Around the world
UNREST: Several hundred people protesting new rent laws burst into Mexico's Chamber of Deputies Wednesday, smashing a window, spraying graffiti and engaging in scuffles with staff, witnesses said. The new rent laws, which the government says are aimed at encouraging private investors to build more homes in Mexico City, has sparked widespread opposition. Critics say it would leave low-income families vulnerable to eviction.TOLL RISES: The death toll in the collapse of a hotel in Thailand rose to 121 Thursday, six days after the Royal Plaza fell in on itself like a house of cards, officials in Bangkok said. The bodies of a Swedish family, the two young daughters nestling in their mother's arms, were found Wednesday in the rubble.
UNUSUAL CHARGE: A 20-year-old man who shot two swans has been jailed under a 400-year-old law enacted by King Henry VIII that says any swan not bearing a mark of ownership is the property of the crown, The Independent newspaper reported Thursday. It was the first time the law, introduced in 1592, had been used to jail a person during the 20th century, The Independent said.
Across the nation
SURGERY SCHEDULED: Doctors in Philadelphia will attempt to separate 7-week-old twin girls who are joined at the chest, an operation they admit neither girl is likely to survive. Sarah Jarvis, a spokeswoman for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said the surgery could be performed as early as Friday.
SHARK ATTACK: A 13-year-old teen in Edgewater, Fla., says he tried not to let his fear show when a shark bit his foot while he was surfing off Bethune Beach. Shawn Bushong received 18 stitches in his right foot at a hospital in New Smyrna Beach after the attack. Bushong said he saw something that looked like two fish fighting, but didn't know it was a shark until he felt it bite his foot.
UNDER PROTECTION: The two teenagers jailed in Lumberton, N.C., on charges of murdering Michael Jordan's father are being kept away from the other inmates for their own safety. Daniel Andre Green and Larry Martin Demery, both 18, were charged Monday in the shooting death of James Jordan, the 57-year-old father of the NBA star, and in the theft of Jordan's car. His body was found in a South Carolina creek Aug. 3.