News In Brief
AP, Moscow
President Vladimir Putin thanked Russians Friday for his landslide re-election to another six-year term, pledging to lead the country to an economic “breakthrough.”
Putin’s live televised statement came shortly after the Central Election Commission officially declared him the winner of Sunday’s election with nearly 77 percent of the vote, putting him on track to become the nation’s longest-serving leader since Josef Stalin.
Peru’s President sworn in
AFP, Lima
Martin Vizcarra was sworn in as Peru’s new president Friday, catapulted to the post when Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned to avoid impeachment.
Vizcarra, who was both vice president as well as his country’s ambassador to Canada, took the oath of office and donned the red-and-white presidential sash before the Peruvian Congress.
IS claims French shooting
AFP, Trebes
A gunman claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group killed three people in a shooting spree and supermarket hostage siege in southwest France on Friday before anti-terror police shot him dead.
Five people were also shot and wounded in France’s first major jihadist attack since October, including a heroic policeman who offered to take the place of hostages being held at the supermarket.
N Korea agrees to inter-Korean talks
AFP, Seoul
North Korea on Saturday agreed to hold high-level talks next week with Seoul to discuss logistics for a rare inter- Korean summit, the South’s Unification Ministry said.
Both Koreas will each send a three-member delegation to the border truce village of Panmunjom on Thursday for talks aimed at paving the way for a summit due late April, it said.
4 found dead in Mexico
Reuters, Mexico
An Iowa family of four on vacation in Mexican seaside resort was found dead inside a condominium, but foul play was not suspected, authorities and a family member said on Friday.
The bodies of Kevin Sharp, 41, his 38-year-old wife Amy, and their children Sterling, 12, and Adrianna, 7, of Creston, Iowa, were discovered by authorities in Akumal, Mexico, the Iowa city’s police department said in a statement.
