Boy with dwarfism gets Disneyland trip

SYDNEY • An Australian boy with dwarfism, who was bullied, has received a deluge of celebrity messages and donations for a trip to Disneyland.

A video of nine-year-old Quaden Bayles uploaded to Facebook by his mother showed him crying and repeatedly saying he wanted to die after being bullied at school. The clip had been watched more than 16 million times by yesterday.

A GoFundMe page started by US comedian Brad Williams had raised over US$150,000 (S$210,000) to give Quaden a trip to Disneyland in California.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

US plans to sign peace deal with Taleban

WASHINGTON • The US plans to sign a peace deal with the Taleban next Saturday, after negotiators in Doha reached an understanding on a reduction in violence in what has become America's longest-running war.

US negotiators "have come to an understanding with the Taleban on a significant and nationwide reduction in violence across Afghanistan," Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a statement. If successful, the deal will be signed in Qatar next week. Once the signing occurs, dialogue will start between the Afghanistan government and the Taleban, the department said in a statement.

BLOOMBERG

Vietnam charges 7 over UK truck deaths

HANOI • Police in Vietnam have charged seven people in connection with the deaths of 39 migrants whose bodies were discovered in the back of a truck near London last year, the authorities said.

The victims were mostly from two provinces in north-central Vietnam.

Seven defendants, including a Vietnamese woman living in China, were charged on Thursday with creating immigration profiles for 67 people from different areas in Vietnam for illegal work in Britain and Europe.

REUTERS