Digest

Group: Suicide capsule applications suspended

Advocacy groups behind a so-called suicide capsule said Sunday they have suspended the process of taking applications to use it — which numbered over 370 last month — as a criminal investigation into its first use in Switzerland is completed.

The president of Switzerland-based The Last Resort, Florian Willet, is being held in pretrial detention, said the group and Exit International, an affiliate founded in Australia over a quarter-century ago.

Swiss police arrested Willet and several other people after the death of an unidentified 64-year-old woman from the U.S. Midwest who on Sept. 23 became the first person to use the device, known as the "Sarco," in a forest in the northern Schaffhausen region near the German border.

Russia fires drones,

missiles at Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces attacked Ukraine overnight with 87 Shahed drones and four types of missiles, officials said Sunday.

A 49-year-old man was killed in the Kharkiv region after his car was hit by a drone, said regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. A gas pipeline was also damaged and a warehouse set alight in the city of Odesa, Ukrainian officials reported.

Ukraine's air force said in a statement that air defenses destroyed 56 of the 87 drones and two missiles over 14 Ukrainian regions, including the capital, Kyiv.

NKOREA-CHINA: The leaders of North Korea and China marked the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations on Sunday by exchanging messages that expressed hopes for stronger ties, as outsiders raised questions about their relationship. The message exchange came as North Korea and Russia have been sharply expanding their cooperation while China apparently keeps its distance.

MARBURG VACCINE: Rwandan health authorities will begin a vaccine study against Marburg hemorrhagic fever, officials said Sunday, as the East African country tries to stop the spread of an outbreak that has killed 12 people. Rwanda received 700 doses of a vaccine under trial from the U.S.-based Sabin Vaccine Institute on Saturday.

wo boys, ages 12 and 13, were arrested Saturday in connection with an assault Friday on former New York Gov. David Paterson, 70, and his stepson, Anthony Sliwa, 20, police said. They were treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

innesota man was arrested after allegedly threatening to "shoot up" Temple Israel, a Minneapolis synagogue, officials said Saturday. A special police detail was notified Thursday of a man outside with a firearm. He fled the area, but officers arrested a 21-year-old man the next day.

KAZAKHSTAN: Polls opened in Kazakhstan on Sunday for a referendum on building the country's first nuclear power plant, confronting the country's painful legacy as a testing ground for Soviet nuclear weapons. The proposal is backed by the government and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

GREAT BRITAIN: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's chief of staff, Sue Gray, quit on Sunday, citing concerns that growing news reports about tensions between her and Starmer's chief adviser Morgan McSweeney "risked becoming a distraction to the government."

— Associated Press