Monday, November 18

Eight people were killed and 17 others were injured in a devastating stabbing attack in eastern China, marking the second time in under a week that a mass attack has taken place in the East Asian country.

The attack occurred at the Wuxi Yixing Arts and Crafts Vocational and Technical College at around 6:30 in the evening, located in the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu province. The stabber, a 21-year-old man with the surname Xu, was refused his college diploma following a poor result on his final exam as he graduated this year. He was also unhappy with the salary of his internship, leading to the attack. The man admitted to carrying out the stabbing as soon as he was apprehended, but a thorough investigation is still underway.

Not much is known about the attack, as China tries to keep the details of incidents like this under wraps. Online posts about these types of attacks are quickly taken down, and journalists are prevented from reporting on them. Chinese citizens are also blocked from seeing any information relating to the incident, as their browsers are censored by the country's Great Firewall.

This comes just after China's worst attack in a decade, which occurred earlier this week after 35 people were killed at a sports center in Zhuhai when a car drove into crowds of people. 2024 has been particularly bad for China in terms of attacks due to general dissatisfaction among the public at their social and financial situations. In May, two people were killed and another 10 people were injured at an attack in an elementary school in Jiangxi province, and another two people were killed in an attack on a hospital in the province of Yunnan. In June, three people were killed at a train station in Shanghai, and a bus attendant was killed onboard a Japanese school bus in the city of Suzhou. In July, a knife attack killed three people in the city of Shenyang, and in September, a man stabbed a student on the streets of Shenzhen, located in the heavily-populated province of Guangdong.

Upcoming Events:

• World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Violence (Monday, November 18)

• World Toilet Day (Tuesday, November 19)

• Africa Industrialization Day (Wednesday, November 20)

• World Children's Day (Wednesday, November 20)

• World Philosophy Day (Thursday, November 21)

• World Television Day (Thursday, November 21)

• World Conjoined Twins Day (Sunday, November 24)

• Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib (Sunday, November 24)

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Ferrets are illegal in California and Hawaii because of the danger they pose to native wildlife if let into the wild.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): One’s best success comes after their greatest disappointments.

(Henry Ward Beecher)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Grandiloquence (noun)- Grandiloquence is a formal word that refers to the use of extravagantly colorful or pompous language often in order to sound impressive and important.

In a Sentence: He was known for the flowery grandiloquence of his speeches which, his passionate delivery notwithstanding, always caused more than a few listeners to doze off.