Grand jury indicts right-to-die group

Grand jury indicts right-to-die group

HASTINGS, Minn.

A Minnesota grand jury has indicted a national right-to-die group and several members for their actions in the 2007 suicide of a suburban Minneapolis woman, prosecutors announced Monday.

The 17-count indictment charges the medical director of Final Exit Network, Lawrence Egbert of Baltimore, and three other officials with felony counts of assisting suicide and interference with a death scene, a gross misdemeanor. It also charged the New Jersey-based group in its corporate capacity.

Job-hunt stress leads to increased suicides

TOKYO

An increasing number of young people have been committing suicide in recent years due to unsuccessful efforts at finding a job, according to a survey conducted by the National Police Agency.

The agency said 150 people in their teens and 20s, including university students, killed themselves in 2011 due to distress over job hunting. The number grew 2.5-fold from 2007, according to the agency.

After the 2006 enactment of the basic law on suicide prevention, the agency began analyzing the possible causes of suicides, based on notes and other records left behind.

Results showed that 60 teens and people in their 20s committed suicide as a result of job-hunt-related distress in 2007. This figure rose to 91 in 2008.

GOP kills civil unions in Colo.

DENVER

A last-ditch effort by Colorado’s governor to give gay couples in the state rights similar to married couples failed Monday after Republicans rejected the proposal during a special legislative session.

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper had said the special session was needed to address a “fundamental question of fairness and civil rights.”

The bill’s demise was expected by Democrats, who have begun using the issue as a rallying cry to topple Republicans in the November elections. Republicans assigned the bill to the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, which was likely to reject it. The panel voted 5-4 along party lines to kill the measure.

Syrian unrest spills into Lebanon again

TRIPOLI, Lebanon

Firing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Lebanese gunmen clashed in street battles Monday as sectarian tensions linked to the 14-month-old uprising in Syria bled across the border for a third day.

At least five people have been killed and 100 wounded in Lebanon’s second-largest city since the gunbattles erupted late Saturday, security officials said. Residents say differences over Syria are at the root of the fighting, which pits neighbor against neighbor and raises fears of broader unrest that could draw in neighboring countries.

Man who cared for famed tree dies

PORTLAND, Maine

Frank Knight’s decades-long battle to save New England’s tallest elm served as an inspiring tale of devotion, so it is fitting that he will be laid to rest in a coffin made from the tree he made famous.

Knight, who died Monday at 103, had affectionately referred to the 217-year-old elm nicknamed Herbie as “an old friend.” The massive tree succumbed to Dutch elm disease and was cut down two years ago.

Wood from the tree was made into a coffin, a secret that was kept from Knight.

“To have them together like that is a wonderful thing. I feel like Frank took good care of Herbie. Now Herbie will take good care of Frank,” said Deb Hopkins, a close friend who succeeded Knight as the town’s tree warden.

Combined dispatches