Kaboni Savage

Kaboni Savage, described by a federal prosecutor as the leader of "perhaps the most violent drug gang ever seen in the city of Philadelphia," was charged in a sweeping racketeering indictment yesterday that listed 12 murders, including a North Philadelphia firebombing in which six people, four of them children, were killed.

Savage, a onetime professional boxer serving a 30-year sentence for drug trafficking, could be sentenced to death if convicted of the most serious charges. His court-appointed attorney, Christopher Warren, said yesterday that his client denied the allegations, which have been swirling around him since his trial in 2005. Three top associates also named in the 26-count indictment face possible death sentences if convicted.

The indictment alleges that Savage, from prison, ordered two of those associates, Lamont Lewis and Robert Merritt, to firebomb the home of Marcella Coleman in the 3200 block of North Sixth Street in October 2004. Early on Oct. 9, 2004, authorities allege, Lewis and Merritt carried out the attack. The fire killed Marcella Coleman, 54; her niece Tameka Nash, 34; Nash's daughter, Khadijah, 10; Eugene Coleman's 15-month-old son, Damir Jenkins; Marcella Coleman's grandson, Tajh Porchea, 12; and a family friend, Sean Rodriguez, 15.

U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid, detailing the charges in the case yesterday, quoted from secretly recorded conversations in which Savage allegedly threatened to kill relatives of those who might testify against him and joked about the firebombing. In all, the indictment alleges that 12 murders were carried out as part of the Kaboni Savage Organization's drug trafficking operation. The victims allegedly included rival drug dealers, potential cooperating witnesses, and the family members of witnesses.

Good Friday

A rainy Good Friday looms over portions of Northern Luzon and Mindanao as two weather disturbances continue to threaten the regions with rains and thunderstorms. In its 5 p.m. bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said a diffused tail end of a cold front continues to affect the northern portion of Luzon, while an easterly wave continues to affect Mindanao.

We do celebrate Easter in a secular fashion, with eggs, chocolate rabbits and so on, but the time for that is Easter Sunday, which comes with its own public holiday the following day. "Celebrating" Good Friday would be inappropriate in religious as well as secular terms -- although that didn't stop The Australian last year headlining a Good Friday report with "Aussie Christians celebrate Easter". Theology is not our strong point.

Each year, religious figures find something to criticise as "desecration" of the day. This year it was Tabcorp opening for business; a couple of years ago it was a plan to play an evening football game. But what's remarkable is how little of this sort of thing there is. Other public holidays -- Australia Day, Queen's Birthday, Labour Day, even Anzac Day -- seem to cope with far more social activity than Good Friday.

USS Bainbridge

USS Bainbridge is tracking a U.S.-flagged ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates. The crew of the hijacked ship managed to retake control from the pirates, however pirates are still holding the captain hostage in a lifeboat. She was launched on 13 November 2003 at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, sponsored by Susan Bainbridge Hay, Commodore William Bainbridge's.

Bainbridge is more than twice as long and displaces 20 times as much tonnage as her namesake a century earlier. She is homeported in Norfolk, Virginia. The ship currently features the Remote Mine-hunting System (RMS),[1] which includes the Remote Mine-hunting Vehicle (RMV), an unmanned craft that detects, classifies, and localizes underwater mines.

The destroyer U.S.S. Bainbridge on Thursday reached the waters where the hijack drama between Somali pirates and the Maersk Alabama continues to unfold. The U.S.S. Bainbridge was among several U.S. ships that had been patrolling in the region. The U.S.S. Bainbridge is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, with a displacement of 9,200 tons and a length of 509 ft 6 in., carries 270 officers and enlisted men, and has two SH-60 SeaHawk helicopters in addition to its own armament.