Gisèle Pelicot thanks backers after her ex-husband, co-defendants are convicted

AVIGNON, France (AP) — Gisèle Pelicot said after 51 men were convicted in the drugging-and-rape trial that riveted France and turned her into an icon that the ordeal was “very difficult” and expressed support for other victims of sexual violence. Pelicot said Thursday that “we share the same fight.” They were her first words after the court in the southern French city of Avignon handed down prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years. Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and all but one co-defendant were convicted of sexually assaulting her over a period of nearly a decade after he’d knocked her unconscious by drugging her food and drink. The other co-defendant was convicted of drugging and raping his own wife with Dominique Pelicot’s help.

An Uzbek man is charged in Moscow with killing a Russian general

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian state media says that an Uzbek citizen accused of acting on behalf of Ukraine has been charged by Russian authorities with this week’s assassination of a senior Russian general and his assistant. The bombing has been claimed by Ukraine’s security services. Akhmadzhon Kurbonov was ordered detained until at least Feb. 17 in Tuesday’s detonation of a bomb aboard an electric scooter that killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, the Tass state news agency reported. Kurbonov was charged with the killings, carrying out a terrorist act and illegally manufacturing explosives, the news agency said.

France’s Macron visits cyclone-devastated Mayotte

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has traveled to the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte to survey the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Chido. An airport security agent told him as soon as he stepped of the plane that “Mayotte is demolished.” Macron went on a helicopter for an aerial appraisal of the damage. He then headed to the hospital in Mamoudzou, Mayotte’s capital, to meet with medical staff and patients. French authorities say at least 31 people have died and more than 1,500 people were injured, more than 200 critically. But it’s feared hundreds or even thousands of people have died after the strongest cyclone in nearly a century ripped through the French territory off the coast of Africa on Saturday.

Number of dead and missing still unclear as first aid arrives in quake-hit Vanuatu

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The number of people killed and missing remains unclear two days after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. More than 48 hours after the quake, the Ministry of Health said the number of confirmed deaths reached 10 early Friday, with the number expected to rise. The scale of the damage became clearer on Thursday when telecommunications was partially restored. The devastation is concentrated in downtown Port Vila, the capital, with aid and rescue efforts focused on water, shelter and recovering trapped people. Some 330,000 people live on Vanuatu’s 80 islands. Australian, New Zealand and French aid has started arriving.