Vehicle hits pedestrians near school in Beijing: Chinese police
BEIJING - A vehicle crashed into pedestrians in an 'accident' near a school in Beijing on June 26, Chinese police said, with footage shared online appearing to show young people lying injured in the street.
Videos geolocated by AFP to an intersection in Miyun district in the north-east of the capital showed a grey SUV wedged against a tree, as several people and clothing were seen in the road.
In one clip, a bloodied young person was seen being given first aid by somebody in white overalls.
'On June 26, 2025, at around 13:00, a traffic accident occurred near the intersection of Yucai Road and Dongmen Street in Miyun district,' local police wrote in an online statement.
A 35-year-old man surnamed Han 'collided' with people 'due to an improper operation', it said, adding those injured were taken to hospital.
It did not give the number of injured.
'The accident is under further investigation,' the statement said.
China has seen a string of mass casualty incidents – from stabbings to car attacks – challenging its reputation for good public security.
In 2024, a man who ploughed his car into a crowd of mostly school children in central China was handed a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve.
In November 2024 the attacker named as Huang Wen repeatedly rammed his car into a crowd outside a primary school in Hunan province.
When the vehicle malfunctioned and stopped, Huang got out and attacked bystanders with a weapon before being apprehended.
Thirty people, including 18 pupils, sustained minor injuries.
Some analysts have linked the incidents to growing anger and desperation at the country's slowing economy and a sense that society is becoming more stratified.
In November 2024, a man killed 35 people and wounded more than 40 when he rammed his car into a crowd in the southern city of Zhuhai, the country's deadliest attack in a decade.
And in the same month, eight people were killed and 17 wounded in a knife attack at a vocational school in the eastern Chinese city of Yixing. AFP
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Russia jails photographer for 16 years for handing material to US journalist
A Russian court said on Thursday it had found a photographer, Grigory Skvortsov, guilty of treason and jailed him for 16 years after Skvortsov said he had passed detailed information about once secret Soviet-era bunkers to a U.S. journalist. Skvortsov, who was arrested in 2023, denied wrongdoing. In a December 2024 interview with Pervy Otdel, a group of exiled Russian lawyers, he said he had passed on information that was either publicly available online or available to purchase from the Russian author of a book about Soviet underground facilities for use in the event of a nuclear war. He did not name the U.S. journalist in the interview with Pervy Otdel, which the Russian authorities have in turn designated a "foreign agent" - a label which carries negative Soviet-era connotations and is designed to limit their activities and influence. A court in Perm said in a statement that Skvortsov would serve his sentence in a maximum-security corrective prison camp and that his treason had been fully proven in a trial it said had been held behind closed doors. It published a photograph of him in a glass courtroom cage dressed in black looking calm as he listened to the verdict being read out. Russia radically expanded its definition of what constitutes a state secret after it sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 and has since jailed academics, scientists and journalists it deems to have illegally shared secrets. An online support group for Skvortsov said on Telegram after the verdict that "a miracle had not happened" and the photographer's only hope of getting out of jail was to be exchanged as part of a prisoner swap between Russia and the West. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Frenchman who robbed Kim Kardashian dies of cancer aged 69
Didier Dubreucq was sentenced to seven years in jail, including five suspended, over the robbery in Paris of reality TV star Kim Kardashian. PHOTOS: AFP PARIS - A French robber convicted with seven others of stealing jewellery worth US$10 million (S$13 million) from reality television star Kim Kardashian in Paris in 2016 died on June 26, a source close to the case said. Didier Dubreucq, 69, was diagnosed with lung cancer during pre-trial detention and had been undergoing chemotherapy. He was among 10 suspects to be tried earlier this year for stealing jewels from the American influencer, including a huge diamond ring from her now ex-husband, rapper Kayne West. Dubreucq, who police nicknamed 'Blue Eyes' due to his piercing gaze, was accused of being the second person who stormed into Kardashian's hotel room on the night of Oct 2-3, 2016, but he denied the charges. A Paris court in May sentenced him to seven years in jail, including five suspended, over the robbery. He was absent for the ruling as he was undergoing chemotherapy, and did not return to jail as he had already served his two years in pre-trial detention. In April, he had however turned up in court after a chemotherapy session to say he had 'nothing to do' with the theft. He said he did not like to be labelled an 'armed robber' despite having served a 23-year sentence for past armed robberies. 'I'm a good guy,' he said, rejecting suggestions that he was a 'thug'. Since becoming a father at the age of 50, Dubreucq said, he had put an end to the 'big mistakes' of the past. None of the eight people convicted in May returned to jail, including 69-year-old ringleader Aomar Ait Khedache, because of the time they had spent behind bars awaiting trial. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Panel with AI experts to review appeal of NTU student penalised for academic misconduct
The student is one of three who were given zero marks for an essay as part of a module on health, disease outbreaks and politics. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM SINGAPORE - A panel with artificial intelligence experts convened by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will assess the appeal of one of the three university students who were penalised for AI usage in their submitted work. All three of them were given zero marks for an essay as part of a module on health, disease outbreaks and politics at the School of Social Sciences. In response to queries, NTU said on June 26 that it had met two of the students in separate face-to-face consultations this week to discuss their cases. The objective of the consultation for the first student was to assess the grounds for appeal and not to make any conclusions about the specifics of her case, said a spokeswoman. For the second student, her request for an appeal was rejected, as 'the student had admitted to using Gen AI for the essay and had shared how it was used prior to the preliminary inquiry in April', she added. The third student told The Straits Times that he did not submit an appeal. NTU said the first student has formally submitted her appeal to the university, adding that details cannot be provided while this process is ongoing. This student had first recounted her experience of being questioned if she had used AI for an essay by her instructor, Assistant Professor Sabrina Luk, in a Reddit post on June 19. In the post, she claimed she was accused of using AI for a final essay for a particular module because she had made errors in her citations and used a reference organiser. A reference organiser is a software tool that helps collect and organise references and citations. The student, who is in her third year reading public policy and global affairs, said she had provided proof of her writing process but was not met with leniency. This included a time-lapse of her writing recorded by Draftback, a Google Chrome extension that records one's writing process. She was told she had committed academic fraud, resulting in a permanent academic warning and a drop in her grade point average. She requested to remain anonymous. She told ST that during this week's consultation, a panel consisting of senior academics reviewed her essay paragraph by paragraph and allowed her to explain her writing process, and show how she used the reference organiser. In a Reddit post on June 26, she said that she would do her best to get grades for the other components of the assignment apart from the citations. 'But if this last attempt fails, then I'll treat this as a lesson that sometimes things are unfair, but we move forward,' she said. The second student told ST that she felt 'hopeless' at the outcome of her request for an appeal. She said she had used AI only for background research and did not include any generated responses from ChatGPT in her essay. Her ChatGPT history and essay was shown during the proceedings. She said she was not aware that using ChatGPT for background research was not allowed because of NTU's AI policy and was not asked to submit any academic integrity form. University's stance on using AI In general, students are allowed to use Gen AI in their assignments, the spokeswoman told ST. 'As part of academic integrity, students are asked to declare any use of AI and how they are being used,' she said. 'When using AI, students are ultimately responsible for the content generated. They must ensure factual accuracy and cite all sources properly.' She added that some instructors may disallow the use of Gen AI for specific pedagogical reasons. In this case, the professor had disallowed AI use for a specific written assignment to assess students' research skills, their originality and independent thinking. The professor's briefing slides to students, which were seen by ST, said: 'The use of ChatGPT and other AI tools are not allowed in the development or generation of the essay proposal or the long essay. 'You will receive a zero mark for the assignment if you are caught using ChatGPT and other AI for writing assignments.' The spokeswoman said the university remains committed to its goal of equipping students with the knowledge and skills to use AI technologies 'productively, ethically and critically'. 'If AI is not allowed, the reasons are communicated to students, so they understand the course instructor's desired learning outcomes.' Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.