■ Nigeria
Seven killed in dam failure
Families were swept away in a torrent of water and witnesses said at least seven people died in a flood after a dam collapsed in the northwest part of the country. Surveyors began trying to determine on Sunday whether to blame the heavy downpour or structural neglect for the collapse. Area resident Johnson Enokola, 39, said he counted seven bodies floating in the water. He said most of the houses around the bank of the Gusau Dam had been washed away. Police confirmed three deaths, while state-owned Radio Nigeria said up to 40 were feared dead.
■ Nigeria
Death sentences commuted
More than 100 people condemned to death had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment on Sunday as part of independence day celebrations in the West African country. Justice Minister Bayo Ojo said in a statement that the decision was meant to commend the ``courage and patriotism'' of prisoners who refused to escape during jailbreaks at two prisons in June last year. One hundred and seven death row prisoners were reprieved with life sentences and 23 prisoners who had committed minor offenses were released. Sunday was the 46th anniversary of Nigeria's independence from Britain.
■ United Kingdom
Police quiz millionaire
A leading donor to the main opposition Conservative Party has become the latest person to be questioned under caution by police investigating allegations of "cash for honors," a newspaper reported yesterday. The Times said that Robert Edmiston, who made millions from importing cars and loaned the party ?2 million (US$3.7 million) which he has said he does not want back, was quizzed. Police are probing allegations that wealthy individuals were nominated for seats in the House of Lords, the unelected upper chamber of parliament, after contributing to Labour's general election warchest last year.
■ United Kingdom
On-the-spot fines slammed
Police and legal representatives denounced proposals being considered by the government to issue on-the-spot fines to offenders for a range of serious crimes such as assault or theft. The Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents constables and lower-ranking officers, described the Home Office draft proposals, which were leaked to the Times newspaper, as "disgusting." The Times said the document included plans to extend the issuing of fixed-penalty notices to include 30 offenses including threatening behavior, shoplifting and assaulting a police officer.
■ France
Warrants issued
Authorities have issued arrest warrants against the Djibouti state prosecutor and the head of the country's secret services in connection with the 1995 death of a French judge. The cause of judge Bernard Borrel's death has remained unsolved since his burned corpse was discovered in Djibouti in 1995. Djiboutian authorities initially said Borrel, who had been working as a consultant to the country's Justice Ministry, had committed suicide, but his widow has accused high-ranking local officials of involvement in his murder. French investigators have tried to obtain information from Djiboutian officials and last year even summoned the country's president to testify in the case, although he refused to do so.
■ United States
Frost poem found by student
A poem by one of the US' best-loved poets, Robert Frost, has been discovered 88 years after it was written by hand in the front of a book and will be published next week. The poem was found by a graduate student looking through unsorted books and manuscripts bought by the University of Virginia and once owned by Frost's friend, Frederic Melcher, founder of the publishing industry trade journal Publishers Weekly. The 35-line poem, called War Thoughts at Home and dated 1918, was apparently inspired by the death of a fellow poet in World War I. Student Robert Stilling said he was alerted to the poem by a 1947 letter by Melcher in which he referred to an unpublished poem written in a copy of Frost's book North of Boston.
■ United States
Tardy parents get detention
A public school in New York City is blaming parents for the tardiness of their children and is making mothers and fathers serve detention. Under the new rule at the Manhattan School for Children, parents who do not drop off their children by 8:25am have to pick up late slips from the principal's office and go to the auditorium to serve 20 minutes of detention with their children. "The parents need to make the breakfast, get the children dressed and get them to school on time," principal Susan Rappaport said. Some tardy parents complained the detention was making them late for work, but most approved of it.
■ canada
Teacher donates millions
A Toronto teacher who lived a frugal life but gave large, anonymous donations to people in need, has left a C$4.3 million (US$3.8 million) fortune to an environmental charity. Roberta Langtry, 89, kept her wealth a secret until her death last year. She had worked as an elementary school teacher and speech therapist for 55 years, quietly amassing millions, mainly from financial investments. "She was friends with all her neighbors and they loved her but had no idea she had two nickels to rub together," Robert Borden, her executor and friend, said on Friday.
■ Brazil
Election keeps killer free
A law designed to ensure fair elections has kept police from arresting a 23-year-old law student who confessed to hiring hitmen to kill his mother. Adriano Saddi Lima Oliveira told police he paid 40,000 reais (US$18,433) to hitmen who killed his mother Marisa, a real estate tycoon, several months ago, a police investigator told local TV. Oliveira told police his mother was squandering his inheritance going out with her boyfriend. Police wanted to arrest him but were unable to do so because of a law that prohibits anybody from being arrested five days before and two days after an election, unless they are caught in the act of committing a crime. Police say Oliveira will be arrested next week.
■ United States
Priests accused of theft
Two Roman Catholic priests allegedly misappropriated more than US$8 million from their church and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on real estate, travel, rare coins and girlfriends, police in Florida said on Friday. The retired priests were accused of skimming cash from collection plates and bequests to the St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach over the years and channeling the money into secret "slush funds" they used to pay personal bills, police said. Former St. Vincent pastor John Skehan, 79, was arrested on a charge of grand theft, and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Father Francis Guinan, 63.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in