IN brief
Officer shoots armed former student at school
DIXON, Ill. — Officials say a police officer working at a northern Illinois high school shot and wounded a former student who fired a gun at him.
The shooting happened in the Dixon High School gymnasium at about 8 a.m. Wednesday. City manager Danny Langloss says students were gathered there for graduation practice when the officer exchanged gunfire with the gunman. Authorities haven’t provided the gunman’s name. Lee County Sheriff John Simonton tells Sauk Valley Media he is a 19-year-old former student. Langloss says the gunman is in custody with what he describes as non-life-threatening injuries. He says neither the officer nor anyone else was injured.
All schools in the city about 130 kilometres west of Chicago have been placed on lockdown while the shooting is investigated.
Facebook’s Zuckerberg to talk to EU parliament
BRUSSELS — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has accepted to visit the European Parliament to explain his company’s recent privacy issues and allegations that it misused personal data. Parliament President Antonio Tajani said that Zuckerberg “will be in Brussels as soon as possible, hopefully already next week” and would meet with parliamentary leaders and experts on civil liberties and justice. Zuckerberg’s visit next week comes as an aggressive new European data protection law comes into effect that will give Facebook’s millions of European users more control over what companies can do with what they post, search and click. The European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation will be enforced from May 25.
Top Greek judge quits over bailout spat
ATHENS, Greece — The head of Greece’s highest court has resigned over a legal spat surrounding austerity measures that will be imposed after the country’s bailout ends in August.
In a rare televised address, Council of State chairman Nikos Sakellariou announced his resignation Wednesday in protest over leaks over an ongoing legal challenge made to the court against pension cuts planned to take effect next year.
The 67-year-old judge criticized the planned cuts, arguing they would drive a large section of the public “into total desperation.”
Egypt pardons hundreds jailed for demonstrating
CAIRO — Egypt’s President Abdel-fattah el-sissi on Wednesday pardoned more than 330 young people, most of whom had been convicted and jailed for their participation in illegal protests.
Egypt’s president has the authority to pardon those who have been convicted and cannot appeal their sentences. Authorities in Muslim countries traditionally release prisoners on the eve of the fasting month of Ramadan as a show of mercy. Ramadan begins on Thursday this year. Officials say a total of 332 prisoners will be released, including pro-democracy activists who were found in violation of a 2013 law that prohibits unauthorized protests.