International News

Two children were killed and 17 other people were injured on Wednesday after a gunman opened fire on students who were attending Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, authorities said.

A magnitude 6 earthquake struck in the sea off the northeast coast of Taiwan on Wednesday, the island's weather administration said, with no immediate reports of damage.

Israeli tanks pushed into a new area on the edge of Gaza City overnight, destroying houses and prompting residents to flee, witnesses said, ahead of an expected meeting on the war to be chaired by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Heavy rain swept across the Himalayas, killing at least 36 people in India over the past 24 hours and forcing authorities to open major dams, in turn triggering flood alerts on three rivers in neighbouring Pakistan.

Six Syrian soldiers were killed in Israeli drone strikes in the Damascus countryside, state-run El Ekhbariya TV reported early on Wednesday.

South Korea passed a bill on Wednesday to ban the use of mobile phones and other digital devices in school classrooms nationwide, as concern grows about the impact of heavy social media use among the young.

The Arab Parliament has strongly condemned the recent escalations in the West Bank, which include raids and attacks by Israeli occupation forces in the cities of Ramallah, Al-Bireh and Al-Khalil against Palestinian citizens.

Australia accused Iran of directing two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne and gave Tehran's ambassador seven days to leave the country on Tuesday, its first such expulsion since World War Two.

A Sri Lankan court granted bail on Tuesday to former president Ranil Wickremesinghe who was arrested last week over allegations that he misused state funds while in office.

Pakistan has carried out emergency evacuations in areas along three rivers in its agricultural heartland under threat of flooding after India warned it plans to release excess water from a dam.

Arab Parliament has condemned the latest Israeli attacks in Gaza, calling out the systematic targeting of journalists, medical personnel and relief workers at Nasser hospital.

Typhoon Kajiki killed at least three people and injured 10 others in Vietnam, authorities said on Tuesday as they warned that heavy rains could cause flooding and landslides.

India's top court has ordered an investigation into a wildlife rescue park run by Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's group, although it said allegations of unlawful animal acquisitions and mistreatment were not supported by evidence.

The Arab League has strongly condemned the deadly Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital that killed 20 people, including five journalists.

Typhoon Kajiki brought torrential rains to Vietnam's north central coast on Monday, felling trees and flooding homes, despite wind speeds tapering off from earlier in the day.

Three people died and one was seriously injured after a helicopter crashed in a field during a flying lesson near a seaside resort town on Britain's Isle of Wight on Monday.

Israel struck Nasser hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists who worked for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and others.

US National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington DC as part of what President Donald Trump said was his crackdown on crime will begin carrying weapons on Sunday night, two officials said.

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Sunday called off the launch of Starship's tenth mission from Texas over an issue at its launch site, delaying an attempt to achieve several long-sought development milestones missed due to past tests ending in early failures.

Israeli strikes hit the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday in retaliation for Houthi missiles fired towards Israel, with a Houthi health official saying the attack killed six people and wounded 86.

Syria's first parliamentary election under its new administration, scheduled for September, will not include the southern province of Sweida and two other provinces due to security concerns, the electoral commission announced.

Ukraine launched a drone attack on Russia on Sunday, forcing a sharp fall in the capacity of a reactor at one of Russia's biggest nuclear power plants and sparking a huge blaze at the major Ust-Luga fuel export terminal, Russian officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked Independence Day on Sunday alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said Ukraine would receive more than C$1 billion ($723 million) in military aid from a previously announced package next month.

Israeli planes and tanks pounded the eastern and northern outskirts of Gaza City overnight Saturday to Sunday, destroying buildings and homes, residents said, as Israeli leaders vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.

The Pentagon is working on plans to deploy the US military to Chicago as President Donald Trump says he is cracking down on crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Thousands of Australians joined pro-Palestinian rallies on Sunday, organisers said, amid strained relations between Israel and Australia following the centre-left government's decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the firing of new air defence missiles to test their combat capability, state media KCNA reported on Sunday.

Portugal's authorities have said that between July 27 and August 15, 1,331 excess deaths from extreme heat were reported, with the over 75 age group particularly hard hit, Euronews reported on Saturday.

A tour bus carrying more than 50 people veered out of control and rolled over on an Upstate New York highway on Friday, killing at least five people and injuring dozens of others, authorities said.

Foreign ministers from European countries, Australia and Britain on Friday jointly condemned Israel's plans to construct a settlement east of Jerusalem.

Famine has struck an area of Gaza and will likely spread over the next month, a global hunger monitor determined on Friday, an assessment that will escalate pressure on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lauded his country's "heroic" troops who fought for Russia in the war against Ukraine, in a ceremony where he decorated returning soldiers and consoled children of the bereaved with hugs, state media said on Friday.

Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who led the country during a devastating 2019-2024 economic crisis, was arrested and appeared in court on Friday over allegations he misused state funds while in office, police said.

The Arab League has strongly condemned the settlement plan approved by the Israeli government in the area known as E1 east of Jerusalem, stressing that it threatens the territorial continuity of Palestine.

India's Supreme Court modified its order on stray dogs on Friday, directing that those picked up from streets in and around Delhi be released after sterilisation and immunisation, after a storm of protests from animal lovers.

The death toll from an explosion at a fireworks warehouse in the Pakistani city of Karachi has risen to four, authorities confirmed on Friday, with more than 30 others injured.

A court in Thailand on Friday dismissed a royal insult case against influential former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, his lawyer said, the first in a series of high-stakes rulings involving the powerful Shinawatra dynasty.

At least 18 people died and more than forty were injured on Thursday following a bomb explosion and helicopter attack in Colombia attributed to different dissident factions of the former FARC guerrilla group, authorities reported.

A Ukrainian man was arrested at a holiday bungalow in Italy on suspicion of coordinating attacks on three Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, officials said on Thursday, a breakthrough in an episode that sharpened tensions between Russia and the West.

The Israeli military maintained its pressure on Gaza City with heavy bombardments overnight, residents said, ahead of a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers on plans to seize the enclave's largest city.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy but all issues must be worked through first and there's a question about the Ukrainian leader's authority to sign a peace deal, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would like a "strong reaction" from Washington if Russian President Vladimir Putin was not willing to sit down for a bilateral meeting with him.

Russian overnight attack killed one person, injured at least 18, and struck a US electronics manufacturer in western Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.

A widely condemned Israeli settlement plan that would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state received final approval on Wednesday, according to a statement from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, as Washington kept up its pressure on the war tribunal over its targeting of Israeli leaders.

Israel's military called up tens of thousands of reservists on Wednesday in preparation for an expected assault on Gaza City, as the Israeli government considered a new proposal for a ceasefire after nearly two years of war.

U.S. forces took part in a pre-dawn raid in northwestern Syria early on Wednesday that targeted a member of the Islamic State group, a U.S. official and a Syrian security source said.

Syria's foreign minister met Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Paris on Tuesday to discuss security arrangements in southern Syria, two Syrian sources familiar with the meeting said.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had ruled out putting American troops on the ground in Ukraine, but said the country might provide air support as part of a deal to end Russia's war in the country.

The death toll from a collision between an overcrowded bus carrying Afghans refugees expelled from Iran and two other vehicles on the Herat-Kabul highway has risen to 79.

Pakistan declared a public holiday in Karachi on Wednesday as the financial capital braced for more rain, after the arrival of the annual monsoon season left at least seven people dead and caused widespread flooding.

A Ukrainian drone attack late on Tuesday knocked out power to areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region under Russian control, the Moscow-installed governor said.

Israel is demanding the release of all 50 hostages held in Gaza, Israeli public broadcaster Kan cited the prime minister's office as saying on Tuesday, as talks on a proposed deal envisaging a 60-day truce and release of half the hostages continue.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he hoped Vladimir Putin was going to "be good" and move forward toward ending the war in Ukraine, but conceded it was possible the Russian president doesn't want to make a deal.

Aid worker killings rose nearly a third to almost 400 last year, the most deadly year since records began in 1997, and the conflict in Gaza is continuing to cause high death rates for humanitarian staff in 2025, U.N. and other data showed.

Israel is studying Hamas' response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal, two officials said on Tuesday of a potential deal for a 60-day truce and the release of half the Israeli hostages still held in the battered enclave.

US President Donald Trump has told Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the US would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there, though the extent of any assistance was not immediately clear.

Russia attacked the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk with drones overnight, the city mayor said on Tuesday, calling it a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace.

Heavy rain continued to batter the Indian city of Mumbai on Tuesday, with the country's weather bureau issuing a red alert for the second day in a row.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country needed to rapidly expand its nuclear armament and called US-South Korea military exercises an "obvious expression of their will to provoke war," state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.

Hamas has accepted the latest proposal for a 60-day ceasefire with Israel that includes the return of half the hostages the group holds in Gaza and Israel's release of some Palestinian prisoners, an Egyptian official source said on Monday.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders will meet Donald Trump in Washington on Monday to map out a peace deal amid fears the US president could try to pressure Kyiv into accepting a settlement favourable to Moscow.

Fearing an Israeli onslaught could come soon, some Palestinian families began leaving eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and some explored evacuating further south.

A Russian drone attack on a residential area in Kharkiv killed seven people including a toddler and a 16-year-old boy overnight, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday, as the US presses Kyiv to accept a quick deal to end the war that Moscow started.

Incessant heavy rain lashed India's financial capital of Mumbai on Monday, disrupting flights, flooding roads and prompting shutdowns of schools.

Authorities in Pakistan resumed rescue and relief work on Monday in the country's northwest where flash floods have killed over 300 people after heavy rain forced them to suspend operations for several hours, a government official said.

Raging wildfires in Spain spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountain range on Monday and authorities closed part of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.

Thousands of Israelis took part in a nationwide strike on Sunday in support of families of hostages held in Gaza, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hamas to end the war and release the remaining captives.

At least nine people died in a flash flood in northern China, state media reported on Sunday, with three others still missing, as the East Asian monsoon continues to unleash atmospheric chaos across the world's second-largest economy.

Gaza residents will be provided with tents and other shelter equipment starting from Sunday ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave "to ensure their safety," the Israeli military said on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because "Russia is a very big power, and they're not", after a summit where Vladimir Putin was reported to have demanded more Ukrainian land.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would travel to Washington on Monday for talks with Donald Trump, after the US president's summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin failed to bring an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.

Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season and has developed into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane, has continued to rapidly intensify, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said on Saturday.

Eight Palestinian citizens were killed and others injured early Saturday morning when the Israeli occupation forces bombed a house in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip and a tent housing displaced persons in Khan Yunis in the south.

A highly anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no agreement to resolve or pause Moscow's war in Ukraine, although both leaders described the talks as productive before heading home.

More than 300 people are dead in northwest Pakistan after two days of intense rains and floods, local officials said on Saturday.

One person was killed and several people were injured when a train hit a vehicle and derailed in southern Denmark on Friday, Danish police said.

US President Donald Trump said he would not negotiate on behalf of Ukraine in his Friday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and would let Kyiv decide whether to engage in territorial swaps with Russia.

Rescuers in Indian Kashmir used shovels and earthmovers to search for survivors under boulders and debris on Friday, a day after sudden floods triggered by heavy rains killed at least 60 people and left 200 others missing.

Spain battled 14 major fires driven by high winds and aggravated by heat on Friday as authorities warned of "unfavourable conditions" to tackle flames that have already killed seven people and burned an area the size of London.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold talks in Alaska on Friday, focused on the US president's push to seal a ceasefire deal on Ukraine but with a last-gasp offer from Putin of a possible face-saving nuclear accord on the table too.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the country on Friday to move towards more self-reliance, manufacture everything from fertilisers to jet engines and EV batteries, and vowed to protect farmers in the face of a trade conflict with Washington.

At least 34 people died and more than 200 were missing following sudden, heavy rain in Indian Kashmir, officials said on Thursday, the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little over a week.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that he had a detailed discussion of possible security guarantees for Ukraine during a "productive meeting" with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Boxes of Gaza-bound aid turned back by Israel on Sunday languished atop a truck and flatbed trailer parked metres from its border with Egypt, as exasperated drivers and UN officials criticised delays in sending food and medicine to the enclave.

A second volunteer firefighter who suffered severe burns while battling a wildfire in Spain's northern Leon province has died from his injuries, a government official said on Thursday, as several blazes continued across the country.

The Arab League has strongly condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements on the annexation of parts of the territories of sovereign Arab states, in preparation for the establishment of what he called "Greater Israel."

WhatsApp said Russia was trying to block its services because the social media messaging app owned by Meta Platforms offered people's right to secure communication, and vowed to continue trying to make encrypted services available in Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Berlin on Wednesday for a German-hosted virtual meeting with Donald Trump and European leaders, two days before the US president meets Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Wildfires caused by arsonists or thunderstorms and fanned by a heatwave and strong winds continued to rage across southern Europe on Wednesday, burning houses, farms and factories and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Wednesday that Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu had “lost the plot” as the country weighs up whether to recognise a Palestinian state.

Hamas' chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya held talks with Egyptian mediators over a potential ceasefire in the Gaza war on Wednesday while Israel struck the territory's main city prior to a planned takeover and again invited Palestinians to leave.

Firefighters battled multiple wildfires across Greece on Wednesday, including blazes threatening villages and towns near the western city of Patras and on two tourist islands.

Typhoon Podul hit Taiwan's sparsely populated southeast coast on Wednesday packing winds of up to 191 kph, as a large swathe of southern and eastern parts of the island shut down and hundreds of flights were cancelled.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet President Donald Trump during a visit to the US next month to attend the UN General Assembly meeting, the Indian Express newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

Israeli planes and tanks kept bombarding eastern areas of Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people, witnesses and medics said on Tuesday, with Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya due in Cairo for talks to revive a US-backed ceasefire plan.

Power has been restored in Iraq, a government official said on Tuesday, a day after electricity outages hit large parts of the country.

Firefighters have contained a wildfire near the Spanish capital Madrid, in the Tres Cantos area, which killed one person and prompted the evacuation of 180 people, regional authorities said on Tuesday.

Ukraine has retaken two villages in its eastern region of Sumy, Kyiv's military said, adding to recent small territorial gains along the border with Russia ahead of peace talks at a summit of the US and Russian leaders set for Friday.

A prominent Al Jazeera journalist, who had previously been threatened by Israel, was killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, in an attack condemned by journalists and rights groups.

Australia will recognise a Palestinian state at next month's United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday, a move that adds to international pressure on Israel after similar announcements from France, Britain and Canada.

India's top court ordered authorities in the capital Delhi and its suburbs on Monday to relocate all stray dogs to shelters within eight weeks, according to the Live Law website, after media reports of a rise in cases of rabies, especially among children.

Malaysia and some regional partners will send a joint delegation to Myanmar to push for peace and humanitarian aid for Rohingya refugees struggling in Bangladesh, the Southeast Asian nation's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday.

The Council of the Arab League has condemned the Israeli government’s plans to impose military control over the Gaza Strip and displace its population, stating it constitutes a violation of international law and a threat to Arab and regional security.

Extreme heat and strong winds caused "fire whirls" as a blaze burned several houses and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from near a UNESCO-listed national park in northern Spain, authorities said on Monday.

From McDonald's and Coca-Cola to Amazon and Apple, US-based multinationals are facing calls for a boycott in India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's supporters stoke anti-American sentiment to protest against US tariffs.

Nepal will waive climbing fees for nearly 100 peaks in the remote northwestern Himalayas for the next two years to try and lure more mountaineers to the less developed region bordering China, an official said on Monday.

Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrap his plan to seize Gaza City in favour of a tougher one, while Italy said on Sunday the plan could result in a "Vietnam" for Israel's army.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Kyiv "values and fully supports" a joint statement by European leaders on achieving peace in Ukraine while protecting Ukrainian and European interests.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday night to oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to escalate the nearly two-year Gaza war, demanding an immediate end to the campaign and for the release of the hostages.

Three Thai soldiers were injured by a landmine near the Cambodian border on Saturday, the Thai army said, days after the Southeast Asian neighbours agreed to a detailed ceasefire halting last month's deadly five-day conflict.

Vietnamese farmers face threat of being displaced and jobless as US President Donald Trump's family-backed golf resort is scheduled for construction next month in Hung Yen province.

European leaders on Saturday welcomed US President Donald Trump's plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the war in Ukraine, while stressing the need to keep pressure on Moscow and protect Ukrainian and European security interests.

US President Donald Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, Trump said on Friday.

The Lebanese army said on Saturday that six soldiers were killed and others wounded in an explosion while they were inspecting a weapons depot and dismantling its contents in the southern city of Tyre.

A crash between a bus and a truck in Brazil's center-western state of Mato Grosso killed 11 people and injured another 45 late Friday, the toll road operator and Brazil's federal highway police said on Saturday.

British foreign minister David Lammy and US Vice President JD Vance are meeting Ukrainian and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss President Donald Trump's push for peace in Ukraine, a spokesperson for Downing Street said.

Somali Minister of Defence Ahmed Moalim Fiqi confirmed that 120 Al-Shabaab militants were killed during an offensive in Bariire, with several others captured alive.

Three people were shot and wounded in New York's Times Square, the New York Police Department said on Saturday.

Thousands bowed their heads in prayer in Nagasaki on Saturday to mark the 80th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing, as the mayor warned that current global conflicts could push the world again into nuclear war.

Azerbaijan and Armenia will sign an initial peace agreement on Friday to boost economic ties between the two countries after decades of conflict, the White House said, with President Donald Trumpset to welcome the leaders of both nations for a signing ceremony at the White House.

New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new U.S. weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India's first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs imposed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades.

The German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday in response to Israel's plan to expand its military operations there.

President Xi Jinping on Friday ordered "all-out" rescue efforts in China's arid and mountainous northwest after flash floods caused by exceptionally heavy rain killed 10 people and left 33 missing.

Israel's political-security cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza early on Friday, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intended to take military control of the entire strip.

Pakistan has suspended cell phone data services for three weeks in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan in a bid to block communications among separatist insurgents behind a surge in recent attacks, an official and the government said.

An Australian woman who murdered three of her in-laws with a meal of toxic mushrooms also allegedly tried to murder her husband using poisoned pasta, a chicken curry and a sandwich wrap, evidence showed on Friday after a judge allowed its disclosure.

The US has presented Lebanon with a proposal for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year, along with ending Israel's military operations in the country and withdrawal of its troops from south Lebanon.

The US has doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to $50 million over allegations of drug trafficking and links to criminal groups, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza and will eventually hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly.

Gaza has seen its highest monthly figure of acute malnutrition in children, with hunger-related deaths rising in the enclave, the Director General of the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

Turkey's foreign minister will hold talks with Syria's president in Damascus on Thursday to assess bilateral ties, tensions between Syria and Israel, and recent clashes between a Kurdish-led group and the Syrian government, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to meet with a small group of senior ministers on Thursday to discuss plans for the military to take control of more territory in Gaza, despite mounting criticism at home and abroad over the nearly two-year-old war there.

Presidents of Russia and the US will meet in the coming days, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday, in what would be the first summit between leaders of the two countries since 2021.

Five people were killed after a cable on a suspension bridge snapped in northwestern China's Xinjiang region, causing them to fall off the bridge, state-run news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday.

Indian rescuers used helicopters on Thursday to pluck to safety people stranded by flood waters in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand two days after a sudden inundation and landslide killed four people, while more than a dozen were still missing.

French firefighters battled for a second day on Thursday to contain its biggest wildfire in nearly eight decades, which has burnt over 16,000 hectares and killed one person.

ഇന്ത്യ സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തിന്റെ 75-ആം വാർഷികം ആഘോഷിക്കുന്നു

Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, will be boarding Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity and blasting off to space on Sunday.

Singapore is reviewing penalties for violent offences following an outcry over a 12-day prison sentence for a student who strangled his girlfriend until she blacked out.