■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.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
RSS