Colombian Congress Members Investigated
The Supreme Court of Colombia opened an investigation against 12 Congressmen and former lawmakers for alleged links with paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which emerged under the first mandate of former president Alvaro Uribe (2002-2006).
According to the Court, the group was denounced by ex AUC members Ignacio Fierro, alias Don Antonio; Jose Gelvez “el Canoso” and Mario Rafael Marenco “El Gordo”.
The judicial entity also decided that the ex AUC members’ testimonies be included in the files followed against senator Armando Benedetti and ex congress members Pedro Peñalosa, Julio Manzur, Dieb Maloof Chuse and Radical Change chief Antonio Guerra.
The Court also ordered to investigate an alleged alliance, called the Hard Deal, started in 2003 between outgoing and ingoing mayors of El Dificil municipality, in northern Magdalena Department.
Jose Gelvez “El Canoso” said that at that time illegal operations were carried out in the health and education sectors.
Four Earthquakes Shake Southwestern China
Four earthquakes of diverse intensities rocked southwest China today with at least 43 people dead, more than 150 injured, and some 20,000 homes collapsed, according to a report from the Earthquake Control Center released in this capital.
The strongest quake sparked panic among local residents in the border area between the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces with a 5.7-magnitude at 11:00 local hour, but that same area was hit an hour later by another quake of 5.6 degrees, followed by two, 3.2 and 4.4 degrees, respectively, the official report says.
All these movements had a depth of about 14 kilometers, the announcement states.
Reports that give an account for the dead and material damages are only for the province of Yunnan and the data is still unknown in neighboring Guizhou.
Western China is an area frequently affected by seismic activities, and the greatest reported disaster so far occurred in 2010, when a 7.1 earthquake killed 300 people and wounded more than 8,000 in the eastern central province of Qinghai.
The worst earthquake reported in China in the last 30 years was located in that area in 2008. It devastated a great part of the Sichuan province, causing more than 88,000 dead and missing.
U.S. unemployment rate drops to 8.1 percent in August
The U.S. unemployment rate edged down to 8.1 percent in August with modest job gains, the Labor Department reported Friday.
The nonfarm sector added 96,000 new jobs last month, falling short of the 125,000 level for the month that economists expected.
The decline in the jobless rate in August followed a rise in July to 8.3 percent. The unemployment rate has held in a narrow range of 8.1 percent to 8.3 percent since the beginning of the year.
Businesses added 103,000 jobs across different sectors, but governments slashed 7,000 jobs last month due to spending cuts.