Another shoot up in America

Tragic news this morning to read there has been another school massacre in America. It's the biggest death count yet for a school massacre, far bigger than Columbine.

Over on another blog I follow an interesting point has been made about the media coverage which today's incident is getting.

News works in mysterious ways
What I can't get my head around is the tendency for all news networks to clear their schedules when something like an American school shooting happens with a few dozen casualties. Incidents like that happen every day in Iraq or Darfur or Afghanistan or Chechnya and those barely cause a mention anymore on the airwaves. American lives are obviously worth many times that of a dead Iraqi or a Darfur genocide victim.

Colleague murdered

On my return to work today it was sad to learn of the news that a teacher working for my company in Tokyo was murdered during the time I was on holiday.

Whilst I never knew the girl and she worked at a school in Tokyo which I had never heard of, it drives home the message that although Japan appears a very safe country people are not spared the threat of nutcases.

The girl was found dead and buried in a balcony bathtub filled with sand. The police have a strong lead in the case and are looking for he owner of the apartment where her body was found. It is believed the owner of the apartment was a private student this girl gave tuition to on a Saturday morning.

More detailed story can be found by clicking here.