Jamaican Reggae Star Arrested
Jamaican reggae star Bounty Killa was arrested late last week for a confrontation with a police officer that took place almost two years ago, reports Reuters. The charges follow a probe of the September 2007 incident where the officer was beat up by the musician’s, whose real name is Rodney Pryce, entourage. According to investigators, Pryce’s car was blocking a road as he stopped to greet fans. Police say that when the officer asked that the car be moved, he was beaten up and that Pryce pulled a gun. Police charged the star with assault, illegal possession of a firearm and unlawful wounding. He’s looking at 15 years in prison if he is convicted. In 2008, the singer pled guilty to using profanity at a performance in Montego Bay; he was fined $70.
 

Nigerian Oil Facility Attacked by Rebels
A Nigerian rebel group is claiming responsibility for an “unprecedented” on an oil tanker facility attack in Lagos, the BBC reports. Police are currently investigating the attack claim. According to the group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), “heavily armed” rebels “carried out an unprecedented attack on the Atlas Cove Jetty in Lagos.” As a result, “the depot and loading tankers moored at the facility are currently on fire,” the rebels said. Members of the MEND have frequently attacked oil facilities in the area because they believe locals should have a larger portion of the region’s oil wealth. The group also claims to have kidnapped foreign crew members and destroyed several oil pipelines in the past few days, reports the BBC. The country’s oil production has been cut down due to attacks like these.

Kenyan explosion kills more than 100.

A petrol tanker in Kenya turned over while traveling on the road and exploded about an hour later killing more than 100 people and wounding several others, reports CNN. The explosion happened near the town of Molo, about 80 miles from the nation’s capital, Nairobi. Not long after the tanker turned over on the highway, hundreds of people surrounded the vehicle trying to scoop up gas. “People were lining up trying to get the fuel. They were siphoning off petrol for over an hour. Some people had drilled holes in the tanker and were charging a fee for the assembled crowd,” said a member of the country’s Red Cross, Titus Mung’ou. The explosion apparently happened when one of the people lit up a cigarette or somehow started a fire another way near the site of the accident, he said. There were 117 people wounded in the explosion, and the numbers are expected to rise. This is the second large fatality incident to occur in the nation in the past few days. Last week, there was a fire in a Nairobi supermarket that killed at least 27 people and 57 are still missing.

Jamaican workers agree to 20 percent pay cut.

In an effort to save their jobs, people who work at Jamaica’s Berger Paints have opted to take a 20 percent pay cut, effective as of Monday, reports Caribbean Net. The global economic crisis hit several companies in the nation hard, causing them to make cuts in spending including staff layoffs. Hundreds of Jamaicans have been laid off and just the past two months. Two worker unions (the National Workers Union and the Clerical Administration and Supervisory Employees Union) inked the deal with the Berger Paints management. The pay cut would save the company $70 million in six months, according to a spokesman.

13 Die in Kenyan Blaze. At least 13 bodies were discovered in burned-down supermarket in Nairobi, Kenya on Friday. At least 47 people are missing after the horrific blaze, officials report. A rumor that security guards locked people inside the burning structure was being investigated today, authorities add. Cops used tear gas and horses to deter the large crowds of worried family members and friends who lingered around the site in hopes of finding their loved ones safe. The Nakamutt store provided the surrounding community with a wide variety of supplies. The fire’s cause was being investigated.