Melbourne: A 25-year-old man, believed to be of Indian origin, was brutally assaulted by a man with a baseball bat in New Zealand's Auckland city and is in a critical condition, reports said. Police have sought the public's help to identify the victim. He was wearing a grey collared shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers with white soles. He is believed to be of Indian descent, police sources said. Details of the incident were not given out by the police but a report in stuff.co.nz said the man was 25-year-old and was “beaten with a baseball bat in south Auckland.”
Bangladesh allows polygamy for Hindus
New York: The International Religious Freedom Report for 2016 which examined the marriage laws governing religious groups in various countries and said that polygamy is permitted for Hindu men in Bangladesh. "Under Hindu (civil) law, men may have multiple wives, but there are officially no options for divorce," the report said. "Buddhists are covered under Hindu law and divorced Hindus and Buddhists may not legally remarry." Women are also prohibited from inheriting property under the civil laws for Hindus, the report said. There is opposition to the prohibition on divorce and remarriage for Hindus and Buddhists, which do not apply to other religions.
Death for 10 in plot to kill Bangladesh PM
Dhaka: A Bangladesh court sentenced ten Islamist militants to death over a failed plot to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by detonating a huge bomb at one of her rallies in 2000. The men were sentenced to death by a firing squad for planting a huge explosive near where Hasina was scheduled to speak during her first term as prime minister in 2000, prosecutor Shamsul Haq Badol said. "The bomb was planted in an attempt to kill Hasina, high-ranking leaders of the (ruling) Awami League party and dignitaries," Badol said. Police allege the operation was led by Mufti Abdul Hannan, the late leader of extremist group Harakat ul Jihad Al Islami, which perpetrated a string of attacks across Bangladesh in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Mass grave exposes IS brutality in Afghanistan
Kabul: Afghan security forces have discovered around 40 bodies in a mass grave in the northern Sari Pul province during the government forces' clean up operations in the troubled region. The bodies were recovered amid reports that militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) group and Taliban outfit massacred more than 50 civilians after overrunning the strategically important Mirza Olang district two weeks ago. The IS has claimed responsibility for the carnage and said in a statement that its fighters had killed 54 people in the troubled district. Although the Taliban rejected its involvement in the bloodshed, villagers said both the Taliban and IS insurgents jointly attacked Mirza Olang and committed the "crimes against humanity".
In a first, Pak issues ID card to transgender man
Islamabad: Maher Ali also known as (Mani AQ), a transgender male in Pakistan, has become the first person in this country to get a `National Identity Card' (NIC). This card is issued to the citizens of Pakistan as a proof of their identity. He got the ID card according to the gender he wanted. In 2009, the female Hijra community got their representation on the ID card but not the transgender males. Mani who hails from Lahore, said, “I had to fight against the authorities to get this identity card. This is a proof of identity for what I am and what I stand for. The authorities had asked for some medical certificates to ensure that I'm a transgender male.”
German doctor gets full state funeral in Pak
Islamabad: Pakistan gave a full state funeral with national honours to a German woman doctor, who had dedicated her life to containing leprosy in the country. Dr Ruth Pfau (87) founded the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre, which has branches across Pakistan. The government had announced to accord the leprosy fighter a state funeral after she passed away last week in Karachi. Armed forces personnel carried Pfau's casket, covered in the Pakistani flag, into St Patrick's Cathedral in Karachi. This was the second state funeral to have taken place in Pakistan in past 29 years and the first for a Christian woman in the country.
Pak police arrest Christian youth on blasphemy charges
LAHORE: Pakistani police say a Christian youth was arrested on blasphemy charges after he allegedly desecrated the Quran, Islam's holy book, in eastern Punjab province. Police chief Pervez Iqbal says the teen, about 18 years of age, was seized by a mob on Aug. 12 near the town of Wazirabad. The mob wanted to "punish" him for blasphemy. Iqbal said that the police acted swiftly and probably saved the youth from being lynched. He says the man is now awaiting trial. Earlier this year, a student was lynched in northwestern Pakistan for blasphemy. The charge was later proven baseless.
Nearly 500 dead pulled from Sierra Leone mudslide
FREETOWN: Rescue workers have unearthed 499 dead bodies since last week's devastating landslide near the Sierra Leone capital Freetown, the city's chief coroner said. One of Africa's worst flooding-related disasters in years occurred when the side of Mount Sugar Loaf collapsed last week after heavy rain, burying parts of Regent town and overwhelming relief efforts in one of the world's poorest countries. Authorities this week buried 461 bodies in quickly-dug graves in the nearby Waterloo cemetery, near the site of a mass burial for victims of the Ebola crisis that killed 4,000 people in the former British colony between 2014 and 2016. Thirty-eight more bodies were found later, said chief coroner Seneh Dumbuya, bringing the official death toll to 499.
Carrot returns ring lost 13 years ago in Canada
Toronto: A Canadian woman who lost her engagement ring 13 years ago while weeding her garden on the family farm is wearing it again after her daughter-in-law pulled it from the ground on a misshapen carrot. Mary Grams, 84, said she can't believe the lucky carrot grew through and around the diamond ring she had long given up hope of finding. Grams said she never told her husband that she lost the ring, but told her son. Her husband died five years ago. “I feel relieved and happy inside,” Grams said.
Sleeping toddler left in car, dies in Austria heat
Vienna: Austrian police say a toddler has been found dead after being left in a car for several hours during high temperatures. The 19-month boy's mother and her boyfriend said they left the child in the vehicle in Bludenz as they did not want to wake him.
China to relaunch one of the world's fastest bullet trains
Beijing: China is relaunching the world's fastest bullet trains in September 2017, running at 350 km (217 miles) per hour. China first ran trains at 350 km per hour in August 2008, but cut speeds back to 250-300 km per hour in 2011 following the collision of two trains near the city of Wenzhou that killed 40 people and injured 191. China has laid more than 20,000 km (12,400 miles) of high-speed rail, with a target of adding another 10,000 km (6,214 miles) by 2020.
10 US sailors missing after destroyer collision
Singapore: Guided-missile destroyer USS John S McCain collided with a merchant vessel near here leaving 10 Navy sailors missing and five injured, a statement said. The destroyer collided with the 30,000-ton Liberian oil tanker Alnic MC in the Strait of Malacca while it was making a routine port visit to Singapore, the US Navy statement said. The ship sustained damage to its rear-left side. It was, however, not disabled and was motoring to port under its own power, hours after the crash, the New York Post quoted an official as saying. Search and rescue efforts were on with helicopters and aircraft from the amphibious assault ship USS America.
US woman dies while `laughing too hard'
Pennsylvania: A US school teacher died after she accidentally fell off a rooftop balcony while laughing during a vacation in Mexico. Sharon Regoli Ciferno, 50, of Pennsylvania, US, was with her daughter at a friend's house in Mexico when she sat on a deck ledge. “She started laughing very hard and when she put her head back she lost her balance and fell back,” her brother David Regoli said.
