regional Police said the three men were moving the home for their friend and neighbor when it toppled over on them Friday, The (Montreal) Gazette reported.

The men were trapped under the house for almost an hour.

Two were found unconscious by police and later pronounced dead. The third man was hospitalized in stable condition.

The owner of the mobile home, who was on site when the accident happened, was not injured. No one was inside the house at the time.

Police are looking into the cause of the accident.

China braces for Typhoon Muifa

Typhoon Muifa was still a day from landfall but was already impacting China Sunday, officials said.

Shanghai closed two major sea bridges as wind gusts buffeted the region, Xinhua reported.

Authorities also imposed speed limits on highways and were conducting safety inspections of transportation infrastructure, the state-run news agency said.

The National Meteorological Center said the storm was moving northward off the east China coast and was expected to come ashore in Shandong province to the north of Shanghai Monday morning.

The center of the typhoon passed to the east of Shanghai but its winds were still strong enough to down billboards and briefly cut off power in some areas, Sang Baoliang, deputy head of Shanghai's flood control headquarters, said.

More than 310,000 people in Shanghai had been evacuated ahead of the storm, which is the ninth typhoon to hit China this year.

Maritime officials in Zhejiang province said late Saturday 35 fishing boats carrying 300 people, who had been reported missing off the coast of Shandong, had been found along the Zhejiang coast.

2 Yemeni leaders leave Saudi hospital

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar left a hospital in Saudi Arabia Saturday, a Saudi official said.

"The Yemeni president left the military hospital this evening at 9 p.m. after receiving the necessary treatment and was taken to a temporary residence for a recovery period," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Yemen Online.

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Mujawar had left the hospital earlier in the day.

However, both men will remain in Ridyah as they recuperate from injuries suffered in a bomb attack at Saleh's residence in Sanaa two months ago, Yemen Online and RIA Novosti said.

It was not known how long they would stay in Ridyah.

Yemeni Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has assumed control of the government while Saleh convalesces.

Opposition groups have been calling for Saleh to step down since January and want an interim council created to prevent his return. Saleh has ruled Yemen since 1978.

Dentist kills elderly in-laws and himself

The bodies of a retired dentist and his parents-in-law were found Friday shot dead in a car outside the dentist's home in a Los Angeles suburb, police said.

Dr. Martin F. Strassner apparently drove his in-laws from an assisted living facility to his home in Santa Clarita, shot them and then took his own life, The (Santa Clarita) Signal reported.

Strassner, 64, lived with his wife, Susan, and two adult sons in the house in the Bridgeport neighborhood. The newspaper said police did not identify him as the shooter but said he was a retired dentist.

Susan Strassner is believed to have found the bodies and called police, the newspaper said.

"Our preliminary investigation suggests one of the persons in the car shot the other two and shot himself," Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Homicide Bureau said.

Bail granted to suspected document thief

A federal judge in Baltimore ruled Friday that a New York collector charged with stealing documents from a Maryland archive can be freed on bail.

Barry Landau is to be released Monday, The Baltimore Sun reported. He will be required to spend most of his time in his Manhattan apartment without access to the Internet.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake said prosecutors did not make a convincing case that Landau is a flight risk or that he might destroy stolen historical documents to get rid of evidence against him.

Landau and a co-defendant, Jason Savedoff, were arrested at the Maryland Historical Society. They allegedly removed 60 documents, including one bearing Abraham Lincoln's signature, with a total sale value estimated at $1 million.

Savedoff, who was released on $250,000 bail last week, is cooperating with investigators, the report said.

Investigators who searched Landau's apartment removed thousands of documents they say be have been stolen from libraries.

Jury convicts 5 New Orleans policemen

Five New Orleans police officers were convicted by a jury of various charges related to deadly shootings on a bridge in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The jury stopped short of finding four officers guilty of two counts of murder in the case, although it convicted the officers of gun and civil rights charges, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.

A fifth police officer who wasn't at the shooting was also convicted of corrupting the investigation and planting evidence.

Two people were shot and killed on the Danziger Bridge on Interstate 10 by police Sept. 4, 2005, days after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans and sent the city into mayhem. Four other civilians were wounded by police.

The four officers involved in the shootings have been in jail since their indictments and face prison sentences ranging from 35 to 60 years, the newspaper said. They all pleaded guilty to the various charges.

One more police officer, a retired sergeant, still faces trial in late September on cover-up charges

Perry addresses 20,000 at prayer rally

Texas Gov. Rick Perry addressed a crowd of 20,000 people at a Christian rally in Houston simply as Rick Perry of Austin.

But the governor spoke to many issues that are likely to be his themes if he runs for president, Politico reported.

"Father, our heart breaks for America," Perry said in a prayer that closed his remarks. "We see discord at home, we see fear in the marketplace, we see anger in the halls of government. And as a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us."

The Response, held at Reliant Stadium, was sponsored by the American Family Association. But Perry played an active role in promoting it.

The event had been expected to draw a crowd of no more than 7,000, Politico said.

But about 20,000 showed up.

In interviews before The Response, Perry insisted the rally was non-political and unrelated to his presidential plans, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"This isn't about me," Perry said. "It's about Jesus."

The Response gave Perry a chance to reach out to conservative evangelical Christians, an important segment of Republican primary voters.

1 of 3 bodies recovered from Vernal Falls

The U.S. National Park Service said Saturday the body of one of three hikers swept over Yosemite's Vernal Falls on July 19 has been recovered.

Yosemite Rangers and search-and-rescue personnel found the body of Hormiz David, 22, of Modesto, Calif., Friday afternoon about 240 feet from the base of the falls, KCRA.com reported.

David and two friends, Ninos Yacoub, 27, and Ramina Badal, 21, climbed over a barrier at the top of the falls July 19. They waded into the raging waters to take some photographs and were swept over the 318-foot Vernal Falls, the largest waterfall on the Merced River in California.

The recovery operation lasted more than 4 hours and required personnel trained in swift water and technical rigging.

Water flows in Yosemite and throughout the Sierra are unusually high this summer due to record winter snowfalls.

Abu Ghraib guard freed from prison

Charles Graner Jr., a guard convicted in the abuse of Abu Ghraib prison inmates in Irag, was released from military prison Saturday, an Army spokeswoman said.

Rebecca Steed said the Army reservist served 6 1/2 years of his 10-year term at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., CNN reported.

Steed told the U.S. news network Graner, 42, will be on supervised release until December 2014.

The private from Uniontown, Pa., was considered the ringleader in the detainee abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib. He was convicted in 2005 of conspiring to mistreat detainees, including having naked prisoners stacked in a pyramid, ordering them to masturbate while others took photos and punching one in the head.

Eleven low-ranking soldiers were found guilty in the scandal, which tarnished the United States' image.

Arrest made in Detroit girl's death

Detroit police say they have a man into custody in the slaying of a 5-year-old girl.

The Detroit News reported Saturday a source said the unidentified man arrested Friday afternoon is believed to be the boyfriend of an aunt of the victim, Mariha Smith, 5.

"We have a person of interest that has been arrested based on preliminary findings by the homicide unit," Detroit police Sgt. Eren Stephens said.

Police said one of Mariha's aunts, Quanita Smith, who lived in the same house as the girl, and her boyfriend both failed a lie detector test in the days after Mariha disappeared.

The girl's body was found burned in an abandoned Detroit home July 24. An autopsy revealed she died of asphyxiation before her body was set on fire.

Speaking at her funeral Friday, police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. lamented the premature death of a young child and bemoaned the state of society, the Detroit Press reported.

"What the hell is wrong with us?" Godbee asked. "When did we become pimps? When did we become gangsters? When did we stop loving our children?"

Detroit Councilwoman Brenda Jones told those gathered for the service the violence must end.

"This has got to stop. We have to take care of each other," she said.

Mariha's death was the 206th homicide in Detroit as of Aug. 1, compared with 179 through the same period a year ago.

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