HANOI, Vietnam — Floods this week have killed nearly two dozen people in central Vietnam, raising the overall death toll to 69, officials said Wednesday.

In the last four days, 22 people have died in six central provinces because of the flooding, disaster relief officials reported. Four others are missing.

Over the weekend, disaster officials had reported 47 deaths from heavy rain and landslides since the end of November, including nine construction workers buried under a mountain of earth.

On Wednesday, the Central Highland province of Daklak, the country's main coffee-growing region, reported seven new deaths, including two children who drowned, said Pham Xuan Truong, the provincial disaster official.

The coffee harvest has been postponed, Truong said, adding that he expects next year's crop will be affected.

Coastal Khanh Hoa province was hit hardest, with 32 deaths. Nearby Phu Yen province had 14 deaths, Binh Dinh province had 11, and central Quang Ngai province had five.

Forecasters in Hanoi said rain will continue through the weekend, giving little relief to the heavily soaked region.

River levels remain high but have started receding. The coastal nation is prone to heavy flooding and other natural disasters.

Two New Orleans cops fired, one suspended in post-Katrina taped beating case

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two officers were fired Wednesday for a beating in the French Quarter shortly after Hurricane Katrina that was photographed and videotaped by The Associated Press. A third officer was suspended.

A union official vowed to fight the firings of officers Robert Evangelist and Lance Schilling for their role in the beating of 64-year-old Robert Davis. Officer Stuart Smith was suspended for 120 days.

The officers' lawyer said the department rushed the firings. Ordinarily, said attorney Frank DeSalvo, a dismissal occurs only after an officer has been tried on criminal charges.

"They never thought they'd get a fair shake from this department," DeSalvo said. "The guys fully expected what happened to happen."

The confrontation renewed longstanding allegations of racism, brutality and corruption in the New Orleans Police Deparment. The three officers are white, and Davis is black. Davis said he does not believe race was an issue in the beating.

Evangelist and Schilling were accused of battery against Davis. Smith was accused of battery against a reporter. All three officers had been suspended without pay since the incident. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges and face trial Jan. 11.

The police union disagreed with the firings and said it would appeal to the Civil Service Commission.

"This case became highly publicized through the media," union president Lt. David Benelli said. "In light of the worldwide media frenzy these officers were placed under, it was impossible for them to receive a fair investigation."

After seeing the video of the beating, police Superintendent Warren Riley called the officers' actions unacceptable — comments Benelli said interfered with their ability to get a fair investigation by the police internal affairs division.

Davis' attorney, Joseph Bruno, did not return a call for comment.

DeSalvo has said that the video of the confrontation does not give the whole story.

Davis, a retired elementary school teacher who returned to the storm-struck city to check on his properties, said he was searching for cigarettes in the French Quarter when police grabbed him.

The Associated Press Television News tape shows an officer hitting Davis at least four times on the head. Davis appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers.

One of the officers kneed Davis and punched him twice. Davis was face-down on the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter.

Smith ordered APTN producer Rich Matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. When Matthews held up his credentials, the officer grabbed the producer, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.

Davis later pleaded not guilty to charges of public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation.

The video shows two FBI agents, in town to help with post-Katrina patrols, joining the New Orleans police in subduing Davis. Their role in the incident is being investigated by federal officials.

A federal civil rights investigation also was launched.

NTSB finds cracked in beam in seaplane that lost a wing

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A 1940s-era seaplane that lost a wing during takeoff and crashed within sight of the beach, killing all 20 people aboard, had undetected cracks in its airframe that apparently caused the aircraft to break up, federal investigators said Wednesday.

After the discovery was disclosed, Chalk's Ocean Airways voluntarily grounded its fleet of four planes for inspection. All four planes are the same model as the one that crashed.

The cracks were found in the main support beam of a wing that fell off the seaplane shortly after it took off for the Bahamas on Monday.

As salvage crews and divers worked to haul the wreckage from a channel just off Miami Beach, investigators focused on how the cracks escaped notice by maintenance crews. Authorities also recovered the plane's cockpit voice recorder, which was sent to the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, along with part of the beam.

Mark Rosenker, acting chairman of the NTSB, said the cracking in the 58-year-old seaplane should have been found and repaired, though the cracks could not be seen with the naked eye and it would have taken "a very serious" inspection to find them.

If Chalk's officials had known about the cracking in the Grumman G-73T Turbine Mallards "they would have repaired it and we wouldn't be here today. I don't think they knew it," Rosenker said.

Investigators planned to scour maintenance and flight records for evidence of work done.

The Federal Aviation Administration took no immediate action against the airline.

"These are trying times for this great airline. But we will be back in the air very soon," Chalk's general manager Roger Nair said in a statement. He did not return phone messages seeking additional comment.

Rosenker said the age of the plane built in 1947 could have been a factor in the cracking. The aircraft was retrofitted in the 1980s with more powerful engines, but it was not clear whether that played any role in the cracking, Rosenker said.

At the time of those modifications, the airplane "would have a thorough inspection to make sure that it was a suitable aircraft to be modified," said Joseph Frakes, assistant manager of Frakes Aviation, the company that installed the new engines and refurbished the seaplanes. He declined to give further details because his company is part of the NTSB investigation.

Finding such damage would require "very sophisticated testing," such as a special dye that penetrates the aluminum structure, said Bill English, NTSB investigator in charge of the crash investigation.

Some additional stress on the airframe must have contributed to the cracking because age alone would not cause it, Rosenker said.

Crews used a crane Wednesday to lift out of the water the plane's left wing, an engine, a propeller, and parts of the fuselage and landing gear. The right wing was removed Tuesday.

Chalk's, which flies between Florida and the Bahamas, has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In 2002, the latest year available, Chalk's had net losses of $244,000 on operating revenue of $5.4 million.

Owner Jim Confalone bought Chalk's after it was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in 1999 under previous management.

Associated Press Writer John Pain in Miami contributed to this report.

On the Net:

National Transportation Safety Board: http://www.ntsb.gov

Elton John ties knot with partner, capping first week of U.K. gay partnerships

WINDSOR, England (AP) — Britain's showbiz royalty — Elton John and David Furnish — exchanged vows and diamond wedding bands during a ceremony that capped the first week of legalized civil unions in the United Kingdom.

Opting to use the 17th century Town Hall where Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles got married in April, John and Furnish sealed their union with a kiss before facing hundreds of photographers and fans on the cobbled streets outside.

John, 58, and Furnish, 43, were among hundreds of same-sex couples tying the knot in England and Wales on Wednesday, the first day such ceremonies were possible. Others wed earlier this week in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

"I think it's amazing — it's brilliant," said Tim Alcock, 43, one of the onlookers.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking to reporters at a news conference, congratulated the couple for exercising their newfound legal right. Activists saw the union as a watershed moment for gay rights — a public expression of commitment that would be impossible to ignore.

"This will give hope to millions of isolated, vulnerable, lesbian and gay people, especially those living in repressive and homophobic countries," said Peter Tatchell, spokesman for the gay-rights group OutRage.

The new law — passed last year — allows civil ceremonies that will give same-sex couples the same social security, tax, pension and inheritance rights as married couples.

Furnish, a Canadian-born filmmaker, and John have been together for 12 years. Both have said they understand the implications of their union.

"Being such a high-profile couple and the fact that we decided to do it straight away does carry a certain message," John was quoted as saying by Attitude magazine. "I'm doing this first and foremost because I want to do it for David and I want to be with David for the rest of my life, but I also want to do it to say that (the civil union law) shouldn't be something that just sits there in law. It should be embraced."

Known for his flashy glasses, flamboyant clothes and extravagant lifestyle, the pop star chose an understated outfit and ceremony behind closed doors for his big day.

The few who attended included John's mother, Sheila, and stepfather Fred, and Furnish's parents, Gladys and Jack.

The ceremony, which took less than an hour, was conducted by Registrar Clair Williams, who also presided over the union between Charles and Camilla.

One of the guests, art dealer Jay Jopling, described the union as being "like any other couple getting married."

The couple emerged to a shower of rice and the click of cameras, walking arm in arm to face the paparazzi. John lifted his hand to show off a whopping diamond ring.

They then got into a black Rolls Royce — rolling down the windows to wave to their fans — before heading off for a family lunch. The reception cost an estimated $1.75 million, featuring pink champagne and lamb for 700 guests inside two giant white tents erected at John's Windsor mansion.

John, married once before to studio engineer Renate Blauel, is known for such songs as "Crocodile Rock" and "Rocket Man." He was also a close friend of Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, and was knighted in 1998 — an honor he described as the pinnacle of his decades-long career.

Furnish is best known for a documentary about the pop star called "Tantrums and Tiaras." He also produced a film about U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His latest work is titled "It's a Boy Girl Thing."

Other couples tying the knot Wednesday included actor Antony Sher, 56, and his partner Greg Doran, 47, who wed at Islington Town Hall in north London.

Several European countries have legalized same-sex unions. In the United States, only Massachusetts allows gay marriage, while Vermont and Connecticut permit civil unions.

Associated Press reporter Rashi Khilnani in Windsor contributed to this report.

Tigers kill suspected mugger who climbed into zoo enclosure in South Africa

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — A suspected mugger being chased by security guards met a grisly end after he fled into a zoo and climbed into the tiger enclosure.

His mauled body was discovered Sunday by a visitor to the zoo in this central Southern African city, prompting initial confusion as to how the man ended up in the enclosure.

Police said Wednesday the man and an accomplice had robbed a couple at knifepoint early Sunday. Security guards gave chase and one of the suspects jumped over the perimeter fence. He then apparently ran to the tiger's den in the middle of the zoo.

"What exactly happened we don't know and we won't ever know because the only person who could tell us is dead," police spokeswoman Else Gerber said.

She said there was an empty can of beer near the corpse and that the autopsy would reveal whether the man was intoxicated at the time.

Zoo officials have said the Bengal tigers will not be destroyed because they were blameless. The tigers had been fed on Saturday and so did not eat the man because they were not hungry, according to media reports.

British zoo workers worry about missing penguin

LONDON (AP) — Zookeepers are struggling to stay optimistic about the fate of a baby penguin believed to have been snatched from his parents, the zoo's manager said Wednesday.

Toga, a 3-month-old jackass penguin, was discovered missing Saturday from Amazon World on the Isle of Wight in southern England.

Zoo manager Kath Bright said veterinarians believed the bird probably would die of malnutrition by Thursday night if he wasn't reunited with his parents.

Zoo workers got a glimmer of hope when they received a report that a bird was found on a beach near the Isle of Wight, but it turned out to be a native guillemot, not a penguin.

"It got all our hopes up," she said. "Everybody's on a bit of a downer now, because we thought we had him back. … Everybody's really tired, it's very emotional."

She said police were pursuing a lead on Toga's whereabouts but she did not know what it was. Hampshire police declined to comment.

With contributions from local businesses and well-wishers from around the world, the zoo has offered a $8,750 reward for the penguin's safe return.

Bright said she believed the bird's disappearance was a real theft, not a hoax of any sort.

"If it's a joke, it's a sick joke," she said. "They are putting this bird's life at risk."

"Everybody's hoping against hope that we are going to get that magic phone call that says, 'He's there, we've got him," Bright said. "It won't be a very good Christmas for any of us if we can't find him."

Bright said the brown-and-white penguin refuses to be fed by human hand and is probably already severely dehydrated. Toga is too young to have yet had a gender confirmed but traditionally is referred to as a male, she said.

She said he was far too small to have escaped from his enclosure on his own. If a predator had snatched him, there would have been visible evidence, she said.

Bright previously has said she was worried someone had stolen Toga to give as a Christmas gift, inspired by the film "March of the Penguins."

The French movie was a box office hit and has been credited with drawing tourists to penguin-spotting sites across the world.

North Carolina boy accidentally shoots himself in the head; two people charged, police say

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — A 4-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the head, and two people were charged with manslaughter after he died early Wednesday at a hospital, police said.

Police would not release the boy's identity but said the shooting happened in a private home Tuesday night.

Tyesha Nicole Lovely, 20, and Carlisle E. Francis Sr., 43, were charged with involuntary manslaughter and failure to secure a firearm from a minor, police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said. Francis was charged separately with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Investigators released few details but said an adult and two other children were in the home at the time of the shooting. Police would not say what Francis and Lovely's relationship with the boy was or whether either one was the adult who was in the house.

The boy died after he was taken to Duke University Hospital for surgery.

In was the second such accident this week. On Sunday, a 4-year-old boy in Tampa, Fla., fatally shot himself in the head with a gun he found at home in a bedroom closet, authorities said.

Bodies of two Baltimore police officers found in home in a suburb

RANDALLSTOWN, Md. (AP) — Two off-duty Baltimore police officers, a man and a woman, were shot to death at a suburban townhouse Wednesday, and another law enforcement officer turned himself in a short time later, authorities said.

Police gave no motive for the slayings.

The suspect and the victims knew one another, according to Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey. But he said he did not know the exact relationship.

Neighbor Jerry McDonald said the man who was slain lived in the townhouse and was single. McDonald said the officer had been dating, among others, a female officer who worked with him.

Toohey said that after the man surrendered at a police station, officers found the gun used in the shooting.

The suspect is a police officer for the state Department of General Services and carried a gun as part of his job, Toohey said. He said he did not know if the man's duty weapon was the gun used in the killings.

The General Services Department provides security at state office buildings in Baltimore and Annapolis.

Serial rapist suspect escapes Miami jail

MIAMI (AP) — A man accused of raping seven girls and women in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood escaped from jail by crawling through a ceiling vent and then climbing down from the roof using tied-together bed sheets, police said.

Police searched neighborhoods, airports, rail stations and ports for Reynaldo E. Rapalo, 34, who escaped late Tuesday from a Miami-Dade County jail, police said. A man who tried to escape with him was caught after he jumped and broke his legs.

"We fully realize he represents the worst kind of threat possible to the streets of Miami," Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker said. "There will be no stone unturned."

Rapalo was awaiting trial after being arrested in 2003. He was charged with raping seven people, ages 11 to 79, and attempting to attack four others. If convicted, he could get life in prison.

He climbed through a vent in the 7-foot ceiling of his single-man cell on the sixth floor and made it to the roof on that level, jail spokeswoman Janelle Hall said. The building has roofs at different levels, and Rapalo used sheets to climb down each one, authorities said.

The vent was supposed to be locked, but its door had been pried off. Bars blocking the vent's opening to the roof were cut, officials said.

The rapes kept Little Havana on edge for a year. Rapalo was caught after DNA evidence showed he tried to attack a woman hanging her laundry in the middle of the day, police said.

Man pleads guilty to robbing bank, forcing hostages to strip for escape ride to airport

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to pulling off a bank robbery in which he stole $144,000, forced employees to strip to their underwear and took six hostages to the airport in a bid to commandeer a plane for his getaway.

Under an agreement with federal prosecutors, 44-year-old Bennie J. Herring II will probably get 27 years in prison at sentencing in March, defense attorney Michael Harris said.

The May 18 robbery and escape attempt were foiled when five police officers shot and wounded Herring at the Johnson County Executive Airport. Herring, who had been recovering from his gunshot wounds at a prison hospital in Missouri, is now in federal custody in Kansas.

Authorities said Herring entered the Olathe branch of Capitol Federal Savings wearing a ski mask and black sweat shirt that read "SHOW ME THE MONEY." He ordered 10 employees and one customer to strip to their underwear, then took the assistant manager and five employees in a van to the airport.

Prosecutors said Herring held the gun to one hostage's head and fired two shots at police from the van.

Herring was shot as he tried to seize an airplane with a flight instructor and student inside. He had been a flight student but did not have a pilot's license.

Herring pleaded guilty to bank robbery, using a gun to commit a crime and attempting to commit air piracy.

In court Wednesday, Herring said he had planned to use money from the robbery to start a jazz supper club. He also said he had been unemployed and suicidal before committing the crimes.

Family members said Herring was laid off from a computer contracting job in Wichita last December.

Pennsylvania trooper was slain with his own gun, prosecutor says

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A state trooper killed earlier this month after an early morning highway chase was shot twice with his own weapon, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Cpl. Joseph Pokorny, 45, was shot during a struggle after the chase ended a few miles southwest of Pittsburgh, just off Interstate 279, police said.

Leslie D. Mollett, 30, has been charged with criminal homicide in the Dec. 12 shooting. He has pleaded not guilty.

The fatal shot went through Pokorny's left arm and into part of his chest not protected by his bulletproof vest. A second shot hit him in the head.

Both bullets were fired from Pokorny's .40-caliber Beretta handgun, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said.

The gun is still missing, he said.

Zappala said he hasn't decided whether to pursue the death penalty against Mollett, who was jailed without bond.

Chinese city shuts down water for eight hours after toxic spill

BEIJING (AP) — A city in southern China shut down running water for eight hours after a smelter dumped chemicals in a river, residents said Wednesday, a month after a toxic spill in a northeastern river disrupted water supplies to millions.

The twin disasters highlighted China's chronic environmental problems and the precarious state of its scarce water supplies.

The latest spill occurred on the Bei river in Guangdong, China's most densely populated province with more than 100 million people and a center for its export-driven manufacturing industries.

Running water in Shaoguan, 150 miles north of Hong Kong, was shut off Tuesday from about 9 a.m. to about 5 p.m., according to employees of three downtown hotels.

"Today, everything is back to normal," said a woman who answered the phone at the city's Hotel de Royce. She would give only her surname, Li.

China has suffered a series of such disasters, often blamed on lack of safety equipment or officials' refusal to enforce environmental rules that might hurt businesses. The accidents are an embarrassment to the government of President Hu Jintao, which has promised to clean up environmental damage from China's 25 years of breakneck economic growth.

Last month, a chemical plant explosion in China's northeast spewed 100 tons of benzene, nitrobenzene and other toxins into the Songhua River, a key water source for millions of people. The city of Harbin shut down running water to 3.8 million people for five days. The Songhua flows into the Heilong River, which carried the toxins into Russia.

Tuesday's water shutdown in Shaoguan came after the government said a smelter in Shaoguan dumped toxic chemicals into the Bei, causing levels of the heavy metal cadmium to jump to 10 times acceptable levels.

It wasn't clear how many people were affected in Shaoguan, which has about 520,000 people in its urban center. Officials who answered the phone at the Shaoguan city government and water company and refused to give their names denied there was any disruption of water supplies.

Downstream from Shaoguan, the major city of Guangzhou — China's southern business center — was ordered to make emergency plans to ensure safe water supplies, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday. The Bei flows into the Pearl River, which passes Guangzhou and empties into the South China Sea west of Hong Kong.

Xinhua didn't say what Guangzhou was told to do, or how many people there rely on river water.

It said Foshan, a nearby manufacturing center, also was told to make precautions even though the toxins weren't expected to threaten either city. And it said 20 monitoring stations had been set up along the Bei.

In Yingde, a city north of Guangzhou and about 50 miles downstream from Shaoguan, Xinhua said water to 100,000 residents might be halted. It said the city used 15 vehicles to deliver clean water to urban areas.

But officials at the Yingde city government, water company and environment bureau said supplies were normal. Local officials in China often are reluctant to confirm industrial accidents or other disasters without clearance from the central government.

Officials in Yingde were dumping water from a suburban reservoir into the river to dilute the toxins and were building a pipe from the reservoir to bring clean water into the city, Xinhua said.

Bank official charged in British record robbery freed on bail

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — A bank supervisor awaiting trial for allegedly helping a gang commit a record robbery was freed on bail Wednesday.

Belfast High Court Lord Justice Anthony Campbell ordered Chris Ward, 24, to report twice a day to a police station, surrender his passport, and observe a curfew at his parents' home in Catholic west Belfast. The Northern Bank shift supervisor was released on $210,000 bail.

Ward, who appeared in court via a video link from Maghaberry Prison west of Belfast, had been in custody since Nov. 29, when police raided his parents' home and arrested him.

Ward had admitted helping in the theft of $50 million from the central Northern Bank vault on Dec. 20, 2004, but insists he was forced to do so because the gang was holding his family hostage and threatening to kill them unless he cooperated.

During his unsuccessful bid to keep Ward behind bars, prosecutor Gordon Kerr revealed new details of what he conceded was a largely circumstantial case against Ward.

Kerr drew distinctions between Ward and a second Northern Bank official, Kevin McMullan, who also aided the robbery. Police have cleared McMullan of any voluntary role in the raid.

Kerr said gang members had physically assaulted and pointed a gun at McMullan, and also kidnapped his wife, to ensure his cooperation. She was set free in an isolated forest once the robbers made their getaway.

By contrast, Kerr said, the gang used no violence and no guns when they took over Ward's family home in Poleglass, a power base of the outlawed Irish Republican Army, which authorities blame for the robbery.

Kerr said that in the Ward household "there was no evidence of weapons. No one was bound. All of the family was allowed basically free access around the house. No one was removed as a hostage."

The prosecutor also alleged the robbers had knowledge of Northern Bank operations equivalent to Ward's position of shift supervisor, not McMullan's higher position of deputy manager.

The prosecutor also described Ward as the gang's primary contact, not McMullan. He said McMullan had suggested to Ward they use the Northern Bank's secret hot line to warn their employers of the robbery plan, but Ward "strongly" argued against it.

Lastly, Kerr said Ward had recently requested and received permission to be transferred to the section of Maghaberry Prison that houses members of IRA factions, normally a sign of paramilitary affiliation.

However, one of Ward's defense attorneys, Frank O'Donoghue, said Ward had requested the move because he felt vulnerable in other parts of the prison, not because he supports the IRA. He said Ward worked for Northern Bank for six years, had no criminal record, and answered all detectives' questions during his 7.5 days of interrogation.

Two other men are awaiting trial on charges connected to the bank raid. Dominic McEvoy, 23, is charged with holding the McMullans hostage and possessing a firearm. Martin McAliskey, 42, is charged with making false statements to police about the purchase, possession and sale of the van used to carry off the cash.

The Northern bank raid is the biggest cash robbery of a bank in British history. Experts had considered it the biggest in the world in peacetime until it was knocked into second place in August, when robbers stole about $70 million from a Brazilian bank.