BEIJING

Heavy rains complicate earthquake rescue efforts

Heavy rains on Monday complicated rescue efforts in south China’s mountainous Yunnan province, where a major earthquake Sunday killed at least 398 people and injured more than 2,000 others.

Roads were blocked and telecommunications down in and around the Ludian County town of Longtoushan, 277 miles northeast of Kunming, Yunnan’s capital. The magnitude 6.1 quake flattened or damaged more than 10,000 homes and other structures, again raising questions about China’s building standards and ability to respond to natural disasters.

Yunnan Information Daily, a Kunming newspaper, reported that a three-story police station in Longtoushan collapsed, burying at least four police officers, who were confirmed dead.

TOLEDO, Ohio

Ban on drinking water lifted as tests show no problems

A ban on drinking water in Toledo, Ohio’s fourth-largest city, was lifted Monday after tests showed that toxins had returned to acceptable levels, city officials announced.

Hundreds of thousands of residents in the city were told not to drink tap water last week after an algae bloom in Lake Erie contaminated the water. Test results released Monday showed that “there are no problems whatsoever” with the drinking water, Mayor D. Michael Collins said in a televised news conference.

“Our water is safe,” Collins said. “Families can return to normal life.”

Then the mayor lifted what he said was a cup of Toledo tap water and drank.

“Here’s to you, Toledo. You did a great job,” he said.

State officials early Saturday said that an algae bloom had contaminated the city’s drinking water and Gov. John Kasich declared an emergency.

MIAMI

Third county judge rules against ban on gay marriage

A third judge in Florida has overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage in a single county but stayed his decision Monday pending an appeal.

The ruling by Broward County Circuit Judge Dale Cohen mirrors decisions made last month by judges in Monroe and Miami-Dade counties. All found that a 2008 voter-approved constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the state violates gay residents’ right to equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

“The tides are turning on the issue of same-sex marriage throughout this country,” Cohen wrote.

Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi has filed a notice of appeal in the Monroe and Miami-Dade cases.

LAGOS, Nigeria

Amnesty International says video shows ‘war crimes’

Graphic new video footage from northeastern Nigeria shows the country’s military carrying out abuses against civilians as part of their fight against the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, Amnesty International said Tuesday. The international human rights group also accused the military of killing of more than 600 released prisoners.

The violence against civilians constitutes “war crimes,” Amnesty alleged.

One video shows military personnel and civilian vigilantes calling five detainees from a row of 16 young men and boys, then slitting their throats one by one before dumping the bodies into an open grave.

The rights group described the civilian vigilantes as “state-sponsored militias.”

The Amnesty allegations back up earlier reports by The Associated Press that human rights abuses are being committed by all sides in Nigeria.

DONETSK, Ukraine

Ukrainian military surrounds major pro-Russian city

Residents say the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk is dying. The power grid was completely down Monday, the city government said, and fuel is running dry. Store shelves are emptying fast, and those who haven’t managed to flee must drink untreated tap water. With little medicine left, doctors are sending patients home.

As Ukrainian government forces slowly tighten their ring around the city – one of two major pro-Russian rebel strongholds – traveling in and out has become a perilous undertaking.

In an impassioned statement released over the weekend, mayor Sergei Kravchenko described a situation that is becoming more unsustainable by the day.

—From news service reports

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