■ 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.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not