■JAPAN
Teacher gives murder quiz
A primary school teacher has been reprimanded for giving his pupils a math problem in which he asked how long it would take to kill 18 children at a rate of three murders a day. The 45-year-old male teacher, whose name has been withheld, has apologized for giving the quiz to his pupils, aged seven and eight, at his public school in Okazaki, education officials said on Wednesday. “I did it carelessly. I deeply reflect on my conduct,” he was quoted as saying by the officials over the incident in May, which apparently led to a parent complaint to the school in July. The teacher reportedly asked the children: “There are 18 kids. If we kill three per day, how many days it will take?” The school board said it handed the teacher a “strict reprimand.”
■AUSTRALIA
Wife-killer gets life
A husband who had cared for his mentally ill wife for years was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after he fed her a fatal dose of medicine because she cut the wires on his stereo, reports said. Singapore-born Hung Kiat Tan, 58, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in a Brisbane court to murdering his 53-year-old wife, Siew Kee Ang, last year by feeding her a lethal amount of her medication, AAP news agency said. Crown prosecutor Sarah Farnden said Tan, who had been his schizophrenic wife’s full-time carer for five years, decided to kill the woman when he came home one day to find his stereo damaged. “This morning could be the last straw,” Tan wrote in his diary at the time. He then gave Siew 84 anti-psychotic tablets and walked to a nearby store to call an ambulance after a brief resuscitation attempt.
■AUSTRALIA
Police find drugs, crocodile
Police made an unusual discovery during a raid this week, netting a baby crocodile along with cash, weapons and millions of dollars worth of the party drug ice. Police said three men were arrested in a controlled operation in western Sydney on Tuesday, which then led to the discovery of the crocodile, which measured less than 1m long. “During the operation police seized a total of 5.7kg of methylamphetamine with a potential street value of A$2.85 million [US$2.7 million],” police said in a statement. A search of the men’s homes later uncovered more methylamphetamines, also known as ice, US$300,000 in cash, a Taser stun gun, a firearm and the snappier find of an infant crocodile. The reptile has been taken to a wildlife park, while one of the men, a 26-year-old, was charged with possession of protected fauna and drugs offenses.
■CHINA
Cobra scare hits town
Residents of a township in Chongqing have been running scared after more than 160 cobras escaped from an illegal breeding laboratory, state media said yesterday. Shijiao Township residents have found the deadly snakes in outdoor toilets, kitchens and on the streets since they escaped earlier this month, the Information Times said. “The other day, Zhang Erfen had just gone into the toilet when we heard a loud scream and she came running out while trying to hike up her pants” after coming face-to-face with a cobra, the paper quoted one villager as saying. A villager identified as Cai Yong has admitted to raising up to 1,900 cobras in an unlicensed breeding center in an abandoned schoolhouse. It was not clear if he had been arrested. Most of the 160 cobras have either been caught or killed by villagers, but “five or six” remain unaccounted for, the paper said. Local health authorities have sent doses of anti-venom to the township, reports said.
■ITALY
Sexual blackmail revealed
About one in 17 women have faced sexual blackmail at work in the nation, but the coercion is largely unreported because of fear, embarrassment or a lack of faith in authorities, a survey showed on Wednesday. Demands for sexual favors in return for gaining or retaining a job are experienced most frequently by female office workers, but also by women in a range of professions from doctors to archeologists, according to a report by Italian official statistics institute ISTAT. “Almost none of the victims reported the episode to authorities,” ISTAT said in the survey of about 24,000 women. Some of the most common reasons for not reporting the blackmail included a lack of faith that authorities would be able to act upon the complaint or because the victim turned to family members for help. Other reasons were fear of being judged or treated badly, embarrassment or guilt, fear of the consequences for oneself or one’s family or a sense that it only happened once so was not so serious. Almost 60 percent of the women who said they experienced sexual blackmail at work said they changed jobs or gave up their career as a result, the survey showed. The ISTAT report also found that overall, every second woman in Italy has faced some sort of sexual harassment or sexual blackmail in her life, including verbal or physical abuse and stalking.
■CZECH REPUBLIC
Gadget exposes taxi cheats
Thousands of visitors have fond memories of medieval Prague, with one exception: getting ripped off by a taxi driver. However, a Czech firm, Et netera, said on Tuesday it had developed a weapon to eradicate the long-lasting problem, a mobile phone application using the global positioning system that measures the distance and calculates the proper fare. “Everyone will be able to verify right in the taxi whether the driver is trying to rob him,” the company said in a statement introducing the service, called “virtual meter.” Some dishonest drivers have been using “turbo” meters charging illegal higher fares, taking passengers via the longest possible routes, refusing to produce receipts and there has even been a case of a driver who had wired up the seats so he could deliver an electric shock to any troublesome passengers. Several years ago, the Prague mayor was himself overcharged during an inspection ride. Et netera said it was offering its system to the city, with the capability to directly report dishonest drivers to the regulator.
■TURKEY
Blast kills at least eight
At least eight people were killed and three wounded when an explosive device ripped apart their minibus in the southeast yesterday, local officials said. The blast occurred near the village of Gecitli in Hakkari Province near the borders with Iraq and Iran. Resul Kaya, mayor of the nearby town of Durankaya, said nine people died when the minibus hit a landmine. Security officials said it was a remote-controlled explosive device left in the road. Those officials earlier said that at least 10 people had died.
■UNITED KINGDOM
World War II ace passes on
John Freeborn, who has died aged 90, was a Spitfire ace who flew more hours in the Battle of Britain than any other pilot. On Aug. 11, 1940, 74 Squadron flew into battle four times in eight hours, destroying 23 enemy aircraft — three by John — and damaging 14 more. John’s accomplished flying and marksmanship made him not only an ace (a pilot with five confirmed kills), but an ace during the battle itself. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross twice.
■BAHAMAS
Leg pops out of shark mouth
A boater who disappeared off Jaws Beach — on an island where one of the Jaws movies was filmed — is likely the person whose remains were found in the belly of a shark, police say. Authorities used fingerprints to identify Judson Newton, although they are still waiting for DNA test results, Assistant Police Commissioner Hulan Hanna said late on Tuesday. It is unclear if the 43-year-old Newton was alive when he was eaten. Newton went on a boating trip with friends off Jaws Beach on New Providence Island on Aug. 29 and encountered engine trouble. Rescuers who responded to a call for help found three men aboard who said that Newton and a friend jumped into the water to try to swim back to shore. Officials launched a search for them, but neither was found. On Sept. 4, a local investment banker caught the 3.6m tiger shark while on a deep-sea fishing trip and he said a left leg popped out of its mouth as they hauled it in. When officers with the island’s defense force cut the shark open, they found the right leg, two severed arms and a severed torso.
■UNITED STATES
People ‘plug in’ during sex
Computer security firm PC Tools late on Wednesday released a study showing that nearly a quarter of US residents think it is fine to be “plugged in” to the Internet during sex. When it came to protection from computer viruses or other Internet-transmitted woes, people said they would rather change a diaper, be stuck in traffic, visit a dentist or get a colonoscopy than clean up viruses. “It is ... noteworthy how we entrust our computers and the Internet with our most intimate details — even if we don’t have the time or inclination to worry about computer maintenance or safety,” PC Tools vice president of marketing Stephanie Edwards said.
■UNITED STATES
Moses the camel unburied
It was an unusual call for firefighters in Oregon City, Oregon: A 680kg camel, named Moses, needed to be rescued. The call came in Tuesday night in Clackamas County after the Oregon City owners of the camel called firefighters to say that Moses had fallen into a sinkhole about 2m deep and was possibly injured. The owners — who have several camels and run a children’s ministry — had tried to get the camel out themselves but failed. Firefighters had to carefully shovel mud for several hours to free the animal. The rescuers were concerned Moses would break his legs if he’d try to free himself while still partially buried. However, Moses was patient, and eventually firefighters got him out. A veterinarian said the animal looked unhurt.
■UNITED STATES
Pot-giving mother jailed
A grand jury in Cincinatti, Ohio, has indicted a woman accused of providing marijuana to her two-year-old daughter and using her cellphone to record the child smoking the drug. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said on Wednesday that 21-year-old Jessica Gamble of Springfield Township in suburban Cincinnati was indicted on child endangering and other charges. The video shows the child handling and puffing on a marijuana cigarette. Investigators say Gamble gave the girl the marijuana at their home sometime last month and that a person they haven’t identified gave a copy of the video to the state family services agency. Gamble remains in jail. She could be sentenced to up to 11-and-a-half years in prison if convicted of all charges.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema