At least 12 die in French floods unseen in more than a century; NEWS BRIEFING; Staff and news services; Koreas agree to break ground on inter-Korean rail, road plan; Judge tosses Stormy Daniels’ defamation suit against Trump ; Irish border dispute still a big hurdle ahead of Brexit summit; Hawking’s posthumous warning: Science at risk; 2 in Turkey face jail over criticism in pastor’s trial

PARIS - Flash floods that tore through several towns in southwest France following an overnight storm killed at least 12 people, authorities said Monday. Some residents had to be helicoptered from rooftops as the equivalent of several months of rain poured down in a few hours and turned waterways into raging torrents.

Initially, the French Interior Ministry reported 13 deaths from the floods in the Aude region. French officials lowered the number to 10 later, saying some victims had been counted twice. The Interior Ministry and Aude officials put it at 12 after two more bodies were recovered in the towns of Trebes and Carcassonne.

At least six of the deaths happened in Trebes, Mayor Eric Menassi said. Eight people were injured throughout the affected region and one person was missing as of late Monday.

The River Aude that flows through towns such as Carcassonne and Trebes was among the waterways that overflowed from the exceptional rainfall, and the flooding was the region's worst in more than a century, the French agency that monitors flood risks said.

In the town of Villegailhenc, resident Ines Siguet said floodwaters rose so quickly after the rains swept in from the Mediterranean that residents fled to rooftops.

Siguet, 17, posted video of a ripped-up road where a bridge used to stand.

"There's nothing left. There's just a hole," said the teenager, whose school was closed amid the destruction. "It was very violent."

Vigicrues, the French agency that monitors rivers for flood risks, said water levels in the Aude region were higher than at any time since 1891.

French President Emmanuel Macron planned to visit the flooded region "as soon as possible."

Koreas agree to break ground on inter-Korean rail, road plan

SEOUL, South Korea - North and South Korea continued their push for peace Monday with talks that resulted in agreements, including a plan for a groundbreaking ceremony this year on a project to connect their railways and roads.

Many outsiders believe that U.S.-led efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear-tipped missiles are lagging behind the Koreas' efforts to move past decades of bitter rivalry.

A series of weapons tests by North Korea last year, and an exchange of insults between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, had many on the Korean Peninsula fearing war. But there has since been a peace initiative, with three inter-Korean summits and a June meeting in Singapore between Trump and Kim. The U.S. and North Korea are working on plans for a second summit.

Judge tosses Stormy Daniels' defamation suit against Trump

LOS ANGELES - A federal judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit from adult film actress Stormy Daniels that claimed President Donald Trump defamed her when he suggested she had lied about being threatened to keep quiet about their relationship.

Federal District Judge S. James Otero in Los Angeles had indicated in a September hearing that he was skeptical of Daniels's claim on First Amendment grounds. The ruling ordered Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, to pay Trump's legal fees.

Trump attorney Charles Harder said the amount owed would be determined later.

The ruling is a blow for Daniels and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, who has raised a national profile from his legal battles against the president.

Irish border dispute still a big hurdle ahead of Brexit summit

LUXEMBOURG - The moods in Britain and the European Union swung between hope and gloom Monday over an intractable dispute about the Irish border - shifts that came two days ahead of a summit once seen as the last moment to reach a deal on Britain's divorce from the bloc.

After a flurry of weekend meetings had raised expectations for a Brexit agreement only to dash them again, EU and British leaders sought to keep alive the possibility that Wednesday's summit could see a Brexit breakthrough.

After a year and a half of talks aimed at a smooth breakup, both sides were still dogged by the same issue - how to ensure that no hard border is created between the EU's Ireland and Britain's Northern Ireland once Brexit happens March 29.

Hawking's posthumous warning: Science at risk

LONDON - Physicist Stephen Hawking spoke from beyond the grave Monday to warn the world that science and education are under threat around the world.

The words of the scientist, who died in March at 76, were broadcast at a launch event for his final book "Brief Answers To The Big Questions."

Hawking warned that education and science are "in danger now more than ever before." He cited the election of U.S. President Donald Trump and Britain's 2016 vote to leave the European Union as part of "a global revolt against experts and that includes scientists."

Acknowledging that science had yet to overcome major challenges, including climate change, overpopulation and the degradation of the oceans, he still urged young people "to look up at the stars and not down at your feet."

2 in Turkey face jail over criticism in pastor's trial

ANKARA, Turkey - Two Turkish journalists have been charged with insulting the Turkish nation and institutions for suggesting that a Turkish court may not have acted independently when ruling in the case against a U.S. pastor.

Duygu Guvenc and Alican Uludag, from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, face maximum two years in prison for articles published in July after pastor Andrew Brunson, who was at the center of a Turkish-U.S. diplomatic dispute, was released to house arrest after almost two years in jail.

The journalists reject the charge.

The pastor, who was accused of terror-related charges, was convicted Friday yet released from custody with time served and returned to the U.S.

The journalists' trial is scheduled for Dec. 20.

In Egypt: The country's main appeals court upheld a three-year prison sentence Monday against former President Mohammed Morsi, already jailed in other cases, over a conviction for insulting a sitting judge. The Court of Cassation upheld the same sentence for Morsi and fined the former Islamist leader $60,000.

In Russia: The Russian Orthodox Church severed ties with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of the worldwide Orthodox community, after he granted Ukrainian clerics independence from the Moscow Patriarchate. The Ukraine church has been under the jurisdiction of the Russian church since the 1600s.

Caption: Residents marvel at the sight of cars piling up at a bridge on the Trapel River after heavy rains Monday in Villegailhenc, France. At least a dozen people died from the floodwaters.

ERIC CABANIS/Getty-AFP