■UNITED STATES
Police taped beating men
About 12 Philadelphia police officers were videotaped on Monday beating three men in response to a drug-related shooting, and six of the officers have been removed from street patrols, police commissioner Charles Ramsey said Wednesday. In the incident officers surrounded a car carrying the three men. They were pulled from the car and kicked and punched by officers. The incident followed the shooting death of Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski on Saturday. Liczbinski was pursuing three robbery suspects.
■ARGENTINA
Farmers resume strike
Thousands of farmers resumed a crippling strike on Wednesday after one month of talks with the government to roll back a stiff tax hike on soybean exports broke down, a union leader said. Mario Llambias said the country’s four major farming groups would stop all cereal exports in the country for one week and block the country’s main roads again, although this time without stopping food supplies to major cities.
■CHILE
Volcanic ash spreading
A thick cloud of ash from the erupting Chaiten volcano in southern Chile spread across a swath of South America on Wednesday, prompting fears of health crisis for the people caught in its wake. The enormous plume spread over Argentina’s ski resort of Bariloche, 230km northeast of the volcano and ash particles were detected as far away as Mar del Plata, 1,600km to the east. Authorities are fearful that the airborne ash particles might reach Buenos Aires and its surroundings, raising health concerns for millions.
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