GLOBAL SNAPSHOT

Health trio killed

THREE women (including one who was pregnant) who devoted their lives to helping traumatised US veterans have been killed by a patient who had been kicked out of their Northern California treatment program. A daylong siege at The Pathway Home ended on Friday evening with the discovery of four bodies, including the gunman. He was named as Albert Wong, 36, who served with the US Army on active duty from May 2010 to August 2013 and spent a year in Afghanistan. Investigators were still trying to determine when and why Wong killed two executives and a psychologist at The Pathway Home, a non-profit posttraumatic stress disorder program at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville in the Napa Valley wine country region. They were identified as: Christine Loeber, 48; Jennifer Golick, 42, and Jennifer Gonzales, 29, who was seven months pregnant.

China supportive

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump says that China’s President Xi Jinping is being “helpful” as the US moves towards a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The White House said Trump and Jinping were committed to keeping the pressure on North Korea until it takes “tangible steps” toward denuclearisation. Mr Trump stunned the world this week by accepting an invitation to meet Kim before the end of May, an unexpected turnabout after months of intensifying brinkmanship.

Spy turns on spy

GLAMOROUS Russian spy Anna Chapman has branded critically ill Sergei Skripal a “traitor” almost a week after he was poisoned by an unknown nerve agent. Chapman ranted on Instagram as Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, fight for their lives in hospital. “As always Russia is guilty by default ... despite the fact that traitor Skripal was pardoned by the President and released,” she wrote. Chapman was caught red handed operating as a spy in New York in 2010 and has since gone on to build a hugely successful business empire.

Irish abortion rally

AT least 10,000 people have rallied in Dublin against Irish government plans to ease some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws. Voters will be asked as soon as May if they wish to repeal the eighth amendment to Ireland’s constitution, inserted in 1983 to enshrine the equal right to life of the mother and her unborn child, and instead enable parliament to set the laws. The government has said it will begin drafting legislation in line with recommendations made by an all-party parliamentary committee for terminations with no restrictions to be allowed up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy. Two opinion polls in January found that over 50 per cent of voters would support a proposal to allow abortion up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy, with just under 30 per cent opposed and the rest undecided.

Migrant intercept

INTERNATIONAL charity ships and Libya’s coast guard have picked up several hundred migrants as smugglers launched a flurry of boats towards Italy. More than half the migrants were Nigerians, with the rest from other sub-Saharan African countries as well as two Palestinians. Libya is the main departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea. More than 600,000 have made it to Italy in the past four years. Thousands more perished at sea. Since last summer the rate of departures dropped sharply after smugglers in the Libyan town of Sabratha struck a deal with the Tripoli government to halt their activities.