Headline

14-year-old Stabs Teacher To Death

Published

3 weeks ago

June 10, 2025

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday condemned “senseless.. violence” after a 14-year-old pupil fatally stabbed a teaching assistant, the latest deadly incident at a school in the country.

The secondary school student was arrested after attacking the 31-year-old assistant with a knife during a bag search in Nogent in eastern France, officials said.

France has, in recent years, seen several attacks on teachers and pupils by other schoolchildren.

In March, police started random searches for knives and other weapons concealed in bags at and around schools.

The assistant at the Francoise Dolto school in Nogent was stabbed several times shortly before 8:00 am, “as pupils were arriving for a visual inspection of their bags in the presence of the police”, education officials said.

The suspect was taken into custody.

Emergency vehicles and police cars were parked outside the school at midday, AFP journalists saw.

Pupils have been sent home, and classes have been suspended for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Nora, a local who knew the victim, said she was “very sad” for the woman’s husband and young son.

“Today it happened in Nogent, but it could happen anywhere,” she told AFP.

The alleged attacker, aged 14, was restrained by police officers present, said prosecutor Denis Devallois.

One officer was slightly injured, he added.

“While protecting our children, a teaching assistant lost her life, the victim of a senseless wave of violence,” Macron wrote on X.

“The nation is in mourning and the government is mobilised to reduce crime,” he added.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said the threat of knives among children had become “critical”.

“It is our responsibility to make this widespread scourge a public enemy,” he said on X.

Education Minister Elisabeth Borne travelled to Nogent to express her support.

“I commend the composure and dedication of those who acted to subdue the attacker and protect the students and staff,” she said on X.

– ‘Simply doing her job’ –

In May, the deputy speaker of the French parliament, Naima Moutchou, said that carrying knives had become “a phenomenon” affecting “all areas” and people from all walks of life.

She presented Bayrou with a report on the possession of knives by minors.

Pupils who carried knives included young people who wanted to “defend themselves” and those who were “psychologically fragile”, she said.

Sophie Venetitay, general secretary of the leading middle and high school teachers’ union SNES-FSU, voiced “anger at the thought that a teaching assistant was exposed in this way”.

“Teaching assistants have an educational role and are not security guards outside schools,” she said.

The teaching assistant was “simply doing her job by welcoming students at the entrance to the school”, added Elisabeth Allain-Moreno, secretary general of the SE-UNSA teachers’ union.

She spoke of her “immense pain” at the killing.

“(It) shows that nothing can ever be completely secure and that it is prevention that needs to be focused on.”

Jean-Remi Girard, president of the National Union of Secondary Schools, added: “It’s impossible to be more vigilant 24 hours a day.

“We can’t say that every student is a danger or a threat. Otherwise, we’d never get out of bed in the morning.”

The interior ministry said on Tuesday that between March 26 and May 26, 6,000 checks led to the seizure of 186 knives.

AFP

Headline

AU Helicopter Crashes In Somali Capital – State Media

Published

31 minutes ago

July 2, 2025

Editor

An African Union helicopter crashed Wednesday at the airport in the Somali capital Mogadishu with eight people onboard, state media said.

The aircraft was part of the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), tasked with fighting the Al-Shabaab militant group.

The state media agency Sonna said the AUSSOM helicopter, carrying eight people, “crashed during landing at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde Airport this morning after departing Balidoogle”.

“The fire has been contained, and authorities are assessing the situation,” it said in a post on X.

Sonna quoted the country’s civil aviation authorities as saying that “flight operations remain normal”.

There were no further details given, but unverified clips and images shared online showed a plume of black smoke over the city.

The AUSSOM mission faces funding difficulties, even as fears of an Al-Shabaab resurgence are stoked by attacks in the Horn of Africa nation.

Headline

Australia Cancels Kanye West Visa Over ‘Heil Hitler’ Song

Published

37 minutes ago

July 2, 2025

Editor

Australia has cancelled US rapper Kanye West’s visa over his song glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, the government said Wednesday.

The 48-year-old musician, who has legally changed his name to Ye, released “Heil Hitler” on May 8, the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

West — whose wife Bianca Censori is Australian — has been coming to Australia for some time because he has family in the country, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.

“He’s made a lot of offensive comments. But my officials looked at it again once he released the ‘Heil Hitler’ song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia.”

Burke said the rapper’s cancelled visa was not intended for holding concerts.

“It was a lower level, and the officials still looked at the law and said: You’re going to have a song and promote that sort of Nazism — we don’t need that in Australia,” he told public broadcaster ABC.

Asked if it was sustainable to bar such a popular figure, the minister said: “I think what’s not sustainable is to import hatred.”

But he said immigration officials reassess each visa application.

Australian citizens have freedom of speech, Burke added.

“But we have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry.”

AFP

Headline

I Was Desperate To Succeed In Music’ — Nigerian Jailed In US For Tax Fraud

Published

52 minutes ago

July 2, 2025

Editor

A Nigerian man, Onomen Uduebor, has been sentenced to 40 months in a United States prison for his role in a large-scale tax fraud scheme, which he admitted was driven by desperation to succeed in his music career.

The U.S. Department of Justice, in a statement released on Tuesday, said Uduebor, 39, also known as Onomen Onohi, was arrested in the United Kingdom in September 2023 and extradited to the United States in March 2025. He pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Speaking in court, Uduebor said, “I have read the victim impact statements, and I know an apology is not enough…. I was desperate to succeed in my music career. It is not an excuse, but it is the truth.”

According to the indictment, Uduebor and his co-conspirators created fake emails between February 2016 and April 2017, posing as company executives to trick human resources departments into releasing W-2 tax documents of employees. The fraudsters then used the data to file over 300 false tax returns, seeking more than $1 million in refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Uduebor personally filed 150 of those returns and tracked the payouts into bank accounts opened in the names of the victims. While the IRS managed to block most of the claims, about $140,000 was paid out—$10,000 of which Uduebor admitted to receiving. He was ordered to forfeit that amount and pay $122,720 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury.

The statement partly reads, “Uduebor admits that he filed 150 of the false tax returns and tracked the refunds and payments to bank accounts that the schemers set up in the names of the victims.

“While the IRS paid out about $140,000 to the fraudsters, Uduebor says he received only $10,000 from the scheme. The IRS was able to seize some of the money back from the conspirators, so the total restitution owed to the U.S. Treasury was $122,720.”

At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart described Uduebor’s actions as significant, stating, “He freely participated in the fraud and had a substantial role in the scheme. Thirty years old is not a young man, and he ought to have known better.”

The statement added that the convict may likely be deported upon the completion of his prison term.

“Uduebor was arrested in the United Kingdom in September 2023. He arrived in the U.S. in March 2025. He pleaded guilty in April 2025. Uduebor will likely be deported to Nigeria following his prison term,” the statement concluded.