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Sep 07, 2008
Deadly landslide hits Philippines MANILA, Philippines - At least six people were killed and more than seven were missing yesterday when a landslide hit a cluster of hillside homes in a southern Philippine village. Jovencio Angera, head of a village council in Maco township, said the landslide buried more than 10 houses. Following three days of continuous rains, the mudslide also hit a motorcycle taxi terminal and a group of people playing cards in the village of Masara. Angera said he knew at least seven people who were missing. Other villagers told reporters there could be more than 50 people buried under mud and boulders.
Among the dead were a mother and her two children. Their bodies were wrapped in blankets and candles were lit near their heads as they lay on the floor of a chapel. A landslide hit the same village a year ago, killing 10 people.
- AP
Angolan capital's voting extended LUANDA, Angola - Angolan election officials extended voting by a day in the capital, but said yesterday that the logistical problems that marred the first balloting in 16 years were confined to Luanda.
A former rebel group that is the war-ravaged country's main opposition said problems were so widespread the vote should be redone in the capital. One of Africa's longest civil wars had included a resurgence of fighting after the last elections in 1992 when the party, known as UNITA, rejected results showing it had lost. Angola has been at peace for six years.
Some polling stations stayed open all night Friday to accommodate voters in Luanda, who spent hours in line because of problems that included lack of ballots and absent election officials. Angolans were choosing members of the 220-seat parliament.
- AP
Ex-prison official jailed in deaths TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - A Honduran court has sentenced a former prison official to 1,051 years in jail for the deaths of 69 people in a 2003 prison massacre.
The three-judge panel announced its largely symbolic verdict yesterday against prison official Dimas Antonio Benitez. Honduran law says people can't be jailed for more than 30 years.
Benitez was one of the directors at the El Porvenir prison, where 65 inmates, a guard and three visitors died. The court sentenced Benitez, 10 other prison employees and 10 inmate trusties for having helped set fire to cells holding members of a violent street gang. The other defendants were sentenced to lesser jail terms.
- AP
Elsewhere:
Togo's prime minister, Komla Malley, resigned Friday after less than one year in office. A statement from the president's office read on national television yesterday gave no reason for the departure, but independent newspapers have accused him of ineffectiveness.
Cuba declined a U.S. offer to send a disaster-assessment team after Hurricane Gustav, saying yesterday that it would rather Washington suspend restrictions on travel and the sale of food and other materials it needs to recover.
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