Andrew Reiff (for week of Feb 11-15)

International

Summary- Armed man invades Italy day-care center

An Italian man went into a daycare center in Italy, armed with a boxcutter, and took eleven children and the teacher hostage for hours before police took him into custody. The children and the teacher were unhurt, but video from inside the center showed several of the children crying as the man shouted and waved the boxcutter. Some cameras were allowed inside the building, but the man's comments were unintelligible. He claimed that he was the victim of persecution, and was protesting some judicial problems.

Opinion-

Now if I have ever heard a story of a government coverup, this is one. There was absolutly no reason for this man to invade a daycare center of all places, there is nothing to really steal, and he didn't abuse the children. I think this man wanted to draw attention to some huge problem in the Italian government that the Italians didn't want to be known. There was no way this man's remarks could have been unintelligible, the cameras were right there. The remarks were not what the police wanted to hear, and so they will not release the tape, "unintelligible" is a good coverup for that, no questions. On the other hand, this guy could be just another idiot and have thought he was robbing a bank... *brandishes the knife* "uhh... sorry?" Another thing, boxcutters should be made illegal because so many crimes are committed with them, from airplane hijackings to hostage situations. We might worry the terrorists if we took away all the boxcutters....