US postal crackdown

FEDERAL prosecutors in Southern California have charged dozens of postal workers and others with theft and fraud – including a member of staff who allegedly hoarded 48,000 items of mail.

The US attorney’s office said it had charged 33 people with theft, possession of stolen mail, as well as bank fraud.

One case claims a former executive stole more than 150 phones.

THE Bolivian government says its deputy interior minister Rodolfo Illanes has been kidnapped and murdered by striking miners. Interior Minister Carlos Romero said all indications were his colleague had been killed in a “cowardly and brutal” attack.