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.