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THAILAND is reeling after a mass killing this week when a former police officer stormed a child-care centre in Nong Bua Lam Phu province in the northeast of the country.

The man, armed with firearms and a knife, attacked people before fleeing the scene in a vehicle.

Police colonel Jakkapat Vijitraithaya confirmed that at least 35 people were killed and 23 toddlers were among the dead.

He identified the attacker as Panya Khamrab, 34, a former police lieutenant colonel who had been dismissed from the force last year for drug addiction. Vijitraithaya said the gunman went home and killed his wife and child after the mass shooting. | AFP

Ukraine

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to take over operations at Europe’s largest nuclear power station in the Russia-annexed region of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine.

“The government will ensure that the nuclear facilities at the plant... are integrated as federal property,” the executive order said this week. The power station has been occupied by Moscow’s forces since March.

Ukrainian state nuclear agency Energoatom said that Russia was

“creating pseudo-enterprises with the names of Ukrainian companies”.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has denied reports that 700 000 Russians have fled the country since Moscow announced a mobilisation drive to call up hundreds of thousands to fight in Ukraine. | AFP and Reuters

Lesotho

LESOTHO held a parliamentary election yesterday, amid failures by its politicians to pass constitutional reforms meant to end years of political instability in the kingdom.

The All Basotho Convention has run the country since 2017, but divisions within the party have given it two prime ministers in five years – one of whom, Thomas Thabane, stepped down in 2020 after being charged with the murder of his exwife. The charges were later dropped.

His successor, Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro, declared a state of emergency in August after legislators failed to pass two bills meant to end political volatility in parliament. Last month, Lesotho’s highest court ruled the declaration unconstitutional. | Reuters

Netherlands

A DUTCH town lost a court case this week for Twitter to do more to stop the spread of false rumours claiming it was home to Satan-worshipping paedophiles.

Bodegraven-reeuwijk in the Netherlands sued Twitter last month over the rumours spread by three men since last year. People had flocked there to lay flowers and messages on a graveyard of so-called victims after conspiracy theorists latched on to the claims.

Twitter had suspended an account containing “defamatory and inflammatory tweets” about the town and removed all retweets from the account, the court said. But the court added that the firm was “not obliged to remove any other tweets from others of its own accord.” | AFP

The Gambia

THE World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert this week over four cough and cold syrups made by Maiden Pharmaceuticals in India, warning they could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia.

It also cautioned that the contaminated medications may have been distributed outside of the West African country, with “possible” global exposure.

The four products are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup, the WHO alert said. | AFP

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