NEWS OF THE DAY
_1 Ex-leader released: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert left prison Sunday days after a parole board granted him early release from his 27-month corruption sentence. Olmert, 71, was whisked away by security and driven home after serving 16 months. He appeared gaunt and pale as he left the prison. The terms of Olmert’s early release stipulate that for the next few months he must do volunteer work, appear before police twice a month and not give interviews to the media or leave the country. Olmert was convicted in 2014 in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a realestate project in Jerusalem and obstructing justice. The charges pertained to a period when he was mayor of Jerusalem and trade minister before he became prime minister in 2006.
_2 Evacuation crash: A helicopter carrying eight people crashed Sunday while on the way to aid evacuations near a volcano that erupted on the main Indonesian island of Java, killing all eight people aboard, officials said. The eruption of the volcano, located in a popular tourist area, injured at least 10 people. The helicopter had four navy officers and four rescuers on board and reportedly crashed into a cliff just minutes before arriving at Dieng Plateau, where the volcano erupted Sunday. The helicopter went down near Candiroto village in Central Java province’s Temanggung district.
_3 Terror summit: France on Sunday promised strong support for a new multinational force that will carry out military operations against extremists in Africa’s vast Sahel region, while President Emmanuel Macron met in Mali with leaders from the five regional countries involved. Leaders from Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad — known as the G5 — must clarify their roles and contributions for the 5,000-strong force to attract more support from outside countries, Macron said. Emphasizing the threat, the recently formed extremist group Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, based in Mali, released a proof-of-life video Saturday showing six foreign hostages seized in the region in recent years.
_4 Drug trafficking: Brazilian police say they have captured a major drug lord known as “White Head” who used plastic surgery to help him evade authorities for nearly three decades. Luiz Carlos da Rocha was arrested Saturday in the state of Mato Grosso. He’s been sentenced by Brazilian courts to more than 50 years in prison for international drug trafficking and money laundering. Police say Rocha’s cartel produced cocaine in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia and exported it to Europe and the United States via Brazil and Paraguay. In Brazil alone, police estimate Rocha brought in 5 tons of cocaine per month. Police also seized $10 million worth of the drug lord’s assets, including planes, properties and luxury cars.
_5 Rebel leader: The top commander of Colombia’s largest rebel movement was hospitalized Sunday following a stroke and remains in intensive care, just days after his group handed over weapons as part of a historic peace deal. Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, checked himself into a hospital in the city of Villavicencio, doctors and Revolutionary Armed Forces officials said in a news conference. Doctors said he is recovering well from what they described as a temporary blockage of blood to his brain. Londono’s hospitalization comes less than a week after Colombia reached a major milestone on its road to peace with FARC rebels relinquishing some of their last weapons and declaring an end to their half-century insurgency.
From Around the World