VIETNAM
Ten receive life sentences
Ten people received life sentences for attacks last year on government offices, news Web site VnExpress reported, citing a court verdict for about 100 defendants in the case. Nine people including four police officers were killed in the attacks in June last year that took place in the coffee-growing Dak Lak Province, and others were seriously injured. In addition to those facing life imprisonment, 43 people were also charged with “terrorism against the people’s government” and are to serve six to 20 years. A further 45 defendants have been sentenced to up to 11 years on charges of terrorism, the VnExpress’ English service said. The Central Highlands, known for its coffee production, has a history of political unrest among minority groups over land rights.
PERU
Protester grabs president
A protester violently grabbed President Dina Boluarte on Saturday during an event in the southern Ayacucho region, where 10 people were killed in mass anti-government demonstrations more than a year ago. TV footage of the assault showed Boluarte in traditional clothing surrounded by a crowd of people as she throws out candy, when a shouting woman approaches and grabs the president. A chaotic scene ensues as police intervene to separate the woman, with Boluarte seemingly uninjured and rejoining the event. The woman said she held Boluarte responsible for the death of her husband during the December 2022 protests in Ayacucho. Boluarte, 61, came to power that month after former leftist president Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve the Congress and rule by decree, leading to his quick ouster and arrest. Violent protests demanding Boluarte step down and fresh elections be held followed across the country. The ensuing crackdown by security forces left about 50 people dead, according to an estimate by Human Rights Watch.
UNITED KINGDOM
Six-legged dog has surgery
A spaniel born with six legs that was found abandoned in a supermarket parking lot is now like other dogs after having her extra limbs surgically removed. Ariel, who was named for The Little Mermaid character because the additional appendage with two paws on the end looked like a flipper, ran through the grass outside a veterinary hospital on Saturday as she adjusted to life on four legs. “She is doing brilliantly,” said Vicki Black, director of the Langford Vets Small Animal Referral Hospital, where she was treated on Thursday. The dog, who had multiple birth defects, was found in the center of Pembroke, Wales, in September last year. Greenacres Rescue took her in and raised funds for her surgery.
UNITED STATES
Man admits kidnapping
A Texas man has pleaded guilty to kidnapping a 13-year-old girl who was rescued in Southern California when a passerby saw her hold up a “Help Me!” sign in a parked car. A statement on Friday from the US Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California said Steven Robert Sablan, 62, of Cleburne, Texas, admitted in a plea agreement that he sexually assaulted the victim while driving her from Texas to California. The girl was rescued on July 9 last year in Long Beach, California, after a passerby called 911 to report seeing her hold up the piece of paper with the handwritten desperate plea for help. Sablan, who has been in federal custody since July last year, pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping, prosecutors said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home