Italy inmate shoots at rivals with 'drone-delivered' gun

An Italian prisoner shot at fellow inmates through the bars of their cell with a weapon believed to have been smuggled in by drone, a prison union said yesterday. The 28-year old, who has links to the Neapolitan mafia, fired three shots Sunday at prisoners he had argued with, but without injuring them, Donato Capece, head of the Sappe prison union, told AFP. The man had got permission to leave his cell to have a shower, and once the door was open he pulled out the gun and pointed it at a guard, forcing him to hand over his keys to the other cells, Capece said. Unable to open the cells of his enemies, the inmate shot through the bars instead, he said.

Trudeau future on the line as Canadians vote in election

Voting kicked off in Canadian elections yesterday that are headed for a photo finish, with liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seeking a third term but threatened by a strong challenge from rookie conservative leader Erin O'Toole. Trudeau called the snap election hoping to parlay a smooth Covid-19 vaccine rollout -- among the best in the world -- into a new mandate to steer the nation's pandemic exit, without having to rely on opposition party support to pass his agenda. But the contest, after a bumpy five weeks of campaigning, appears set for a repeat of the close 2019 general election that resulted in the one-time golden boy of Canadian politics clinging to power.

'Hotel Rwanda' hero convicted on terror charges

Paul Rusesabagina, the "Hotel Rwanda" hero who became a fiercely outspoken government critic, was found guilty of terror charges yesterday after what his supporters labelled a politically motivated show trial. He was convicted by a high court in Kigali of forming a rebel group blamed for deadly gun, grenade and arson attacks in Rwanda in 2018 and 2019. "He founded a terrorist organisation that attacked Rwanda, he financially contributed to terrorist activities," Justice Beatrice Mukamurenzi said at the end of a seven-month trial. Rwandan prosecutors have sought a life sentence for Rusesabagina, the 67-year-old former hotelier credited with saving over 1,200 lives during the country's 1994 genocide, and whose actions inspired the Hollywood film.