World News Quick Take

A gunman yesterday shot and killed a kindergarten teacher inside a school building in Chonburi Province, where 44 children and three other teachers were evacuated safely, authorities said. The shooting took place at about 11am inside a building at the Nongplalai Municipal Kindergarten. All 44 students were unharmed and evacuated along with the other teachers after the shooting, the Chonburi Provincial Government said. The shooter, who is believed to be the victim’s husband, fled the scene. His house was surrounded by police, officials said. Media reports identified the suspect as a police officer at the nearby Bang Lamung station.

Police officers gather at the Nongplalai Municipal Kindergarten after a gunman fatally shot a teacher in Chonburi, Thailand, yesterday.

Photo: Chonburi Provincial Government Public Relations Department via AP

SOUTH KOREA

Game exec to pay US$1.9bn

The Seoul Family Court yesterday ordered the founder of Smilegate, a developer of video games including Crossfire, to pay 2.55 trillion won (US$1.91 billion) in a divorce settlement, in what could be a record payout in the country. The court ruled that Smilegate chief vision officer Kwon Hyuk-bin, 52, must transfer 35 percent of the unlisted company’s shares and cash to his wife, a court official said by telephone. The court valued Smilegate at 7.1 trillion won, the Yonhap News Agency said. The court official could not immediately confirm the valuation.

SINGAPORE

Ministers’ salaries raised

Government ministers, already among the world’s highest paid, are getting a raise for the first time in 15 years, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) told parliament on Tuesday, adding that the government cannot attract top talent into politics if salaries remain unchanged. Wong said that under a revised salary framework, the benchmark annual pay for a minister at the lowest grade would rise to S$1.8 million (US$1.42 million), from S$1.1 million. Wong’s benchmark salary would jump to S$3.6 million from S$2.2 million.

UNITED STATES

Trump gifts aide US$45,000

President Donald Trump gave his executive assistant Natalie Harp a US$45,000 cash gift, media reported on Tuesday. Two other White House employees, Margo Martin and Chamberlain Harris, received similar amounts, the Washington Post reported. The three women described the payments as “cash gift for holidays,” the Post reported, citing financial disclosure forms. Harp has been a near-constant presence at Trump’s side in his second term, sometimes typing out social media posts for him and printing out information, a role that has seen her dubbed the “human printer.” She earns US$150,000 a year in her role as the special assistant and executive assistant to the president, according to an annual report to Congress.

NETHERLANDS

Peanut butter art ends run

An artwork consisting of 390kg of peanut butter spread on the floor of a Dutch museum attracted 48,000 visitors, 48 accidental footprints, five phones and one “licking incident” during its run, the institution said on Tuesday. The unusual work, a tribute to artist Wim T. Schippers who died this year, was on display for two months at the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam. Peanut butter was spread on a hexagonal floor measuring 25m2 “as smoothly as possible, without any lumps,” according to the artist’s instructions. “Forty-eight visitors made a fatal misstep into the floor,” the museum said in a statement summing up the exhibition. “Five phones were fished out.” It added that there was one licking incident, with a spokesperson saying that a young child was thought to be the culprit.