by Catherine MARCIANO ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italian police on Wednesday rescued 51 children taken hostage by their school bus driver, who doused the vehicle in petrol and set it alight apparently in protest at migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. Some of the children were tied up during the 30 minute ordeal, which saw the bus slam into a car but was brought to an end by police after one of the children was able […]
Tag: school
Over 100 Malaysian schools shut after toxic waste dump
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Over 100 schools in Malaysia have been closed after the dumping of toxic waste into a river caused hundreds of people to fall ill, including many children, authorities said. A lorry is believed to have dumped the waste in southern Johor state last week, sending hazardous fumes across a wide area and causing those affected to display symptoms of poisoning such as nausea and vomiting. Over 500 people, many of […]
Eight killed in Brazil school shooting, two suspects dead
by Nelson ALMEIDA SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Two former pupils shot dead eight people, most of them students and staff, at a high school near Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Wednesday before turning their weapons on themselves, authorities said. The two assailants burst into the school grounds in the early morning, armed with a .38 caliber revolver and a “medieval weapon that looked like a bow and arrows,” military police Colonel Marcelo Sales said. After […]
Three students killed in China university lab explosion
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Three students were killed in a laboratory blast at a Beijing university on Wednesday, the city’s fire department said. “There was an explosion at the experimental site during a scientific research experiment” on wastewater treatment in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory, the Beijing Fire Department said. “The accident caused three students to die,” it added in a statement posted on its social media account. The incident happened just after 9:30am (0130 GMT) […]
US charity school in Liberia in rape scandal storm; probe says charity co-founder who had died of AIDS raped school girls
MONROVIA, Liberia (AFP) — An acclaimed US charity operating in Liberia has admitted to major failings after girls at a school set up to save them from a life of sexual exploitation were systematically raped. “We are profoundly, deeply sorry,” the charity More Than Me said on its website on Saturday after US investigative media said girls at a pioneering school in a slum had been repeatedly abused by the charity’s co-founder, Macintosh Johnson. […]
Mexico City starts demolishing quake collapse school
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) – Workers in Mexico City began tearing down an elementary school Monday that collapsed in a devastating earthquake last year, killing 19 children and seven adults. Demolition workers from the capital city’s public works ministry put up protective plywood barriers and began removing rubble from the collapsed Rebsamen elementary school, which was thrust into the world spotlight following the 7.1-magnitude earthquake on September 19, 2017. Attention initially fixated on the private […]
‘You’re all going to die’: Parkland shooter’s phone videos released
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Nikolas Cruz, the now infamous shooter behind February’s Parkland school massacre, filmed his disturbing plans to attack his former school in footage released by Florida prosecutors Wednesday. “It’s going to be a big event. When you see me on the news, you’ll know who I am,” Cruz said, filming with his cellphone. “My name is Nik, and I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018,” said the 19-year-old, […]
Florida school shooter wants to donate inheritance to survivors
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz wants to donate his inheritance — which could run to hundreds of thousands of dollars or more — to the bereaved families and survivors of his attack, his lawyers said Wednesday. Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the south Florida city of Parkland on February 14 and opened fire at students and staff with an AR-15-style semi-automatic weapon. He stands accused of […]
Teachers return to streets to protest US school funding
by Nova Safo Agence France Presse CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — A teachers’ protest entered its second day in the US state of Oklahoma on Tuesday as lawmakers faced a spreading schoolhouse revolt against a decade of deep cuts to public education. The teachers’ union organizing the demonstration estimated at least 20,000 people rallied outside the capitol building in Oklahoma City and filled every floor of the rotunda inside — chanting “We’re not leaving” […]
Trump stuns by embracing gun control as Florida students return to class
by Leila Macor Agence France Presse PARKLAND, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump has surprised lawmakers by embracing gun control measures that are tougher than usually supported by his party, as students returned to the site of America’s latest horrific school shooting. “We have to do something about it. We have to act,” Trump said, voicing support for expanded background checks, more secure schools, curbs on the ability of the mentally ill to buy […]
More than 100 girls ‘missing’ after Boko Haram school attack
by Aminu Abubakar with Phil Hazlewood in Lagos © Agence France-Presse DAMATURU, Nigeria (AFP) — More than 100 girls were missing on Wednesday, two days after a Boko Haram attack on their school in northeast Nigeria that has raised fears of a repeat of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping that shocked the world. Islamist militants stormed the Government Girls Science Secondary School in Dapchi, Yobe state, on Monday evening. Locals initially said the girls and their teachers fled. […]
Students turn up heat on Trump, lawmakers over gun control
by Gilles Clarenne with Chris Lefkow in Washington © Agence France-Presse TALLAHASSEE, United States (AFP) — Angered by a shooting rampage that left 17 people dead at a Florida high school, students staged protests in several US cities on Wednesday to turn up the heat on President Donald Trump and lawmakers to take action on gun control. Holding signs reading “Never Again” and “Be The Adults, Do Something,” teenagers who survived last week’s mass shooting at Marjory […]





