Lightning hits cross, kills five children

Five children between 9 and 16 years old died and several others suffered burns when lightning struck a white-painted metal cross set on a hill in the town of Santa Maria del Rio early on Sunday, according to two newspaper reports.

Several families had been participating in a midnight ceremony as part of a local religious festival that centers around the cross.

Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan

Plane hits homes near runway; 4 die

A plane carrying U.S. drug-enforcement officials slammed into tents and mud-brick houses Monday while trying to avoid a truck on a runway, killing two people on board and two girls on the ground.

At least 13 people were injured, including several Americans, after the Russian-made, twin-engine An-32 aircraft plowed into a nomad settlement upon landing at an airport in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province.

Two of the 16 people aboard — 12 passengers and four crew — were killed, said Canadian military spokesman Maj. Quentin Innis. Eight others were injured and were flown by helicopters to a U.S.-led coalition hospital in Kandahar, about 75 miles away.

A U.S. official said the two dead on the plane were Ukrainian flight-crew members.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Communists shift some top leaders

The ruling Communist Party re-elected its top leader Monday and selected a president and a prime minister — changes that bring new faces though not necessarily a new direction for Vietnam.

The leadership faces the task of reining in deep-seated corruption while continuing along the path of economic reforms that has transformed Vietnam into Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economy.

General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, 65, retained his post as the head of the Communist Party and the first among equals in the ruling triumvirate, according to Vietnamese close to the party.

Joining Manh will be Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, 56, who was tapped to replace Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, and Nguyen Minh Triet, 64, Ho Chi Minh City's party chief, who will take over from President Tran Duc Luong.

The country's fourth-highest-ranking leader, Nguyen Van An, will be replaced as chairman of the National Assembly by Nguyen Phu Trong, Hanoi's party chief.

Dozens charged in alleged coup plot

Government prosecutors filed rebellion charges Monday against a former senator, six leftist legislators and 42 others suspected of plotting a coup in February against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, officials said.

Among those charged was former Sen. Gregorio Honasan, a former army colonel involved in coup attempts in the late 1980s.

In a 52-page document filed before a court in Manila's Makati financial district, Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco said the left-wing legislators and self-exiled Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison had "established a tactical alliance" with Honasan and the military officers.

The document alleged that leftist legislators and communist leaders have conspired with each other since about 1990 in a continuing crime of rebellion against the government.

Also

The United States said it was likely to call for a U.N. vote today on a resolution to impose the first sanctions on participants in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan, despite opposition from Russia and China.

Compiled from The Associated Press and Reuters