NEWSLINE

Detained US student steals N Korean ‘political slogan’
An American student arrested in North Korea has admitted to stealing propaganda material at the behest of a US Methodist church and with the encouragement of a secret university society, state media reported Monday. The North’s official KCNA news agency said Otto Frederick Warmbier, who was arrested in early January as he was leaving the country, had given an ‘interview’ Monday with domestic and foreign journalists in Pyongyang. In an opening statement quoted by KCNA, the 21-year-old student from the University of Virginia said he had removed a political slogan from the staff-only area of the Pyongyang hotel being used by his tour group. — AFP, Seoul

AI urges arms embargo on Yemen warring parties
Amnesty International called Monday for an arms embargo on all warring parties in Yemen, including the Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed rebels, ahead of an Arms Trade Treaty meeting in Geneva. The rights watchdog said it has documented violations of humanitarian and human rights law, including possible war crimes, by both sides since the Yemen conflict broadened in March last year. — AFP, Dubai

SL school empties over false AIDS rumour
Parents Monday withdrew all the children from a Sri Lankan school after false rumours spread that a new six-year-old pupil was HIV-positive, an official said. Parents also protested outside Sambodi Primary School northeast of Colombo against the boy’s admission after he turned up for his first day of class, the official said. ‘Parents don’t want their children to be in the same school with this six-year-old boy,’ regional education director Saman Wijesekera said. Sri Lanka has a national HIV/AIDS awareness programme but understanding of the disease and how it spreads is low, leading to frequent cases of stigma and discrimination against sufferers. — AFP, Colombo

UK launches first new daily newspaper in three decades
British prime minister David Cameron on Monday helped launch the country’s first new national daily newspaper in 30 years, which vowed to show that print news could prosper in the internet age. The New Day, created by publishing giant Trinity Mirror, hit the newsstands on Monday, carrying a front-page story of a report into children who cared for their parents and a column by Cameron calling on Britain to remain in the European Union. Despite plummeting sales of print newspapers, which led The Independent to announce last week that it was moving online, the new paper insisted that its unique format would help it survive. — AFP, London

HK activists on trial over ‘Occupy’ protests
Three pro-democracy activists went on trial in Hong Kong Monday over charges relating to mass rallies in 2014, with the movement’s student leader accusing the government of ‘unreasonable’ prosecution. Joshua Wong 19, was the teenage face of the Occupy Movement, which brought parts of the semi-autonomous Chinese city to a standstill for more than two months as protesters called for free elections for Hong Kong’s next leader. — AFP, Hong Kong