Clan feud leaves six Italians dead

Duisburg, Germany

Six Italian men died in a hail of gunfire early Wednesday after a pizzeria celebration of one victim's 18th birthday — a Mafia-style massacre that officials said grew out of a long-running feud between two organized-crime clans in southern Italy.

The slayings in this industrial city marked the first time the 'Ndrangheta syndicate exported a vendetta, Italian authorities said. The organization, based in Italy's Calabria region, is heavily involved in drug trafficking and extortion and earlier this year officials described it as even more dangerous than the Sicilian Mafia.

In Italy, police in Calabria said the slayings were the latest chapter in a feud that erupted in 1991 after members of one 'Ndrangheta clan threw eggs at rivals in another clan during Carnival celebrations. Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said one of the victims apparently was involved in the original feud. Since the feud broke out in 1991, 15 people have been slain, including the latest victims, said Luciano Rindona, police commissioner in the area where the feud began.

Seoul, South Korea

Heavy rains destroy N. Korean farmland

North Korea detailed a picture of massive devastation Wednesday from some of the country's heaviest rains that official media said wiped out more than 10 percent of the country's farmland during peak planting season.

If confirmed, the destruction to the country's agriculture sector would be one-quarter of the damage the North claimed it suffered in massive flooding in 1995, which along with outdated farming methods and the loss of the Soviet aid, sparked a famine that is estimated to have killed as many as 2 million people.

North Korea has said that "hundreds" were killed or went missing in this month's floods and as many as 300,000 people were left homeless. An aid agency working in the country said it was told casualties numbered at least 200.

North Korea has previously exaggerated the extent of disasters to obtain aid and cover up ineptitude in providing for its people.

An average of 20.6 inches of rain fell across the country from Aug. 7 through Saturday, 2.1 inches more than the downpours that battered the country in August 1967, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Caracas, Venezuela

Chavez pursues altered constitution

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Wednesday proposed a series of constitutional changes including an end to presidential term limits, aimed at extending his rule and strengthening a self-styled socialist revolution in the key oil-producing nation.

The leftist former paratrooper, who is in open confrontation with the U.S., proposed changes that included scrapping the central bank's autonomy.

Chávez also proposed a constitutional change to reduce Venezuela's maximum workday to six hours.

New Delhi, India

India celebrates its independence

India celebrated the 60th anniversary of its independence from British rule Wednesday in a triumphant mood, with many here feeling the country is finally taking its rightful place as a major global player.

"The best is yet to come," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the nation in his traditional Independence Day speech. But with many of India's 1.1 billion people being left behind by the country's lightning economic growth, Singh warned: "we must not be overconfident."

Wednesday's celebration came a day after neighboring Pakistan, the world's second most populous Muslim nation, marked its independence from Britain with colorful displays of national pride.

Britain's partition of the subcontinent in 1947 resulted in a mass migration as some 10 million people crossed the newly created frontier, and hundreds of thousands died in religious fighting.

Pakistan's independence came a day earlier than India's so that the last British viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, could attend both ceremonies.

Manila, Philippines

Typhoon triggers monsoons, floods

A strong typhoon blowing off the mountainous north of the Philippines forced authorities to close schools in the capital for the second straight day Thursday and disaster-response teams braced for possible floods and landslides.

Typhoon Sepat — the Malaysian word for a fresh-water fish — was tracked roaring over the Pacific Ocean about 310 miles east of northern Luzon island with sustained winds of 115 mph and gusts of up to 137 miles, the strongest howler to threaten the country this year, forecasters said.

Monsoon rains induced by Sepat flooded many parts of Manila on Wednesday, causing monstrous traffic jams and forcing authorities to suspend classes and government work.

Seattle Times news services