Foreign News
Teacher fatally stabs eight-year-old in South Korea
A teacher has fatally stabbed an eight-year-old girl at an elementary school in South Korea, in an incident that has shocked the nation.
The female teacher, who is in her 40s, confessed to stabbing the student in the central city of Daejeon, police said.
The girl was found with stab wounds on the second floor of a school building at 18:00 local time (09:00 GMT) Monday and was pronounced dead at the hospital. The teacher was beside her with stab wounds that police said might be self-inflicted.
South Korea’s acting president Choi Sang-mok on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the case and urged authorities to “implement necessary measures to ensure such incidents never happen again”.
Some locals laid flowers and a stuffed doll at the gate of the school, which was closed on Tuesday.
The teacher had requested a six-month leave of absence citing depression on 9 December but she returned to school just 20 days later after a doctor assessed her as being fit to work, the Daejeon education office said.
She did not have a relationship with the student, authorities said.
Days before the stabbing, the teacher had displayed violent behaviour, including putting another teacher in a headlock, they said.
Two officials from the education office visited the school on Monday, the morning of the stabbing, to investigate that altercation.
The student was reported missing on Monday evening after the bus driver informed the school that she had not arrived to be picked up that day.
Police also said they would continue interrogating the teacher after she recovers from her surgery.
After the attack on the co-worker, the education office recommended that the teacher put on leave and be separated physically from the other teacher.
She was made to sit beside the vice principal’s desk so that she could be kept under close watch.
She had also not been teaching any classes since her leave in December, and did not have any contact with the eight-year-old student, the official said.
South Korea is a generally safe country with strict gun control laws. But in recent years, it has grappled with several high-profile crimes, including stabbings.
“It pains me to see such incident because a school should be our safest space,” said acting president Choi. “I offer my deep condolences to the victim’s family who suffered great shock and agony.”
[BBC]
A bomb blast has killed at least five people and wounded seven in northeastern Afghanistan, local police report.
The blast took place at 8:35am (04:05 GMT) on Tuesday near a Kabul Bank branch in Kunduz province. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast yet.
The bank’s security guard and four others, including civilians and members of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban group, were among those killed, police said.
“A suicide bomber, who had improvised explosive devices, detonated himself,” Jumadin Khaksar, spokesman for Kunduz province police, noted. “The Kunduz province police command is working with relevant organisations to find the perpetrators of the incident and bring them to justice,” he added.
The number of bomb blasts and suicide attacks in Afghanistan has markedly declined since the United States withdrew its forces and the government it backed was ousted by the Taliban in August 2021.
However, many armed groups – including ISIL (ISIS) – remain a threat.
Dozens of people were killed in a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Kunduz in October 2021, with the ISIL affiliate in Khorasan Province (ISKP) claiming responsibility.
In March last year, a suicide bomber killed at least three people when he detonated a bomb outside a bank in the southern city of Kandahar, in an attack claimed by the regional chapter of the ISIL.
Despite the ongoing attacks, the Taliban authorities say they have mostly crushed the group.
[Aljazeera]
Google has begun calling the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America following United States President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the body of water.
The California-based internet giant said on Monday that the name of the gulf on its applications would depend on the location of the user.
“People using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Gulf of America,’ and people in Mexico will see ‘Gulf of Mexico.’ Everyone else will see both names,” Google wrote in a blog post.
Google flagged its intention to make the change in a post on X last month, explaining that it uses the designations of the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), a database run by the US Geological Survey.
In the same X post, Google said it would also change the name of Mount Denali in Alaska to Mount McKinley, after former US President William McKinley, once it was updated in the official database in line with Trump’s order.
Trump signed his executive order to rename the natural features hours after taking office on January 20, casting it as a decision to “honour American greatness”.
Mount Denali, the highest peak in North America, was given its name by the Indigenous Koyukon Athabascan people.
The US government changed its name to Mount McKinley in 1917 in honour of the late Republican president, who was assassinated by an anarchist in 1901.
Former US President Barack Obama’s administration restored the mountain’s Indigenous name in 2015 before a presidential visit to Alaska.
Trump’s decision to rename the natural features drew backlash from Indigenous groups in Alaska and prompted Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to sarcastically suggest that North America be renamed “Mexican America”, as it was referred to in one of the country’s founding documents.
[Aljazeera]
Crews are still working to recover the bodies of 10 people killed in a plane crash in Alaska, officials have said.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the investigation into the crash was in its “early stages” and it was too soon to tell what caused it.
The Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft, operated by regional operator Bering Air, was travelling from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday when it lost radar contact.
Nine passengers and a pilot were on board the plane when it came down in Norton Sound about 34 miles (55km) south-east of Nome, a city of about 3,500 on Alaska’s west coast.
Among the dead were Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson, two employees of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
They had travelled to Unalakleet to carry out maintenance work on a water plant, the non-profit organisation said on Friday.
Ms Homendy said that nine investigators are on the scene, backed up by specialists in Washington DC. “Recovery efforts are still under way, with the priority being victim recovery,” she said during a news conference in Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. “I would like to take a moment and expend our deepest condolences to people who lost loved ones in this tragedy,” she said.
Ms Homendy said recovery workers were dealing with deteriorating weather conditions and that the wreckage had landed on an ice floe which is moving at a rate of five miles a day.
In a statement, Bering Air, which operates commercial and charter flights, expressed its condolences and said it would be cooperating with the investigation into the crash.
Alaska State Troopers said it had been notified of an “overdue” aircraft at 16:00 local time on Thursday (01:00 GMT).
The Nome volunteer fire department said the pilot had told air traffic controllers that “he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared”.
The US Coast Guard later said the plane had experienced a rapid loss in altitude and speed before contact was lost. Footage showed low visibility in the area around the time of the crash.
Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski shared her condolences following the incident. “Alaska is a big small town. When tragedy strikes, we’re never far removed from the Alaskans directly impacted,” she wrote online.
Alaska’s Governor, Mike Dunleavy, said he was “heartbroken” by the disappearance of the flight. “Our prayers are with the passengers, the pilot, and their loved ones during this difficult time,” he said.
Unakleet and Nome are about 150 miles from each other across Norton Sound, an inlet of the Bering Sea on Alaska’s western coast.
Bomb blast kills at least five in Afghanistan
Google switches name of Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America for US users
Government prioritises development of 2000km of rural roads in Northern and Eastern provinces
-
News5 days agoMusk reveals ‘crazy waste’ of USAID funds in Sri Lanka
-
News3 days agoSLAS senior to be HC in London, several new dpl appointments
-
Midweek Review7 days agoCanada plays politics with Sri Lanka again ahead of its national election
-
Business6 days agoUNDP, ADB pledge support to SL on its public digital journey at key summit
-
News7 days ago‘GovPay’, first step to digitalise government services
-
Features6 days agoTop three at 40th Mrs World pageant
-
Opinion6 days agoEconomic value of Mahinda Rajapaksa
-
Features3 days agoKen Balendra’s impact on John Keells