Five documents link with Richard Kern
Five records, part of a series linked with Richard Kern, 28, who was recently charged with the aggravated manslaughter of an 11-year-old girl, have been seized from his home. The documents included an accusation that he stole “a quantity of marijuana with THC” (a central compound of marijuana) and the names of four people, including the child’s father.
SALVADOR
A plane brought 21 Filipino doctors, police and troops from San Miguel to meet and plan their response. They are armed with the Philippines Air Force’s Main Battle Tank (MBT), and will receive the heavy weapons next week. The Army will supply them with 20 rockets, enough to attack a fortified position for one day and a sea ship for rescue action.
Armed with MRAP troops, they could prove tough opposition. The MBT’s 12.7mm machine gun had killed 85 civilians since it arrived. The M4 is a lighter version of the MBT with a 30mm cannon. It weighs 4.7 tonnes.
CASTILHO
The death toll from Wednesday’s ferry disaster, the heaviest for 18 years, is likely to top 200.
JAPAN
Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, is also being battered by waves and rain. There are reports of broken pipes, half-submerged cars and a torrential rain on the main floor of the city hall.
Auschwitz is also being a big concern. Many of the 91,000 wandering persons buried under the church in the town were brought there by forced labour.
The 48-storey Kogelo, a new skyscraper in the Rift Valley town, will be named in honour of John Githongo, who has led an international campaign to expose official failure to prevent the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya. The 51-year-old is best known for his involvement in the release of documentary film Kinyarwanda that, among other things, exposed the role of George Bush in escalating the ethnic violence, resulting in the murder of more than 1,000 Kikuyus and the displacement of more than 400,000.
The Red Cross says it is responding to about 70,000 people, mostly in Nairobi’s slums.
SOME NEWS
Trials began in Colombia of José Orellana, a former minister and death squad commander, and Uribe’s hand-picked justice minister, Alberto Núñez Gil. Both deny charges they ordered the murders of dozens of people.
In Colombia, five people were jailed in connection with extortion and kidnapping for the drugs lord Pablo Escobar.
In Iraq, soldiers opened fire on a bus carrying schoolgirls, killing five of them.
In Peru, high school football player Marlon Silva played against an all-male team to protest against discrimination.
In Nepal, police seized 40,000 packets of cough sweets amid fears that cholera is spreading across the country.
FRENCH
Anxious to forestall a backlash on the issue, leftwing Socialist leader François Hollande said he would overhaul labour laws to ensure at least 60% of employees on company payrolls would be on flexible contracts in the next three years.
In Haiti, Gerald Gatareot, chief of a prosthetics laboratory, was assassinated by a gunman in Port-au-Prince.
In Spain, Barcelona seethed with angry students protesting outside the central train station against the government’s plans to ease university tuition fees.
In Bulgaria, human rights watchdog the Helsinki Committee filed a lawsuit against the director of the National Court, Maia Dafiri, alleging she was biased against Roma peoples.
In Haiti, another Chaviste was brutally murdered, this time a police captain, also reportedly shot dead by an al-Qaeda-inspired jihadist group.
In Bosnia, a drought has affected 3m people.
