News Wrap: Malaysia and Thailand turn away migrant boats

JUDY WOODRUFF:

In other news today, Malaysia and Thailand turned away three more boats crammed with more than 1,100 migrants. A flood of people from Bangladesh and Myanmar have been abandoned at sea by human traffickers and then refused entry to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Some of the refugees have been taken in and given shelter in Thailand and Indonesia.

Many are Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar. But the Thai prime minister said his country doesn't have the resources to host everyone.

GEN. PRAYUTH CHAN-OCHA, Prime Minister, Thailand (through interpreter):

Do you think we can take on 3,000 to 4,000 people? We'd have to find space for them and hold them as they go through legal processes. If we take them all in, then anyone who wants to come will come freely.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Meanwhile, the head of the European Union's border agency warned the migrant problem in Europe is set to grow. Fabrice Leggeri said there's a shift in where migrants are trying to enter Europe, from the Central Mediterranean to the east by way of Turkey. As a result, the E.U. border agency is boosting its operations near Greece in coming weeks.

GWEN IFILL:

The Taliban claimed responsibility today for a hotel attack that killed 14 people in Afghanistan's capital. The dead included an American, a British citizen, an Italian, two Pakistanis, and four Indian nationals.

The militant group said it targeted the Park Palace Hotel last night because it's popular with foreigners. The hours-long siege ended early this morning. Kabul's police chief said it's still unclear how they were able to infiltrate the building.

GEN. ABDUL RAHMAN RAHIMI, Police Chief, Kabul (through interpreter):

Our investigative teams are working to figure out how the attack happened, because it didn't start with an explosion at the main gate or the killing of guards. Whatever it was, it started from inside the hotel. Our investigative teams are working to figure out how these terrorists managed to enter the guest house.

GWEN IFILL:

Police said all of the attackers were killed in a shoot-out with Afghan troops.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Fighting broke out in Burundi in Central Africa today in the wake of yesterday's coup attempt. Plumes of smoke rose above the capital and gunfire rang out in the streets, as fighters loyal to the president battled rebel forces. The president's office says he was back in the country. He'd been in Tanzania when the coup attempt happened.

GWEN IFILL:

In Nepal, the prime minister admitted his country was overwhelmed and underprepared for its second earthquake in less than three weeks. At least 110 people died in Tuesday's quake. April's earthquake killed more than 8,100 people.

Dan Rivers of Independent Television News traveled by helicopter for a remote rescue today.

DAN RIVERS:

Finally, the awful scale of Nepal's suffering is being laid bare, the bright orange of dozens of shelters amid the rubble. We're flying up the Khumbu Valley toward Mount Everest. Our pilot has been told of a woman who needs urgent medical care in a remote village. We fly east over a Buddhist monastery now lying in ruins.

You can just about make out the monks around temporary shelters that they put up.

The mountains are scarred by violent seismic activity, which has left the hillsides dangerously unstable. As we approach village of Aiselukharka, we're looking for a distress signal.

MAN:

Spotted. Spotted.

DAN RIVERS:

Far below, a group of people and a faint wisp of smoke, but it's a tricky landing on a steep hillside. We find 40-year-old Gori Maya Ban on a stretcher and in pain. The villages are clearly distressed, but relieved. They say she has internal bleeding after being hit by falling debris during Tuesday's quake. They have endured not one, but two disasters here. And, on every face, it shows.

These helicopter flights are the only way into these remote areas of Nepal. And for the injured, they are a lifeline. As carefully as they can, they get her into the helicopter. Her husband, Prakash, bids farewell to this village, cut off 6,000 feet up in the Himalayas. The weather is closing in. And our pilot knows how perilous these mountains can be.

Forty-five minutes later, we touched down at a hospital in Kathmandu. Gori Maya Ban is rushed inside and our pilot rushes off on another rescue.

GWEN IFILL:

Crews are still searching for a missing U.S. Marine helicopter that disappeared Tuesday while delivering aid. So far, there's been no sign of the six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese soldiers on board.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Back in this country, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass legislation that would let Congress review and even reject any nuclear deal with Iran. The vote was 400-25 and the bill now goes to President Obama.

Administration officials have said he will sign it, after threats to veto an earlier version. Lawmakers in the Senate reached a compromise last week that dropped some of the bill's toughest provisions.

GWEN IFILL:

An inspector general's report unveils embarrassing new details about the two Secret Service agents who crashed their car in front of the White House earlier this year. The report said the agents spent more than $100 on drinks prior to the accident and were — quote — "more likely than not" — unquote — impaired by alcohol.

They also went home without taking a sobriety test. One of the agents is retiring. The other is on administrative leave.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

On Wall Street today, stocks rebounded and broke a three-day slump on encouraging data on the U.S. job market. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 192 points to close at 18252. The Nasdaq rose nearly 70 points. And the S&P 500 added 22 points.