NORTH KOREA
Two more short-range missiles launched
North Korea launched two short-range projectiles into waters off its east coast for a third straight day Monday, officials here said, despite warnings from the United States and South Korea against increasing tensions. The North has conducted six such launchings since Saturday, in what are believed to be tests of short-range guided missiles or rockets from multiple launchers, officials said. North Korea said the launchings were part of normal military drills.
VERMONT
State 4th to legalize assisted suicide
Vermont became the fourth state in the nation Monday to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medicine to terminally ill patients seeking to end their lives. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the bill into law at a Statehouse ceremony even as opponents vowed to push for its repeal. Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen said he expects doctors to write between 10 and 20 lethal prescriptions a year, with a smaller number of patients actually using the drugs.
CALIFORNIA
Customs seizes elephant meat, dead primate
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Los Angeles have made some unusual seizures, including elephant meat, a dead primate and hundreds of handbags made from the skin of snakes, lizards and crocodiles. The agency said Monday that the illegal items were seized between May 6 and May 10 at an international mail facility and at Los Angeles International Airport. The 387 purses were in the baggage of a passenger from Nigeria.
WASHINGTON
President plans trip to Africa
President Barack Obama will make a weeklong trip to Africa this summer, the longest journey of his presidency so far to the continent of his father’s family, the White House announced Monday. Obama will visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania from June 26 to July 3, the White House said. While he made a one-day stop in Ghana after visiting Russia and Italy in 2009, this will be his most extended visit to Africa since taking office.
PAKISTAN
Musharraf gets bail in Bhutto death
An anti-terrorism court granted Pakistan’s former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, bail on charges relating to the death of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007 while Musharraf was in power. The decision will not, however, see the former military leader go free. He remains under house arrest at his luxury villa outside Islamabad in connection with two other cases: the killing of a Baloch nationalist leader in 2006 and the firing of senior judges in 2007.
CONNECTICUT
Rail service to resume Wednesday
Commuter rail service between Connecticut and New York City is expected to resume in full by Wednesday morning rush hour, five days after a derailment and crash injured scores of passengers, transit authorities said Monday. Crews have worked around the clock since Saturday and track rebuilding has progressed quickly, officials with the Metro-North railroad said. Commuters struggled Monday to find transportation, and many commuters reported rides to work and back home far longer than on typical days.
INDIA
Leaders gloss over border dispute
The leaders of India and China papered over their recent border spat Monday with a friendly joint statement and an array of promises for economic and military cooperation, but they resolved none of their most vexing problems. The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, emphasized in his remarks that cordial relations between the two countries depended on “peace and tranquility on our borders,” and said that he and his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, “agreed that this must continue to be preserved.” Li, who arrived in India on Sunday, offered some reassurances about the border difficulties, but he made no apology for Chinese troops’ recent incursion into a district of Kashmir claimed by India.
KENTUCKY
Teen dies with dog lead on neck
A Kentucky teenager known as a “jokester” was strangled by a dog lead he put around his neck while playing with friends at the start of summer vacation, just hours after finishing his freshman year in high school. Tony Conley, 16, died near his home in eastern Kentucky on Friday when he apparently jumped off an outdoor deck staircase and the dog lead tightened around his neck, county Coroner Tony Murphy said Monday. Friends tried but were unable to cut the metal cable, and Conley was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
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