The brothers were still in their beige school uniforms when their bodies were discovered in the brush on the outskirts of Caracas: three boys kidnapped on their way to school by men in police uniform and then murdered. On Wednesday, news of the killing of the Faddoul brothers — John Bryan (17) Kevin (13) and Jason (12) — brought an outpouring of grief and rage in Caracas, much of it directed against the authorities.
A rural security company established to create jobs in the San community in the Northern Cape has already secured contracts in three provinces. Gert Schoombie, managing director of Sanda Security, said the first group of security guards consisting of members of the !Xun and Khwe community had received their certificates.
Scientists have made one of the most important fossil finds in history: a missing link between fish and land animals, showing how creatures first walked out of the water and on to dry land more than 375-million years ago. As such, it will be a blow to proponents of intelligent design, who claim that the many gaps in the fossil record show evidence of some higher power.
Attallah Abu al-Sibbah is keen to demonstrate that Hamas is not the Taliban. As the new Palestinian culture minister, he will not be ordering the dynamiting of statues nor forbidding prayers to anyone but Allah. But there are limits — and belly dancing is one of them.
The Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, on Wednesday handed power to his deputy only hours after he promised to remain in charge until a new Parliament was formed. Thaksin told a cheering crowd outside his party headquarters that the first deputy prime minister and internal security minister, Chitchai Wannasathit, would take over until Parliament chose a permanent replacement.
Two Latin American countries are to stop sending troops for training to a controversial military academy in the United States. The move was welcomed by groups that have been campaigning against the academy since it was accused, in its previous incarnation, of training Latin American soldiers in illegal interrogation techniques.
Swiss teenagers sent to a centre for problem children based at a remote Spanish farmhouse were allegedly locked up in pig pens and kept on a diet of milk and muesli if they misbehaved, according to police. The case came to light after some of the children ran away and one was found at a nearby railway station.
Jesus may have appeared to be walking on water when he was actually floating on a thin layer of ice, formed by a rare combination of weather and water conditions on the Sea of Galilee, according to a team of United States and Israeli scientists.
The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was on Wednesday forced to back down from what appeared to be an attempt to defy the law on balanced media coverage of politics. The communications watchdog, Agcom, summoned officials to an emergency session after learning Berlusconi intended to appear for two-and-a-half hours on one of his television channels.
So there’s a new mayor and political team in charge of the visdorpie. But it is about three weeks later, so someone should tell the council’s IT department. Its official website still contains the ”The Executive Mayor” page featuring none other than a beaming Nomaindia Mfeketo!