Chickens slowly freezing to death, being boiled alive, drowned or suffocating under piles of other birds are among hundreds of shocking welfare incidents recorded at US slaughterhouses, according to previously unpublished reports.

Among them are “inexcusable” violations, say campaigners, who ask if the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) current system, where inspectors issue reports when they see violations, really works. One inspector, who asked to remain anonymous, questioned the impact of those reports. Read more HERE.

A man opened fire in a cathedral in southern Brazil after mass on Tuesday, killing four and leaving four others injured before turning a gun on himself, authorities said. The incident happened at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Campinas, a city about 60 miles (100km) north of São Paulo.

Police identified the shooter as Euler Fernando Gandolfo, 49, a systems analyst with no criminal record. Gandolfo entered the cathedral and sat down among mainly elderly worshippers who remained to pray after midday mass. “I suddenly saw a man stand up, take position in front of a couple and shoot them point blank. I ran out fast and he continued firing, many shots,” said Pedro Rodrigues, a 66-year-old retiree. Red more HERE.

Italian police have captured a mafia boss who had been on the country’s list of most dangerous fugitives, after discovering his luxury hideout near Naples.

Antonio Orlando, a suspected major player in the ruthless Camorra organised crime group, was detained after 15 years on the run, during which he had continued to issue orders to the clan, police said.

“The good times are over” for the 60-year-old mobster, the interior minister, Matteo Salvini, said. Read more HERE.

South Korea’s Kim Jong-yang has been elected as Interpol’s next president, edging out a longtime veteran of Russia’s security services who was strongly opposed by the US, Britain and other European nations.

The White House and its European partners had lobbied against Alexander Prokopchuk’s attempts to be named the next president of the international police body, saying his election would lead to further Russian abuses of Interpol’s “red notice” system to go after political opponents.

Prokopchuk is a general in the Russian interior ministry and serves as an Interpol vice-president. Read more HERE.

The number of missing or unaccounted for people in the northern California wildfire soared to 631 on Thursday, authorities said, an increase of more than 500 since Wednesday.

The news came as the death toll in the Camp fire increased to 63 after authorities recovered the remains of an additional seven people. The remains were found outdoors and in the rubble of homes and cars in the towns of Paradise, Magalia and Concow. One victim was found in a overturned charred car in Paradise.

The revised official roster of 631 individuals whose whereabouts and fate remained unknown is more than double the 297 listed earlier in the day by the Butte county sheriff’s office. read more HERE.