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• BEIJING (AP) -- Residents in a southern Chinese city that has come under fire for an annual summer solstice festival in which thousands of dogs are slaughtered for food have held their feasts early to avoid attention.
• Some residents of Yulin started gathering last weekend and eating dog meat and lychees to celebrate the longest day of the year, ahead of Saturday's actual solstice, state media reported this week. The residents wanted to avoid protests by animal rights activists.
• In recent years, the festival has been targeted by activists who have drummed up public awareness of the event with posts on social media and online petitions, and descended on the city to protest outside slaughterhouses or markets where the dogs are sold.
• The public uproar reflects the increasing affluence of ordinary Chinese, who keep pets, travel overseas and are changing attitudes toward traditions they may not have questioned before.
• Photos on state media showed groups of Yulin city residents tucking into plates of meat and vegetables around dining tables strewn with lychees. Other photos, which circulated widely on Chinese microblogs, were of skinned, cooked dogs hanging from hooks at street stalls or piled on tables.
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• LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Actor Michael Jace is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday for arraignment on a murder charge filed after his wife's shooting death last month.
• The actor, who played a police officer on the television series "The Shield," did not enter a plea during his initial court appearance last month. Police say Jace shot his wife April multiple times in the family's Los Angeles home on May 19 while their young children were present. The boys were unharmed and are now living with relatives.
• Police have not released a motive for the slaying but have said they are looking into whether financial or other domestic issues may have been involved. Jace's at

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