An Australian teacher killed himself and another attempted suicide after they were caught up in a major police swoop on Internet child pornography, reports said yesterday.
The men were questioned by police as part of a crackdown on a global pornography racket which has seen more than 90 people charged in Australia, including four teachers and many others with access to children.
The Australian newspaper said a 59-year-old teacher from Queensland had committed suicide after being charged on two counts.
A 48-year-old primary school teacher, who had digitally superimposed the faces of his students onto the images, was taken to hospital late on Thursday after what was believed to be a suicide attempt, the paper said.
Queensland police confirmed that a man who had been charged as part of the operation had died, but would not comment on the cause of death.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday described the reach of the global child pornography racket as sickening after police said it included men of all ages and walks of life.
“This is enough to make your stomach turn when you look at the number of people, who by these reports, have been involved,” Rudd told Nine Network television.
A police officer, a junior sports coach and several people working with children were among those charged over child sex images published by a hacker on a European Web site six months ago.
Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said charges were laid against two more people late on Thursday.
Indonesia was to sign an agreement to repatriate two British nationals, including a grandmother languishing on death row for drug-related crimes, an Indonesian government source said yesterday. “The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the transfer is agreed,” the source said, identifying Lindsay Sandiford and 35-year-old Shahab Shahabadi as the people being transferred. Sandiford, a grandmother, was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of trafficking drugs. Customs officers found cocaine worth an estimated US$2.14 million hidden in a false bottom in Sandiford’s suitcase when
CAUSE UNKNOWN: Weather and runway conditions were suitable for flight operations at the time of the accident, and no distress signal was sent, authorities said A cargo aircraft skidded off the runway into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport early yesterday, killing two ground crew in a patrol car, in one of the worst accidents in the airport’s 27-year history. The incident occurred at about 3:50am, when the plane is suspected to have lost control upon landing, veering off the runway and crashing through a fence, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said. The jet hit a security patrol car on the perimeter road outside the runway zone, which then fell into the water, it said in a statement. The four crew members on the plane, which
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner yesterday signed a coalition deal, paving the way for Sanae Takaichi to become the nation’s first female prime minister. The 11th-hour agreement with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) came just a day before the lower house was due to vote on Takaichi’s appointment as the fifth prime minister in as many years. If she wins, she will take office the same day. “I’m very much looking forward to working with you on efforts to make Japan’s economy stronger, and to reshape Japan as a country that can be responsible for future generations,”
RSS