9-year-old fires shotgun

Norwegian police say a 9-year-old boy has fired two rounds with a shotgun he brought to his elementary school without causing injuries. They say that they does not know why the fourth grader brought the gun to school or where he got it. The shots were fired on Friday as pupils gathered for classes in the yard outside the 300-student Kanebogen elementary school. The boy fired when teachers tried to take the gun away from him and that the shots went over the school roof. Police say a teacher then took the gun without further incident. The boy is being looked after by school officials and public health experts.

Death for Viet gang members

In Hanoi, a vietnamese gang leader who began life on the streets aged just 11 will die in front of a firing squad after a court sentenced him and three henchmen to death on Tuesday. Huynh Van Hoa, 40, who led a murder and robbery gang, was convicted in southern Ho Chi Minh City after a five-day trial.
In 2005, Hoa used a gun bought in Cambodia to shoot a man dead while robbing him of his motorcycle. The following year, another man was shot and killed when Hoa and other gang members tried to rob him of 128 million dong (S$10,656). Hoa began his life on the streets when his mother committed suicide and his father was jailed. A year later, he was arrested for his first robbery.

Drunk driver gets jail, ban

Just over a year ago, a financial advisor who drank a couple of whisky drinks crashed his car in Bedok North. The accident killed his girlfriend and seriously injured a colleague. On Wednesday, Chiang Kwok Wai, 32, and now unemployed, was given a nine-month jail term and a ban from driving for 10 years. He was found guilty of drink-driving and failing to maintain control of his car, resulting in the deaths. The trio had just had drinks at Boat Quay and he was giving Mr Tay a ride home. The impact so strong the car that Singapore Civil Defence Force officers had to cut it open to free its occupants. A blood test showed Chiang to have 121 mg of ethanol per 100 ml of blood, above the legally prescribed limit of 80mg/100 ml.

Quarantine for some

If you land at Changi Airport and have been in Mexico in the past week: You will have to fill in a form declaring that you were there. After that, you will be asked to stay at home for seven days under a Home Quarantine Order which is backed by law. Those who are visiting Singapore but have also gone to the epicentre of the swine flu epidemic will be put up in chalets, hotels or flats.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that other affected areas might be placed on the list later on, but a start will be made with Mexico.
As during the Sars crisis, those quarantined will get calls to check if they have developed symptoms. If so, an ambulance will take them to the Communicable Disease Centre for a thorough assessment. Under the Infectious Diseases Act, those who disobey the order can face a fine of up to $10,000 and up to six months in jail.

Two Vietnamese who came to Singapore for a holiday had their stay extended when they each landed in jail for six months for mobile phone theft. Nguyen Tan Hung, 18, and Ha Dinh Thuan, 23, pleaded guilty on Friday to four charges of theft of cellphones from shoppers at VivoCity shopping mall last Thursday. Three of the victims, aged 15, 19 and 20, were at Daiso store at the HarbourFront Walk mall when Nguyen picked their mobile phones and passed them to his accomplice to avoid being caught. A fourth victim, a 20-year-old unemployed woman, was going down the escalator to Basement 1 when she found her $400 phone missing from her bag.
All the phones totalling $1,650 were recovered.

Planes kill the birds

US pilots battle against gulls, doves, bats. Gulls and other seabirds most frequently strike, followed by doves and pigeons, starlings, then raptors and waterfoul, according to statistics.
The vast majority of wildlife collisions cause only minor harm to aircraft. However, the crash landing of a US Airways Airbus in New York's Hudson River this January, after geese knocked out both engines, served as a chilling reminder of the threat. The pilot was able to land safely but only after flying the packed airliner with no power. The deadliest tragedies occurred in 1960, when a flock of starlings brought down a civilian plane in Massachusetts killing 62 people, and in 1996, when 34 people died in a military aircraft in the Netherlands. Birds have greater trouble hearing today's quieter aircraft, which typically use two, not three or four engines.

Crane crash kills tourist

In taipei, one tourist from mainland China was killed and five others were injured when a construction crane fell on their bus in Taiwan's capital on Friday. One man was killed on the spot and five others were hurt and sent to two hospitals. The six were part of a tour group of 25, from southern Guangdong province, who had to be pulled from their bus after it was smashed by the falling crane. The crane fell on the bus from the 37th storey of a building under construction near Taipei 101, once the world's tallest skyscraper. Police are investigating the accident.