■CHINA
Man stabs 18 students
A man wielding a knife broke into a primary school in Leizhou, Guangdong Province, and stabbed 18 students and a teacher yesterday, the same day another man was executed for killing eight children in a similar attack last month, Xinhua news agency reported. It said the man broke into Leicheng No. 1 Primary School about 3pm and hacked at the students and teacher. The wounded were taken to a hospital. The man, described as in his 40s, was in police custody, Xinhua said. There was no immediate word on a motive for the attack. Earlier in the day, former doctor Zhang Minsheng (鄭民生), 41, was executed in Fujian Province for the March 23 murders of eight children outside their elementary school in Nanping as they waited with their parents for classes to start. In a fit of rage after he was jilted by a lover, Zheng went to the school armed with a dagger, which he used to stab children in the neck, chest, stomach and back before finally being subdued by onlookers.
■INDONESIA
Workers seek protection
Millions of women employed as domestic workers have no labor rights and run the risk of serious abuse and even death as they do their jobs, Amnesty International said yesterday. Parliament is scheduled to pass a domestic workers protection law this year and Amnesty urged lawmakers to ensure the legislation guarantees domestic workers’ rights in line with international standards. “They experience economic exploitation and physical, psychological and sexual violence on a regular basis. Some are even killed,” Amnesty said in a statement. The Domestic Workers Advocacy Network has called for a nationwide strike by domestic workers this weekend to highlight the need for new legislation.
■NEW ZEALAND
Peter Jackson knighted
In a scene that could have come from one of his Lord of the Rings films, director Peter Jackson knelt yesterday to be tapped on the shoulder with a sword to confirm his appointment as a knight. Jackson’s investiture ceremony in his hometown of Wellington installed him as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. “I feel incredibly humbled and the truth is, making movies is not a solo effort — it involves hundreds of people, thousands of people, so I feel as though I’m accepting it on behalf of a huge industry,” Jackson told reporters.
■NEW ZEALAND
Gardening chain shuttered
Police have shuttered a chain of home garden supply shops called Switched On Gardener that they yesterday alleged formed part of the backbone of the country’s illegal cannabis industry. All 16 branches of the chain were closed after employees sold drugs, cannabis plants and growing equipment and offered cannabis-growing tips to undercover officers, Deputy Police Commissioner Rob Pope said. The closures were part of a major crackdown on the drug that has resulted in raids on 35 gardening businesses and the arrest of about 250 people.
■AUSTRALIA
Canberra frowns on ‘sexting’
The government urged young people not to join the “sexting” craze yesterday, warning that sending provocative images by mobile phone could have “very bad long-term consequences.” Minister for the Status of Women Tanya Plibersek expressed concerns over a rising “raunch culture phenomenon,” adding it was a part of youth culture that “completely passes adults by.”
■FRANCE
Noriega sent to Paris prison
Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, fresh out of a Miami prison where he spent two decades, was back behind bars to await a new legal battle on charges he laundered cocaine profits by buying luxury apartments in Paris. A judge deemed him a flight risk and sent him to La Sante, a grim brick prison in southern Paris. If convicted, he could face another 10 years in prison. Officials are to set a trial date on May 12.
■ITALY
Magma builds up in Ischia
The volcano of Ischia, a resort island famed for its thermal waters off the coast of Naples, could potentially erupt, although no eruption is imminent, disaster experts said on Tuesday. Guido Bertolaso, who heads the civil protection agency, said that, while Vesuvius is often considered the most worrisome volcano, it is Ischia, which last erupted some 700 years ago, that is experiencing a buildup of magma.
■GERMANY
Power thief used meat hook
Police are investigating a man for theft after he siphoned electricity off a high-voltage overhead transmission line for one month with the help of an ordinary meat hook, authorities said on Tuesday. The 36-year old man from Sibbesse in Lower Saxony concocted the plan to steal electricity after the power company cut him off for failure to pay his bills, police said. The man attached a cable to the meat hook and tossed it onto an overhead power line. He then drew power from the transmission line to his home, located about 150m away. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my 34-year-career,” said Friedrich-Wilhelm Lach, chief executive of regional utility Ueberlandwerke Leinetal GmbH, told Reuters. “It’s incredibly dangerous and utterly stupid.” An employee of the utility noticed the meathook during a routine check. Lach said the man was lucky he is still alive and warned copycats not to try it: “It will kill you,” he said.
■ITALY
Elephant goes for stroll
Residents of a village were surprised to find an elephant relaxing in their garden on Tuesday after she escaped from a traveling circus, the ANSA news agency reported. The elephant, named Dumbo and weighing around 3.5 tonnes, took a walk from her cage shortly after the Armando Orfei circus arrived in the village of Bassano, around 100km north of Rome. The 40-year-old pachyderm walked into a house garden, where a dog gave the alert and prompted the owners to call the fire brigade.
■MEXICO
‘Trafficker’ extradited
A man accused by Mexico of being a leading member of the powerful Ciudad Juarez cartel has been extradited to the US to face drug trafficking charges, the US government said on Tuesday. Juan Jose Quintero Payan, 68, must answer four charges related to drugs trafficking and racketeering.
■VENEZUELA
Hugo Chavez to tweet
President Hugo Chavez opened a Twitter account on Tuesday, launching himself into the digital fray to combat opponents who have seized on the micro-blogging site to criticize his socialist government. Known for hours-long speeches, Chavez will now face the challenge of keeping his outpourings within the 140-character limit demanded by Twitter on his @chavezcandanga account. In some countries candanga translates as “devil,” but in the Venezuelan lexicon it is used to mean someone who is strong-willed and rebellious, or a troublemaker.
■UNITED STATES
Google warns of fakes
Google said on Tuesday that fake software security programs rigged to infect computers are a growing online threat with hackers tricking people into installing nefarious code on machines. An analysis of 240 million Web pages by Google during the past 13 months revealed that fake anti-virus programs accounted for 15 percent of malicious software it detected. Fake anti-virus peddlers rig Web sites to frighten visitors with messages warning that supposed scans have found dangerous malicious software on machines. Victims buy programs that hackers claim will fix the purported problems but which in fact usually plant viral code.
■UNITED STATES
Ex-CIA official arrested
A former CIA station chief awaiting trial for the alleged sexual assault of an unconscious woman in Algiers has been arrested after failing to appear at a court hearing. Andrew Marvin Warren was arrested without incident on Monday afternoon at a motel in Norfolk, Virginia, police said. Police said in a news release that Warren and a handgun found in his possession were turned over to federal authorities. Police began looking for Warren, 42, after he failed to show up for last Wednesday’s status hearing in federal court in Washington. He was indicted last year on one count of sexual deviance.
■CANADA
Speaker warns government
The government may be held in contempt of parliament if it does not soon release uncensored documents pertaining to transfers of detainees to Afghan custody, Speaker of the House Peter Milliken said on Tuesday. He gave the government and opposition parties two weeks’ time to resolve the impasse. Otherwise, Milliken said he would return with a decision to hold the government in contempt of parliament, which may provoke snap elections. The Commons passed a motion in December ordering the government to produce uncensored documents it was believed might contain evidence of prisoners being transferred to Afghan custody knowing they may be tortured. The government has refused to comply with the order, citing national security concerns.
■CANADA
Abortion stance defended
Prime Minster Steven Harper on Tuesday defended his government’s decision not to fund abortions abroad despite putting forward maternal and children’s health care as the top foreign-aid initiative at this year’s G8 summit. He said his government would focus on less contentious health care issues at the June summit.
■UNITED STATES
Malcolm X’s killer freed
Malcolm X’s killer was freed on Tuesday after more than four decades in the prison system, a spokeswoman for the New York state department of correctional services said. Thomas Hagan, who confessed to the 1965 shooting of Malcolm X, had been partially free on work release for the last 22 years, although he was required to spend two nights a week at a Manhattan prison. Hagan, 69, was a member of the Nation of Islam movement.
■UNITED STATES
No toys with those fries
The board of supervisors in Santa Clara County, California, voted on Tuesday to ban the promotional toys that often accompany child-size portions of cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets if those meals don’t meet federal nutritional standards. The ban includes all fast-food restaurants giving away toys in meals intended for children.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
The Philippines yesterday slammed an “irresponsible” Chinese state media report claiming a disputed reef in the South China Sea was under Beijing’s control, saying the “status quo” was unchanged. Tiexian Reef (鐵線礁), also known as Sandy Cay Reef, lies near Thitu Island, or Pagasa, where the Philippines stations troops and maintains a coast guard monitoring base. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday said that the China Coast Guard had “implemented maritime control” over Tiexian Reef in the middle of this month. The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its
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