South Africa deploys army over burning of trucks, braces for unrest

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa deployed the army to help secure four provinces Friday, after at least 21 delivery trucks were set on fire in the past five days and amid concerns of unrest over a court decision that could send former President Jacob Zuma back to jail. The deployment of soldiers came a day after South Africa’s apex Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma’s early release from prison on medical parole in 2021 was invalid.

Italians outraged after court clears man of groping a teen

ROME (AP) — Italians are using social media to denounce a court verdict clearing a school janitor of a sexual assault charge for groping a 17-year-old student because it only lasted “around five to 10 seconds.” The teenager said the man came up from behind her as she was pulling up her trousers while walking with a friend up the stairs in a Rome high school, and slipped his hand beneath her underpants, according to court documents. Pulling on the undergarments, he then lifted her slightly in the air. He admitted to groping her in the April 2022 incident but claimed it was a joke.

China executes kindergarten teacher who poisoned 25 of her students

BEIJING (AP) — A court in central China said on Friday a Chinese kindergarten teacher who had poisoned 25 of her students, killing one, has been executed. A notice posted outside the No. 1 Intermediate Court in the Henan province city of Jiaozuo said Wang Yun’s sentence had been carried out on Thursday. Wang, 40, was convicted of putting toxic sodium nitrite in porridge served to children at Mengmeng Pre-school Education on March 27, 2019, following an argument with a colleague identified only by the surname Sun over “student management.”

Rescuers evacuate 14,000 people from flood-hit villages in eastern Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Rescuers in boats evacuated 14,000 people over the past several days after floodwaters from two rivers swollen by monsoon rains inundated dozens of villages in eastern Pakistan, officials said Friday. Monsoon rains began lashing the South Asian country in late June and since then, at least 91 people have died in weather-related incidents across the country. Mohsin Naqvi, a top official in eastern Punjab province, tweeted Friday that he visited flood-hit areas. The evacuations began earlier this week after neighboring India diverted waters from dams into the Ravi River, which flows from India into Pakistan.