International News January 26-31

Attacker Kills Kids, Adult At Belgian Nursery

On January 23, a 25-year-old man attacked a Belgian nursery and killed two babies and a female childcare provider, The Times online reports. The knife-attacker, who is thought to be a psychiatric patient, had a black and white painted face and first tried to hurt the youngest children ages 1 to 3, the police said. The attacker also managed to injure ten children and three female members of the staff. The incident occurred around 10 a.m. in Dendermonde. About an hour later, the Belgian police found the man in a nearby supermarket.

Brazilian Model Dies From Bacteria

Mariana Bridi, the 20-year-old beauty queen and Brazil model, died on January 24 after she developing an infection from a urinary disease, The Los Angeles Times reports. The Brazilian model was in the hospital for one month, fighting the bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which spread throughout her entire body and was continuously resistant to drugs. Her doctors amputated her hands and feet as a last chance to save her, but the bacteria disease won. Bridi’s funeral on January 24 in the town Marechal Floriano.

Mexican Man Found Dissolving Bodies

Santiago Meza, a Mexican man, was arrested by the Mexican police as he was caught for dissolving dead bodies in chemicals for the last decade, BBC reports.He was arrested on Thursday near Tijuana and was presented to the media, where he said he would like to apologize to the victims’ relatives. “They brought me the bodies and I just got rid of them,” Meza said. “I didn’t feel anything.”

The 300 bodies found were from murdered opponents of Mexican drug kingpin Teodoro Garcia Simental. In recent years, drug violence in Mexico has increased, especially in the northern cities.

European Union Expands Zimbabwe Sanctions

On Sunday, the European Union said it would add more European companies to the Zimbabwe sanctions list, The Telegraph reports, citing two EU diplomats. Moreover, EU officials indicate that the companies that support Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe’s government will be frozen. The meeting, which was held in Brussels, will expand the Zimbabwe sanctions list to reach more than 200 people and 40 companies, from government members and relatives of Mugabe’s allies.

Iran Running Out Of Uranium Supplies

Western nations believe Iran is going dry of uranium supplies, The Times reports. Sources have learned the production of uranium is decreasing daily and this situation could lead to the exhaustion of the natural resources during the next few months. Britain, U.S., France and Germany have already begun their diplomatic efforts to deter uranium producers from selling supplies to Iran. This situation has turned into an international concern as 2009 is likely to be a pivotal year for Iran’s nuclear program.

Pope Brings Back Holocaust Denier

On Sunday, Pope Benedict rehabilitated a bishop who denies the Holocaust, Reuters reports. Jewish leaders warned them that this action will put Catholic-Jewish relationship in a strained position. Pope Benedict wrote a decree lifting the excommunication of four traditionalist bishops that were thrown out of the Roman Catholic Church in 1988 for being ordained without the Vatican’s permission. Britain-born Richard Williamson said he believes there were no gas chambers and only “up to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, instead of 6 million.”

“The late Pope John Paul II called anti-Semitism a sin against God and man. The denial of the overwhelmingly detailed documentation of the Shoah is anti-Semitism at its most blatant,” said Israel-based Rabbi David Rosen, head of inter-religious affairs for the American Jewish Committee. “In welcoming an open Holocaust denier into the Catholic Church without any recantation on his part, the Vatican has made a mockery of John Paul II’s moving and impressive repudiation and condemnation of anti-Semitism.”