The Italian army will start guarding medical staff at a hospital in the southern Calabria region from Monday, after a string of violent attacks on doctors and nurses by enraged patients and relatives across Italy, according to local media reports.

Russian air and naval forces will participate in a Chinese military exercise later this month, China’s Defense Ministry announced on Monday. The ministry said in a news release that, in line with an annual plan and bilateral agreements, Russian forces will join the “North·Joint-2024” exercise in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk. The drills aim to deepen strategic collaboration between the two militaries and improve their ability to jointly address security threats, the statement said. In addition, naval vessels from both nations will conduct their fifth joint patrol in “relevant sea areas of the Pacific Ocean.” China will also participate in Russia’s “Ocean-2024” strategic exercise. The ministry did not provide specific dates for the exercises. ___ (c) 2024 the Asia News Network Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission. The Russian Investigative Committee said on September 10 that a court in the Perm region sentenced a man to 12 years for committing numerous violent crimes against his wife, including rape, robbery, and axing off her right hand. The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was found guilty of inflicting serious bodily harm for axing off her hand. A similar high-profile crime near Moscow in 2017 shocked Russians after a man axed off both his wife’s hands. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Russia has been criticized for adopting a law in 2017 that decriminalized some forms of domestic violence, one of the country’s most challenging decades-long problems.