In Brief
[naviga:h3]Detained student goes before media[/naviga:h3]
PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea presented a detained American student before the media today in Pyongyang, where he tearfully apologized for attempting to steal a political banner — at the behest, he said, of a member of a church back home who wanted it as a “trophy” — from a staff-only section of the hotel where he had been staying.
North Korea announced in late January it had arrested Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate student. It said that after entering the country as a tourist he committed an antistate crime with “the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation.”
No details of what kind of charges or punishment Warmbier faces were immediately released.
According to Warmbier’s statement today, he wanted the banner with a political slogan on it as a trophy for the church member, who was the mother of a friend.
In previous cases, people who have been detained in North Korea and made a public confession often recant those statements after their release.
He was arrested while visiting the country with Young Pioneer Tours, an agency specializing in travel to North Korea, which is strongly discouraged by the U.S. State Department.
He had been staying at the Yanggakdo International Hotel, which is located on an island in a river that runs through Pyongyang, the capital.
[naviga:h3]Market bombings leave 73 dead[/naviga:h3]
BAGHDAD — In Iraq, the death toll from devastating back-to-back market bombings carried out by the Islamic State group the previous day in eastern Baghdad climbed to 73 today, officials said.
Several of the critically wounded died overnight while 112 people remain in hospital, two police officials said.
Also, at least five people were still missing after the blast that ripped through the crowded Mredi market in the Shiite district of Sadr City, followed by a suicide bombing amid the crowd that had quickly gathered at the site to help the victims.
Three medical officials confirmed the latest death toll, which rose from the toll of 59 reported late Sunday.
Iraq’s Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, called on security forces to “exert further efforts to prevent the terrorists from carrying out their crimes against innocent civilians.”
[naviga:h3]Slasher injures 10 children at school[/naviga:h3]
BEIJING — A knife-wielding man slashed 10 children outside a primary school in China before killing himself today, police said. None of the children suffered life-threatening injuries during the attack in Haikou, reports said.
Knife attacks against schoolchildren have become fewer in recent years after Chinese schools were hit by a rash of mass stabbings roughly five years ago. The attacks, mostly carried out by disaffected perpetrators with mental illnesses, sparked outrage among parents who demanded more security.
