A man has been charged with second-degree murder in the US after he allegedly shot and killed a 20-year-old woman as the car she was in mistakenly drove up the man’s driveway. Kaylin Gillis was with three other people in New York state on Saturday. They accidentally drove into the driveway of Kevin Monahan in the town of Hebron, police say. As the driver was leaving, Mr Monahan, 65, allegedly opened fire on the vehicle, hitting Ms Gillis. “This is a very sad case of some young adults who were looking for a friend’s house and ended up at this man’s house who decided to come out with a firearm and discharge it,” Washington Country Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy told a news conference. The area is rural, and the driveways are poorly lit at night. None of the group had exited the vehicle or attempted to enter Mr Monahan’s house before he allegedly opened fire, Mr Murphy said.(BBC)…[+]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited occupied parts of the Ukrainian region of Kherson. He attended a military meeting to hear reports from commanders, according to the Kremlin. Mr Putin is also thought to have visited the Luhansk region. Russia annexed Kherson and Luhansk last year. Such trips by the Russian leader are rare, although he made a surprise visit to the city of Mariupol in March. Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted that Mr Putin was touring “the occupied and ruined territories” of Ukraine “to enjoy the crimes of his minions for the last time”. Putin’s degradation is impressive,” he said. Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the visit had taken place on 17 April. However, footage initially posted on the Kremlin’s website contradicts this statement.(BBC)…[+]

A bear has been captured in the Italian Alps not far from where it killed a 26-year-old jogger. Italians were shocked by Andrea Papi’s death in early April in the north-eastern region of Trentino-Alto Adige. Once the bear was identified as a 17-year-old known as JJ4, authorities issued an order for it to be put down. But the order for the she-bear to be shot on sight was later put on hold and JJ4 has been taken to a wildlife centre. Her fate is yet to be decided. “We would have liked to kill the bear on the spot,” provincial governor Maurizio Fugatti told a press conference, adding it would eventually be put down if a court agreed at a hearing next month. Andrea Papi was fatally attacked while jogging above the town of Caldes on the slopes of Mt Peller in the Brenta Dolomites, prompting fear and anger in the region. He is the first Italian known to have been killed by a bear in recent years. The animals are a protected species in Italy, and their population has been increasing in recent years after they were reintroduced to the region two decades ago. JJ4’s own parents had been brought into northern Italy from Slovenia under the “Life Ursus” European conservation project. It had already attacked and injured a father and son while they were hiking on Mount Peller in 2020. It was captured in a tube-style bear trap filled with fruit, after forest rangers with dogs tracked her foot-prints in snow. The captured bear was sedated and taken to the Casteller animal care centre near the city of Trento where another bear known as M49 is also being looked after.(BBC)…[+]