State attorney-general jailed
Former Pennsylvania Attorney-General Kathleen Kane was sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail for illegally disclosing details from a grand jury investigation to embarrass a rival and lying about it under oath. Kane was also sentenced to eight years of probation by a Montgomery County judge who said Kane's ego drove her to take down enemies and break the law. Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy said Kane assumed an "off with your heads" mentality as she ran the state's top law enforcement agency.
Seven killed, dozens of buildings damaged
A powerful blast at a house in northwestern China has killed at least seven people and injured 94. The cause of the explosion was unknown. It occurred in the town of Xinmin in Shaanxi province, damaging dozens of buildings including the local hospital.
Belgium blocks deal
Belgium says it can't formally back a free trade deal between the European Union and Canada because of an internal Belgian dispute. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told European Council president Donald Tusk that Belgium was not in a position to consent to a deal that all 27 other EU members are ready to support because its French-speaking authorities opposed it. However, Tusk said he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau still believed an EU-Canada summit on Friday could go ahead.
Slippery slope
Telling little fibs leads down a slippery slope to bigger lies - and our brains adapt to escalating dishonesty, which makes deceit easier, a new study shows. Neuroscientists at the University College London's Affective Brain Lab put 80 people in scenarios where they could repeatedly lie and get paid more based on the magnitude of their lies. They said that people's lies grow bolder the more they fib. The study is in Nature Neuroscience.
The Bard's co-writer
A new edition of William Shakespeare's complete works will name Christopher Marlowe as co-author of three plays, shedding new light on the links between the two great playwrights. Marlowe will be listed as co-author of the three Henry VI plays in the New Oxford Shakespeare.
Carbon milestone
The World Meteorological Organisation says heat-trapping gases in Earth's atmosphere are growing faster than before, surging permanently beyond a troubling milestone. The United Nations agency says global carbon dioxide levels, which first reached 400 parts per million last year, are likely to stay above that symbolic 400 milestone all year and for generations to come.
Murder of book dealer
A man has been convicted of murdering a historian and book dealer by stabbing him to death in his own home. Michael Danaher, who weighs 158kg, killed Adrian Greenwood in April after going to steal his £50,000 108-year-old first edition copy of Kenneth Grahame's classic the Wind In The Willows.
Mum and daughter real troopers
A veteran state trooper and her rookie daughter have become the first mother and daughter to serve in uniform with the New York State Police. Trooper Meagan Hartmann graduated from the State Police Academy, joining her mother Bethany Lamphere. They work at separate stations 95km apart in central New York.
- agencies