SOUTH AFRICA: The number of people killed in a building collapse in Johannesburg has risen to nine, emergency services reported today, while the government prepared to demolish the building and said it had been erected illegally.

Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokeswoman Xolile Khumalo said two more bodies had been recovered and one other located in the rubble.

PHILIPPINES: A civilian helicopter made an emergency landing today in a grassy clearing near a village east of the capital Manila, killing two people and injuring three.

It was not immediately clear what caused the forced landing in clear weather about 164 feet from the nearest cluster of houses in a village in the municipality of Pililla in Rizal province, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said.

UNITED STATES: One of Alabama’s longest-serving death row inmates could soon receive a new trial after the US Supreme Court rejected the state’s appeal against a lower court ruling that prosecutors had violated his rights by intentionally rejecting potential black jurors.

Michael Sockwell was convicted in 1990 of killing Montgomery County sheriff’s deputy Isaiah Harris, who was shot dead in 1988 while on his way to work in what prosecutors described as a murder-for-hire arranged by the deputy’s wife.

ARGENTINA: The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) filed a lawsuit on Monday in a bid to block a major attack on employment rights promoted by far-right President Javier Milei.

The legislation, approved by Congress on Friday, grants employers greater powers over hiring, firing and severance while limiting trade union rights.