A roundup of today's other world news in brief
South African police shot 556 dead last year
JOHANNESBURG – Police in South Africa shot dead 556 people – including 32 bystanders – last year, the highest annual total for a decade.
The increase in deaths last year was revealed as the father of a 30-year-old hairdresser mistakenly shot dead by police blamed the death on calls for a shoot- to-kill policy from South African president Jacob Zuma.
The death toll of 556 suspects and others up to April this year was the fourth consecutive rise recorded by the independent complaints directorate.
It was almost double the 281 deaths in the period from 2005 to 2006.
The toll has almost returned to the levels of the apartheid era. – (Guardian service)
Madonna’s NY neighbour sues
NEW YORK – Madonna’s Manhattan neighbour has sued her co-op and the building’s management company, saying the pop star’s habit of rehearsing with loud music is a nuisance for other residents.
“Madonna and one or more of her invited guests repeatedly dance and/or train in apartment 7A to unreasonable high-decibel amplified music, causing noise and vibration to pour through the walls,” the lawsuit, filed on Friday in New York state supreme court, said.
Karen George, who lives directly above the singer (51), says nothing has been done since she first complained about the noise in 2008. – (Reuters)
Insurgents shoot down US aircraft
MOGADISHU – Somali insurgents shot down a US drone aircraft flying over the southern port of Kismayu yesterday and were searching for the wreckage, an insurgent spokesman said.
Last month, US commandos killed a most- wanted al-Qaeda suspect allied to Somalia’s al- Shabaab rebels in a helicopter raid in the rebel-held south.
“We fired at an American plane spying for information over Kismayu. Our forces targeted the plane and shot it and we saw the plane burning. We think it fell into the sea,” said Sheikh Hassan Yacqub, spokesman for al- Shabaab in Kismayu.
“We are still searching for it,” he added. – (Reuters)
US cuts medicinal marijuana charges
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is advising federal prosecutors not to seek criminal charges against those who use medical marijuana in accordance with state laws, reversing a Bush administration approach.
The guidelines put in writing an approach that was already being used by the Obama administration. Fourteen states have enacted laws addressing marijuana for medical purposes.
“It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their care-givers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana,” US attorney general Eric Holder said. – (Bloomberg)
Woman (92) held over drugs find
MADRID – A 92-year-old wheelchair-bound woman has been arrested by Spanish police, who found packages of cocaine attached to her body at Madrid’s main airport.
A civil guard statement said police decided to search the woman and her companion, who had arrived at Madrid’s Barajas airport on Friday on a flight from São Paulo in Brazil.
The search of the woman uncovered a total of 4.3kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of about €24,000.
The woman’s companion tried to escape from the airport, but was later arrested.
– (Reuters)