■ BRAZIL
City violence dropping
Homicide rates are on a downward trend in big cities but rising in the countryside, a report released on Tuesday says. Nationwide the murder rate dropped on average almost 3 percent per year between 2003 and 2006, according to the "Map of Violence," prepared by the Latin American Technological Information Network. Conducted in 556 cities, the study found that after peaking at just over 51,000 in 2003, killings have dropped steadily each year to reach 46,660 in 2006. Big urban areas were responsible for most of the decline, which the report's author attributed to increased police presence.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
De-mining Falklands mulled
Clearing the tens of thousands of land mines in the Falklands Islands is feasible, London said on Tuesday, although it warned that the operation would be challenging and expensive. Britain faces a 2009 deadline to clear all land mines on its territories, but officials have blamed complicated negotiations with Argentina, which claims the South Atlantic islands as its own, for the failure to clear the devices there.
■ UNITED STATES
Sextuplet faker sentenced
A Missouri woman who faked the birth of sextuplets to tap the generosity of neighbors was sentenced on Monday to four years in prison for violating her probation. Sarah Everson, 47, and her husband, Kris, 35, were living in the Kansas City suburb of Grain Valley in March 2006 when they made up the story. They were sentenced in August 2006 to four years of probation after each pleaded guilty to felony stealing by deceit but Sarah's whereabouts were unknown until last month.
■ UNITED STATES
Margaret Truman dies at 83
Margaret Truman Daniel, the only child of president Harry Truman who was known for her series of crime novels, died on Tuesday in Chicago at age 83, the Truman Library said. Daniel, a long-time resident of New York City who had a brief singing career, died in a care facility from complications from an infection, the library in Independence, Missouri, said in a statement. She had been brought to Chicago to be closer to her son Clifton, one of her four children, a library spokeswoman said.
■ BRAZIL
Twins can study together
The family of six-year-old twins was celebrating yesterday after a judge said the girls could study together at a prestigious primary school despite only one of them having won a place, the daily O Estado de S. Paulo reported. The father of Susy and Sandy de Sousa Dutra had sued to ensure Sandy continued to learn alongside her sister on the grounds of "preserving family unity" and the siblings' close bond. A judge ruled that Sandy could join Susy in first grade at an institute that is part of the State University of Rio de Janeiro, whose places are distributed by lottery to qualifying candidates.
RSS