Nation & World Glance
The U.S. government says it has negotiated a significant cut in the United Nations budget.
The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said on Sunday that the U.N.’s 2018-2019 budget would be slashed by over $285 million. The mission said reductions would also be made to the U.N.’s management and support functions.
The announcement didn’t make clear the entire amount of the budget or specify what effect the cut would have on the U.S. contribution.
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said that the “inefficiency and overspending” of the organization is wellknown, and she would not let “the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of.”
She also said that while the mission was pleased with the results of budget negotiations, it would continue to “look at ways to increase the U.N.’s efficiency? while protecting our interests.”
LIMA, Peru — Peru’s president announced Sunday night that he granted a medical pardon to jailed former strongman Alberto Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses, corruption and the sanctioning of death squads.
President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski released a statement on Christmas Eve saying he decided to free Fujimori for “humanitarian reasons,” citing doctors who had determined the ex-leader suffers from incurable and degenerative problems.
The 79-year-old Fujimori, who governed from 1990 to 2000, is a polarizing figure in Peru. Some Peruvians laud him for defeating the Maoist Shining Path guerrilla movement, while others loathe him for human rights violations carried out under his government and some human rights groups quickly criticized the pardon.
His daughter, Keiko Fujimori, narrowly lost Peru’s last presidential election to Kuczynski, and her party dominates congress. Her party mounted an attempt this month to oust Kuczynski over business ties to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which is at the center of a huge Latin American corruption scandal, but the president survived the impeachment vote late Thursday.
Critics of Fujimori again raised speculation that Kuczynski agreed to pardon the former leader in return for some opposition lawmakers not supporting his impeachment.
‘Sound of Music’ actress Heather Menzies-Urich dies at 68
LOS ANGELES — Actress Heather Menzies-Urich, who played one of the singing von Trapp children in the hit 1965 film, “The Sound of Music,” has died. She was 68.
Her son, actor Ryan Urich, told Variety that his mother died late Sunday in Frankford, Ontario. She recently had been diagnosed with brain cancer.
“She was an actress, a ballerina and loved living her life to the fullest,” Urich said.
Menzies-Urich played Louisa von Trapp, the third-oldest of the seven von Trapp children, in the film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
“The Sound of Music” captured five Academy Awards, including best picture.
Raja the cat returned to family 3 years later
GEORGETOWN, Del. — Raja the cat once was lost, but now is found — three years later.
On Tuesday, a man brought a stray cat to a shelter in Georgetown, Delaware, run by the Brandywine Valley chapter of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Staffers there found the cat’s microchip, and through some sleuthing connected 6-year-old Raja to his owners, the Tuttle family.
As it turns out, the Tuttles lost Raja back in 2014 when they were living in Florida. The Tuttles now live in Virginia.
The family came to Delaware on Saturday to reclaim their prodigal feline.
Man’s 1944 love letter found within remodeled home’s walls
GREENFIELD, Mass. — Massachusetts police have a new mystery to solve: Who wrote a 1944 love letter discovered within the walls of a house being remodeled?
The Greenfield Police Department took to Facebook on Saturday to ask for the public’s help in figuring out the backstory behind the handwritten letter. Police say the letter is dated April 19, 1944, and was penned by a man who identified himself only as Walter.
The letter was addressed to Miss Betty Miller, of Greenfield. In the letter, Walter makes no attempt to hide his affections. He writes: “I have always thought more of you than any other girl, and I still do.”
Police say they only have one motive: reuniting the letter with Miller or her family.