Nation & World Glance

Kansas bail bondsman gets life for killing son fed to pigs

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A former Kansas bail bondsman was sentenced to life in prison Monday for killing his 7-year-old son, who authorities say endured abuse and starvation before his remains were fed to pigs on the family’s rental property.

Under the sentence, Michael Jones, 46, won’t be eligible for parole for at least 25 years. He pleaded guilty in March to first-degree murder in the 2015 death of Adrian Jones.

Michael Jones turned his chair away from Adrian’s grandmother, mother and older sister, never making eye contact as they addressed the judge. They excoriated him during the sentencing hearing for a slaying authorities described as horrific, even haunting.

The judge ordered Jones to spend the rest of his life on parole if he is ever released from prison.

S. Koreans vote for new president to succeed ousted Park

SEOUL, South Korea — South Koreans voted Tuesday for a new president, with victory widely predicted for a liberal candidate who has pledged to improve ties with North Korea, reexamine a contentious U.S. missile defense shield and push sweeping economic changes.

Conservatives worry that a victory by Moon Jae-in might benefit North Korea and put South Korea at odds with its most important ally, the United States.

Moon has been the clear favorite as the country’s powerful conservative forces struggle to regroup after a huge corruption scandal that led to President Park Geun-hye’s removal from office and arrest in March.

The final opinion surveys released last week showed Moon, the Democratic Party candidate, had about a 20 percentage point lead over his two main rivals — a centrist and a conservative.

Pepe cartoonist kills off character that became hate symbol

The cartoonist who created Pepe the Frog has killed off the character in a rebuke to far-right extremists who transformed a benevolent internet meme into a racist, anti-Semitic symbol.

A Pepe cartoon released Saturday in comic book stores shows Matt Furie’s creation in an open casket.

In a Time magazine essay last year, Furie described Pepe as “chill frog-dude” who debuted in a 2006 comic book called “Boy’s Club” and became a popular online subject for usergenerated mutations. But internet trolls hijacked the character and began flooding social media with hateful Pepe memes more than a year before the 2016 presidential election. Pepe became a tongue-in-cheek symbol of the “alt-right” fringe movement and its loosely connected brand of white nationalism, neo-Nazism and anti-immigration.