Wrongfully imprisoned woman freed after 43 years, Missouri AG loses

This happened while you were sleeping. Here’s what world agencies reported overnight from Friday to Saturday.

• 64-year-old Sandra Hemme was released after serving 43 years of a life sentence without parole. Missouri’s Attorney General has been trying to keep her behind bars for the last month. Hemme was the longest-held wrongfully imprisoned woman in the USA, according to her legal team at the Innocence Project. A judge initially ruled on June 14 that Hemme’s lawyers had presented "clear and convincing evidence" of "actual innocence" and overturned her conviction. Still, Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey did not want this to happen. During Friday’s hearing, Judge Ryan Horsman threatened that if the 64-year-old was not released within an hour, Bailey would have to appear in court on Tuesday morning. Hemme was serving a life sentence at Chillicothe Correctional Center for the 1980 murder of library worker Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri.

• Authorities in Bangladesh imposed a curfew nationwide after further riots in the capital, Dhaka, which resulted in 35 deaths. Students demanded the government abolish a rule reserving many public sector jobs for families of the country’s 1971 independence war veterans, leading to days of riots. The Prime Minister’s Office’s decision to impose the curfew followed an attack on Narsingdi prison on Friday, which led to the release of hundreds of inmates. The army is set to be deployed to restore order. Since the outbreak of the riots, 67 people have died. However, the exact death toll is difficult to estimate due to nearly complete communication disruptions, as well as internet and phone line failures.

• On Friday, a fire broke out on one of Maersk's chartered vessels travelling from Mundra on India's western coast to Colombo in Sri Lanka. Local media reported that the fire was caused by a short circuit, leading to an explosion and the death of a Filipino sailor. There were 21 crew members on board. "The vessel is in stable condition," the company stated.

• For several days, Venezuelan state media have been repeating warnings from President Nicolas Maduro, who, speaking at a rally on Tuesday ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for July 28, threatened that if he is not re-elected, Venezuela will inevitably face a "bloodbath." He warned that only his re-election could "prevent civil war," emphasizing Venezuela's fate in the 21st century depends on the re-election victory. The Venezuelan dictator, in his speech at the rally in La Vega, a western district of the capital Caracas, warned compatriots: "If they do not want Venezuela to fall into a bloodbath, into a fratricidal civil war, product of the fascists, we guarantee the greatest success of the electoral history of our people!"

• After Monday's powerful storms, there were 24 tornadoes by Friday in the Chicago area and surrounding area. This is a record, with the strongest wind speeds exceeding 134 mph. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), another two tornadoes were confirmed on Friday. They swept through Cook County, which includes Chicago. Previous records for the NWS forecast area in this city had 22 tornadoes. This was on June 30, 2014, and March 31, 2023. Local TV station WGN emphasized that the strongest tornado had wind speeds ranging from 111 to 135 mph. Power lines were downed, which closed a section of Interstate 55 and caused numerous accidents in the area.