Pakistan police have filed a chargesheet against three more persons, including the alleged mastermind, in connection with the powerful car bomb blast outside Mumbai attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed’s house in June last year that killed three people. A source in Punjab police said that the mastermind and other two facilitators were arrested after the conviction of five suspects in this case. “After keeping them in custody for several months for investigation, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Police finally decided to present them before the anti-terrorism court (ATC) Lahore for their trial,” he said.
Chinese national in Pak held on rape charge
A Chinese national, accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl for months, has been arrested, police said. A case was registered against the suspect in response to a complaint lodged by the 16-year-old girl, who was working as a translator with the Chinese national. The girl in her complaint said the suspect started harassing her soon after she started the job. He sexually assaulted her in January this year and continued to rape her as he threatened the girl with dire consequences in case she filed a complaint, the report said. The girl, however, got pregnant but did not disclose it to her family. Her elder sister, who noticed her condition took her to a private hospital where she was pronounced over 31 weeks pregnant. They then approached the police for registration of the case..
Fire at Iran oil well, officials claim sabotage
Fires ripped through an oil well in southwestern Iran, state TV reported, blaming “unknown” saboteurs for causing the blaze. The oil well in Iran’s restive Khuzestan province burned as a result of “manipulation by unknown individuals,” state TV quoted oil official Ghobad Nasseri as saying. He did not report any casualties or elaborate on the alleged interference. State TV showed footage of black smoke billowing from the damaged well. The province is home to an ethnic Arab population that complains of discrimination and includes an aggressive separatist movement. Authorities were working to control the damaged well and restore production, Nasseri added.
2 killed as shooter goes on rampage in Toronto
A man shot and killed a Toronto traffic police officer while he was on lunch break and killed another person and injured three others before police tracked the suspect down and killed him in a cemetery, officials said. Authorities issued an emergency alert saying they were investigating an active shooter following two shootings in Mississauga and Milton in the province of Ontario. “He was a gentle giant,” Toronto Mayor John Tory said. Toronto Police Chief James Ramer said Hong of traffic services was shot at close range. Hong, 48, was a 22-year veteran of the force.
Kazakh capital back to being called Astana
Kazakhstan’s parliament renamed the Central Asian nation’s capital from Nursultan to Astana, the latest move by government officials and politicians to distance themselves from the former Soviet republic’s first president. The city became the capital in 1997. It was renamed Astana the following year. Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s president at the time, said he wanted the capital to be located closer to the geographical centre of the vast nation. In 2019, when Nazarbayev resigned after 3 decades in power, his successor Kassym-Jomart Tokayev renamed Astana to Nursultan in honour of the ex-leader.
Super-typhoon ‘Nanmadol’ hits S Japan
A powerful typhoon slammed ashore in southern Japan as it pounded the region with strong winds and heavy rain, causing blackouts, paralysing ground and air transportation and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people. Japan Meteorological Agency said Typhoon Nanmadol was heading north after making landfall in Kagoshima city on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu.
Pet kangaroo kills man in fatal attack
A 77-year-old Australian man was killed this weekend by a kangaroo in what is believed to be the country’s first fatal kangaroo attack in 86 years. Police believe that the man was keeping the wild kangaroo as a pet. He was found with serious injuries by a family member on his property in rural Western Australia. Paramedics and police were called to the scene but could not immediately get to the man because the kangaroo was in the way, police said. Officers fatally shot the kangaroo, and the man was later pronounced dead at the scene. In Australia, permits are required to keep wild animals as pets. The police did not respond to questions about whether the man had a permit to keep the kangaroo.
Thai hotel sets record with largest ‘Negroni cocktail’
A hotel in the Thai capital set a Guinness World Record by stirring up the world’s largest Negroni cocktail, with more than 630 litres of the bitter Italian drink. Mixologists at the Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok Hotel poured dozens of bottles of the key ingredients - gin, vermouth, and Campari - into an iced acrylic container 5. 6 ft tall and weighing about 400 kg.
Taiwan beauty queen caught in China row
Taipei accused China of pressuring organisers of a Malaysian trade event into barring a Taiwanese beauty queen waving the island’s flag on stage. Miss Taiwan Kao Man-jung was photographed in a beauty pageant appeared on stage during the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Congress on Innovation and Technology, according to Taiwanese authorities. “China pressured the Malaysian organisers to ban Kao from holding our national flag on stage,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said. It said such suppression “would only disgust Taiwanese people and the international community more” and accused Beijing of deploying “vile actions”.
Judge blocks scrutiny of Trump
A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s request to resume a key part of its inquiry into former President Donald Trump’s handling of sensitive government records and appointed an outside arbiter to review thousands of documents seized last month from his Florida residence. The judge, Aileen M. Cannon, declined to lift any part of an order she issued last week that barred the department from using the documents, including about 100 marked classified, in its investigation until the arbiter, known as a special master, had completed a review. In her decision, Cannon appointed a special master suggested by Trump legal team :Raymond J. Dearie, a semiretired judge from US district court for the Eastern district of New York.
