Murder sentence

Saying her motives and family situation were complex, a Chinese court has sentenced a woman in Dongguan to just five years in prison for murdering her disabled twin sons.

The woman drowned her 13-year-old twins, who suffered from cerebal palsy, in a bathtub last year, then tried to kill herself by ingesting poison. The case underscores many pressing problems in Chinese society. The woman's family was all but bankrupted by caring for the children, and she later said she felt she was out of options both mentally and financially.

"We were trying to look for a balance between law and sympathy in the case," a local judge, Xue Fengyan, was quoted as saying.