HK democracy activist Wong gets prison term
HONG KONG, Jan 17: A Hong Kong court sentenced democracy activist Joshua Wong to three months in prison Wednesday for contempt, his second prison term stemming from his role in the 2014 "Umbrella Movement" protests. The 21-year-old Wong and another defendant were immediately taken into custody at Hong Kong's High Court, while 14 others, including another prominent former student leader, Lester Shum, received suspended sentences. "Keep it up, everyone!" Wong called out to the court before officers escorted him away. Ahead of the hearing, he said he had no regrets and vowed to keep fighting for democracy. "They can lock up our body, but they can't lock up our mind," he told reporters. — AP
Arson attack on rights group office
MOSCOW, Jan 17: Two masked men set fire to the office of top Russian rights group Memorial in volatile Ingushetia a week after the arrest of its director in neighbouring Chechnya, the group said Wednesday. Computers and documents were destroyed in the attack, according to a statement on Memorial's website. Memorial said a CCTV camera recorded the two men entering its office building at night in Nazran and throwing canisters into the group's work place through an internal window. — AFP
Russian court jails paedophile priest
SAINT PETERSBURG, Jan 17: A Russian court sentenced an Orthodox priest to 14 years in a penal colony Wednesday in a paedophilia case that dragged on over four years after he had initially fled the country. The court in Priozersk, a city in the northern Leningrad region, found cleric Gleb Grozovsky guilty of sexually abusing three children younger than 14 at two religious holiday camps. "Gleb Grozovsky was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment at a high security penal colony and to restricted movement for a year after his release," the court said. The court also ordered Grozovsky to pay 400,000 rubles ($7,072) to each of his victims' families. — AFP
Authorities destroy US artist's sculpture in S Korea
SEOUL, Jan 17: One of the last sculptures by US artist Dennis Oppenheim has been destroyed by local authorities in a South Korean city on the grounds that it was becoming an "eyesore". Art lovers have expressed shock and anger over the demolishing of "Chamber", installed next to the beach at Haeundae in Busan. Oppenheim, a conceptual and performance artist as well as a sculptor, has works in the collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and London's Tate Gallery, among others. — AFP
32 bodies in Mexico mass graves
MEXICO CITY, Jan 17: At least 32 bodies have been found in mass graves in Mexico's northwestern state of Nayarit, authorities said Tuesday. "The first grave was located on Saturday. There were nine bodies," in a rural area not far from a banana farm, an official in the local prosecutors' office told AFP. Two other graves were detected nearby with remains "in an advanced state of decomposition," the source said. Later, another source said the toll had risen to 32 bodies recovered, and that officials were still working on the sites. — AFP
UN to probe DR Congo clashes
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 17: The United Nations announced Tuesday it will investigate the death of 39 Burundian refugees in clashes with soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo in September. The soldiers allegedly opened fire on the refugees in eastern South Kivu province after they protested the detention of a small group of Burundians by Congolese authorities. — AFP
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