WORLD BRIEFS

CHINA: Bracing for Typhoon Haikui

Shanghai and nearby coastal areas rushed Tuesday to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people and order ships to port as China prepared for its third typhoon in less than a week. A red alert was issued for Typhoon Haikui, the highest so far this year. The strengthening storm was likely to hit between the coastal cities of Ningbo and Wenzhou by early Wednesday with heavy rains and strong winds for 48 hours. Shanghai was evacuating 200,000 people and the adjoining province of Zhejiang had already evacuated 130,000 people, Xinhua News Agency said. The typhoon had winds as strong as 107 mph.

PHILIPPINES: Floods deluge Manila

Relentless rains submerged half of the sprawling capital, Manila, triggered a landslide that killed nine people and sent emergency crews scrambling to rescue tens of thousands of residents, some of whom called media outlets pleading for help. The deluge, the worst to hit Manila since 2009 when hundreds died in rampaging flash floods, was set off by the seasonal monsoon that overflowed major dams and rivers in the city and surrounding provinces. Manila and other parts of the country already were saturated from last week's Typhoon Saola, which battered the capital and the north for several days before blowing away Friday. That storm was responsible for at least 53 deaths.

SPAIN: Paragliding terrorists?

The history of terror plots is filled with unusual schemes, from an underwear bomber to model planes carrying explosives -- showing how would-be attackers are constantly hatching ideas to catch authorities by surprise. Questions are being raised about whether two Russians held on terror charges were planning airborne attacks on paragliders. Eldar Magomedov and Mohamed Ankari Adamov took paragliding lessons this year in a southern Spanish region renowned for the sport, authorities said over the weekend. A Turkish engineer also under arrest paid for the lessons.