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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Officials planning Korean reunion

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s Unification Ministry says Red Cross officials have crossed the border into North Korea to work out details for next month’s reunions of families separated by war more than a half-century ago.

The meeting today in the North’s border city of Kaesong comes a week after the two sides failed to decide on a venue for or the scale of the reunions – popular on both sides of the border.

The two sides last held reunions in late 2009, one of the few areas in which the two divided Koreas consistently cooperate.

HONOLULU – Lawyers for Philippine victims of human-rights abuses under late dictator Ferdinand Marcos say they’ve reached a $10 million settlement for more than 9,500 people.

Attorney Sherry Broder said in a statement Thursday the money will go to people who were tortured, summarily executed or disappeared during the Marcos regime or their families.

Broder said the settlement marks “a tremendous human rights victory” that finally enables money to be distributed to a large group of victims.

ACAPULCO, Mexico – Mexican authorities say seven people were killed in a shootout between rival drug gangs in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco.

Guerrero state investigative police director Fernando Monreal says gunmen used grenades and automatic rifles to attack a house in a residential area of Acapulco on Thursday.

The state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located, has become a drug cartel battleground.

Authorities on Wednesday found the decapitated bodies of two men inside a car abandoned in the community of Kilometro 30, near Acapulco.