The death toll in Guinea after protesters were shot by government forces, reported last night, has reached 128. Human rights organizations have also received reports of bayonetings and of women being stripped and raped in the streets. Over 50,000 people were protesting yesterday after rumors began circulating that Junta head Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, who seized power in December 2008, was intending to run for president, BBC News.
Many towns in the Philippines are still under water and the death toll from Tropical Storm Ketsana has risen to 246. 100,000 people alone in the Manila area have been displaced and the city has been declared a “state of calamity.” The storm has now reached Vietnam, where it has claimed the lives of 23 people, New York Times.
Unfortunately, the Philippines is also bracing for more bad weather. A new storm is expected to near the country on Thursday and then make landfall later in the week on the island of Luzon, much in the same way as Ketsana, Reuters.
The White House has cleared 75 Guantanamo detainees for release. Most of those on the list were captured after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Reuters.
A roadside bomb in Kandahar, Afghanistan has killed 30 people and injured another 39. The bomb struck a bus carrying Afghan civilians, and the bombing shows that civilian deaths are rising in the country. Nine women and seven children were among the dead, AP.
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