MANILA, Philippines

Typhoon hits Luzon Island; 100,000 told to find refuge

A typhoon slammed ashore on the northern Philippines today, unleashing floods, cutting power and halting work in the capital, Manila. Authorities ordered more than 100,000 people to seek shelter from rains and wind gusts of up to 106 mph.

At least one person – a baby – drowned and four fishermen were reported missing.

Typhoon Nesat made landfall before dawn over eastern mountainous Isabela and Aurora provinces which face the Pacific Ocean, packing sustained winds of 87 mph, the government weather bureau said.

With its immense 400-mile cloud band, the typhoon threatened to foul weather across the entire main Luzon Island as it moves toward the South China Sea then heads toward southern China.

TRIPOLI, Libya

Leader OKs plan to disband remnants of Gadhafi regime

Libya’s transitional justice minister said Monday that he has approved a measure to abolish the country’s state security prosecution and courts, which sentenced opponents of the old regime to prison.

At a news conference in Tripoli, Mohammed al-Alagi, part of Libya’s new leadership after the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi, said he has signed a document to disband the bodies. The step still needs approval by the National Transitional Council that now runs the country.

He said the document includes a request to abolish a third court for special cases where many opposition members were sentenced to life terms in prisons like Abu Salim in Tripoli, where inmates were massacred by Gadhafi’s regime.

KABUL, Afghanistan

Afghan kills CIA contractor, wounds another American

An Afghan working for the U.S. government killed a CIA contractor and wounded another American in an attack on the intelligence agency’s office in Kabul, officials said Monday, making it the latest in a series of high-profile attacks this month on U.S. targets.

The incident marked the most recent in a growing number of attacks this year by Afghans working with international forces in the country. Some assailants have turned out to be Taliban sleeper agents, while others have been motivated by personal grievances.

The assailant in Sunday evening’s shooting was killed, and it was not yet clear if he acted alone or if he belonged to an insurgent group.

A U.S. official in Washington said the Afghan attacker was providing security to the CIA office.

JERUSALEM

Five of Dead Sea Scrolls made available on Internet

Two thousand years after they were written and decades after they were found in desert caves, some of the world-famous Dead Sea Scrolls went online for the first time on Monday in a project launched by Israel’s national museum and the Web giant Google.

The appearance of five of the most important scrolls on the Internet is part of a broader attempt by the custodians of the manuscripts – who were once criticized for allowing them to be monopolized by small circles of scholars – to make them available to anyone with a computer.