World in brief: 24 die in ambush on caravan

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine authorities promised today to make arrests in the country’s worst election massacre, which left at least 24 people dead and more than a dozen missing after gunmen ambushed a candidate’s caravan in a region notorious for clan violence.

Officials were still trying to get the exact number of family members, political supporters and journalists who were intercepted by about 100 gunmen Monday and taken to a remote mountainous area, said Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

Police said the convoy of about 40 people was going to register Ismael Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan township, to run for provincial governor when they were stopped.

Soldiers and police later found 24 bodies, including those of Mangudadatu’s wife, Genalyn, and his two sisters, sprawled on the ground or shot in their vehicles.

Ships alerted about icebergs

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Ships in the south Pacific Ocean have been alerted that groups of icebergs believed to have split off Antarctic ice shelves are drifting north toward New Zealand, officials said today.

The alert comes three years after dozens of icebergs floated close to New Zealand’s southern shores for the first time in 75 years.

Rodney Russ, expedition leader on the tourist ship Spirit of Enderby, spotted one iceberg Monday, 57 miles northeast of Macquarie Island and heading north – about 500 miles south of New Zealand. The iceberg was up to 500 feet long and 80 to 90 feet high, he said. The vessel found another iceberg on its radar, he added.

Four icebergs were spotted last week off Auckland Islands, 250 miles south of New Zealand and heading slowly toward the country.

Australian scientists reported another mass of 20 icebergs drifting north past Macquarie Island two weeks ago.