IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Pets get high-class send-off at funeral home for animals

Chantal Detimmerman weeps at the funeral parlor as she spends a last few moments with her beloved Chico who has been prepared for cremation and laid out in a dog basket.

Logging plan puts fate of ancient forest in balance

It is the last remaining relic of an ancient forest that stretched for millennia across the lowlands of Europe a shadowy, mossy woodland where bison and lynx roam beneath towering oak trees up to 600 years old.

Climbers fall ill as 2 die on mountain

At least 30 mountaineers said to be sick or frostbitten on Mount Qomolangma

More bodies pulled from landslides

Sri Lankan soldiers pulled more bodies from landslides and distributed food and water to hundreds of thousands of residents camped in shelters on Sunday after major floods hit the island.

Supreme Court rules against beach nudists

Nudists have lost a seven-year legal battle for access to a popular tourist resort beach on Spain's southwestern tip.

7 dead after volcano erupts

The death toll in the eruption of a volcano in western Indonesia rose to seven on Sunday, with two other people in critical condition, as an official warned of more eruptions.

Hopes rise as medical marijuana is legalized

Jai Whitelaw was 10 when he first took medical cannabis, given to him by his mother in a bid to treat the debilitating epilepsy that saw him endure up to 500 seizures a day.

Spy agency declares Taliban chief dead

Apparent elimination of Mansour could also spark new succession battles

Right-winger may clinch presidency

For the first time since World War II, a right-wing politician could win Sunday's election for the Austrian presidency as established parties that have dominated postwar politics watch from the sidelines.

Transsexuals allowed to change name

Starting on Saturday, Bolivian transsexuals aged over 18 can change their name, gender and photo in all public and private documents after the Gender Identity Law was signed into law. "This is democracy. For that reason, I feel happy to be able to sign this law, under which for the first time the government guarantees social recognition of people with rights, regardless of their sexual orientation," Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera said at Bolivia's Palace of Government in La Paz.

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