News
China executes man who killed 35 in car rampage
By Francesca Hangeior
China on Monday executed a man who killed 35 people in a car rampage in the southern city of Zhuhai in November 2024, in the country’s deadliest mass attack in years.
On November 11, Fan Weiqiu, 62, deliberately drove a small SUV through crowds of people exercising outside a sports complex, also injuring 45 in China’s worst such crime since 2014.
He was sentenced to death last month, with a court saying his motives “were extremely vile, (and) the nature of the crime extremely egregious.”
State broadcaster CCTV said Monday a Zhuhai court “executed Fan Weiqiu in accordance with the execution order issued by the Supreme People’s Court.”
The municipal public prosecutor “sent personnel to supervise (the execution) in accordance with the law,” CCTV reported.
Fan’s attack sparked widespread public shock and soul-searching in China about the state of society. He was detained at the scene with self-inflicted knife wounds and fell into a coma, police said at the time.
At his trial last month, Fan pleaded guilty in front of some of the victims’ families, officials and members of the public, state media said.
The court found he “decided to vent his anger” over “a broken marriage, personal frustrations and dissatisfaction with the division of property after divorce.”
It concluded that his methods were “particularly cruel, and the consequences particularly severe, posing significant harm to society”.
Violent crime is generally rarer in China than in many Western countries, but the country saw a string of mass casualty events last year.
Stabbings and car attacks challenged the ruling Communist Party’s reputation for strict public security and crime prevention.
They also carried a shock factor that led some to question perceived social ills such as frustration with a slowing economy, high unemployment and diminishing social mobility.
CCTV reported Monday that a separate court in eastern Jiangsu province had carried out the death penalty on a man who killed eight people and wounded 17 in a mass stabbing in November.
Xu Jiajin, a 21-year-old former student who attacked a vocational school in the city of Wuxi, was executed “in accordance with the law”, CCTV reported.
He too had been sentenced to death in December, with the court concluding that his crime was “extraordinarily serious”, CCTV said.
Xu was permitted to “meet with his close relatives” before his execution, the broadcaster added.
China classifies death penalty statistics as a state secret, but rights groups including Amnesty believe the country executes thousands every year.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Nigerian singer Speed Darlington is calling for a rematch against Portable after losing to him in a celebrity boxing match.
Speed Darlington was knocked out in the second round, and he’s unhappy about the outcome.
In a video, he claimed Portable didn’t deserve the win and the prize money, saying he had plans to use the money to build a swimming pool for his community in Imo State.
Portable, I want a rematch. E dey pain me say you dey carry all that money dey go. E dey break my heart.
” I want a rematch. It’s so unfair. You have up to two experience before me and you fight. I never enter ring before. I did not come from poverty,” he said.
“You don’t deserve that money. E dey pain me. I want to build swimming pool for my villagers. I need a rematch, Portable”, he said.
According to Speed Darlington, Portable had an unfair advantage due to his experience, accusing him of using supernatural means to win the fight.
He also claimed he suffered a shoulder injury during the match despite not feeling tired.
Speed Darlington, who wants a rematch, said he needs 30 days to prepare better
At first glance, there is nothing unusual about the bulky bulldozer turning up soil at a testing site in central Israel, but as it pulled closer it became clear: the driver’s cabin is eerily empty.
This is the Robdozer, a fortified engineering vehicle manned remotely, and in this case operated from a military expo halfway across the globe in Alabama.
Army engineers and military experts say that the Robdozer — the robotic version of Caterpillar’s D9 bulldozer — is the future of automated combat.
The Israeli military has used D9 for years to carry out frontline tasks like trowelling roads for advancing troops, removing rubble and flattening terrain.
But since war in Gaza broke out in October 2023 and later in Lebanon, the Israeli military has increasingly deployed this robotic version in a bid to enhance its field operations and reduce the risks to its troops.
“The idea is to eliminate the person from the cockpit of the dozer,” said Rani, whose team at the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries developed the Robdozer.
An unmanned D9 bulldozer digs up a field during a demonstration to the press at the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) quarters near Tel Aviv on March 26, 2025. Israel’s increasing use of advanced technology on the battlefield, from air defence systems to a broad range of AI-driven intelligence tools, has been well-documented but also criticised for inaccuracies, lack of human oversight and potential violations of international law. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)
During the Gaza war, the military has increasingly opted for the unmanned version, which can carry out a full range of tasks “even better than a human”, said Rani, using his first name only for security reasons.
While such vehicles and other systems are currently operated by humans, future versions could be autonomous, raising ethical and legal concerns over the unchartered future of warfare being shaped by the Israeli military in the Gaza war.
‘Changing the paradigm’
Israel’s increasing use of advanced technology on the battlefield, from air defence systems to a broad range of AI-driven intelligence tools, has been well-documented but also criticised for inaccuracies, lack of human oversight and potential violations of international law.
Analysts say the growing Israeli deployment of the Robdozer reflects broader global trends towards automation in heavy combat vehicles, like remote-controlled personnel carriers that operate much like drones.
An Israeli military official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told AFP that the army has been using “robotic tools for over a decade, but in very small numbers. Now it is being used in large-scale warfare”.
Nigerian chess sensation and founder of Chess in Slums Africa, Tunde Onakoya, has broken the chess marathon record of 61 hours, 3 minutes, and 34 seconds, set by two Norwegian players, Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad, in June 2024.
Onakoya and his chess partner, Shawn Martinez, are currently aiming to complete a 70-hour chess marathon in Times Square, New York.
The marathon, a four-day non-stop gameplay, started on April 17.
In a post shared on X shortly after surpassing the current record, he expressed fulfillment and called for action to educate and create opportunities for street children in Nigeria.
For all the dreamers! We’ve officially BROKEN THE RECORD with my brother,” he wrote.
Although the official confirmation from Guinness World Records is still being awaited, Nigerians and chess lovers from different parts of the world have congratulated the chess master on his latest achievement.
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