New York: Ravinder Bhalla has become the first ever Sikh mayor of New Jersey's Hoboken city after a stiff competition that turned ugly when he was labelled a terrorist in slanderous flyers. Bhalla was endorsed by current Mayor Dawn Zimmer, who announced his decision not to run for re-election in June. Bhalla will be the first Sikh to hold elected office in New Jersey. Bhalla, who has been on the city council for more than seven years. The race turned ugly in recent days when doctored campaign flyers began circulating anonymously calling Bhalla a terrorist. The flyers had a photo of Bhalla and a slogan above it saying: “Don't let terrorism take over our Town!” A Jersey City man had previously tweeted: “How the hell did Hoboken allow this guy to be a councilman.”
Indian techie in US jailed for funding Qaida
Washington: A 39-year-old Indian engineer has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison in the US for providing material support to al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki and plotting from his cell to kill a judge who oversaw his trial. Yahya Farooq Mohammad pleaded guilty in July to charges of conspiracy to provide and conceal material support or resources to terrorists and solicitation to commit a crime of violence. Following his arrest on terrorism charges, Mohammad had tried to orchestrate the killing district judge Jack Zouhary who presided over his case, from his prison cell, prosecutors said. In 2016, while awaiting trial in his terrorism case, Mohammad told another inmate that he wanted Zouhary kidnapped and was willing to pay $15,000 to make it happen.
Indian-American teen killed in road rage
New York: An Indian-American teenager has been killed in a road rage when a driver ran his truck over her after a minor collision in the city's suburb of Levittown, according to media reports. Police in Nassau County adjoining New York City were looking for the driver who allegedly attacked dental student Taranjit Parmar, 18. Police told the family that the pickup truck's license plate could not be seen on a surveillance video. Police released the video and asked the public to help find him. Parmar's brand new jeep was hit by a red pickup truck that was attempting to make a turn, police said.
Indian American elected mayor of New Jersey
New Jersey: Electrical engineer Hemant Marathe won the mayoral race for West Windsor, New Jersey, becoming the first Indian American mayor of the small town. “I was very thankful that people voted on the issues facing our community, rather than party labels,” Marathe said. Marathe took 3,327 votes, or 48 per cent, beating out fellow Indian American Kamal Khanna, who came in second place with 31 per cent of the votes; and Yan Mei Wang, who captured 20 per cent. Khanna had received the endorsement of outgoing Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh. Marathe served 12 years on the school board. He has also served as council liaison to the Affordable Housing Committee, Zoning Board, and the Parking Authority.
Sharif indicted in 3 graft cases
Islamabad: Pakistan's accountability court indicted ex-PM Nawaz Sharif in three separate corruption references filed against him and his children by the National Accountability Bureau. It also revived the summons for prosecution witnesses and adjourned the hearing until November 15. Rejecting his plea to club all the cases together, the judge called the former PM to the rostrum and read out the charges to him in each of the three references. Calling the probe “malafide and politically motivated,” Sharif pleaded not guilty to all charges. Sharif also said since the SC had given six months for to wrap up the cases against him, the court will have to decide each of the references within 45 days. The judge assured that all cases would be heard simultaneously and concluded within the time frame.
Pak diplomat shot dead in Afghanistan
Kabul: A Pakistani diplomatic official was shot dead in Afghanistan, officials said, but the motive for the deadly attack was not immediately clear. Two assailants riding a motorbike opened fire on Nayyar Iqbl Rana, 52, at a shop in the eastern city of Jalalabad, Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan Zahid Nasrullah Khan said. “When he went to the hospital he was pronounced dead,” Khan said. No arrests have been made so far. Rana was the assistant to the consul general in Jalalabad, the capital of restive Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan. The foreign ministry statement said Rana had finished “his three year tenure in Jalalabad and was due to return to headquarters.”
22 killed as bus falls into ravine in Pakistan
Islamabad: At least 22 people were killed and 51 others injured when a passenger bus fell into a ravine in Attock district of Pakistan's Punjab province, police said. Zeeshan Afzal, an officer from Punjab Highway Patrolling Police, said the accident happened in Dhok Pathan area of Pindi Ghep region of Attock. Local people, police and rescue teams rushed to the spot and shifted the bodies and injured to hospitals in nearby cities. At least 18 people died on the spot while four others succumbed to their injuries later. The doomed bus was carrying 82 passengers to a religious congregation in the provincial capital of Lahore from Attock.
53 detained over attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh
Dhaka: The Bangladesh police have detained 53 people in connection with arson attacks on the homes of Hindus over a rumoured Facebook post by a local man. More than 30 homes belonging to Hindu families in Rangpur's Thakurbari village were ransacked and looted before being set on fire by a mob over the "derogatory" status posted by a Hindu man. One person, 30-year-old Habibur Rahman, was killed when the police opened fire to ward off the angry mob that turned violent and set fire to several homes. Eleven others were injured in the violence. Police filed two cases over the incidents and arrested 53 people, said Police Superintendent Mizanur Rahman.
Bangladesh CJ resigns amid row with Hasina govt
Dhaka: Bangladesh’s first Hindu chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, facing graft and money laundering allegations, has resigned a month after he went on leave abroad amid a row with the Sheikh Hasina-led government over a crucial SC verdict, an official said. Sinha assumed office on January 17, 2015, as the country’s 21st chief justice. He is scheduled to retire on January 31next. “His (Sinha’s) resignation letter has reached Bangabhaban (presidential palace),” President’s press secretary Joynal Abedin said. Officials familiar with the development said, Sinha submitted his resignation letter to Bangladesh embassy in Singapore on the last day of his month-long leave on Friday, where he had gone for medical check-ups.
Islamist militants kill six soldiers in southern Philippines
MANILA: Pro-Islamic State militants killed six soldiers and wounded four others on a southern Philippine island, the military spokesman said, as the army focused on the remaining rebel groups after regaining control of Marawi City. The army shifted its operations on Basilan island after ending the five-month combat operations in Marawi last month after killing the militants' top leaders, including Isnilon Hapilon, the emir of pro-Islamic State groups in Southeast Asia. "We were going after the Abu Sayyaf elements who continue to exist in Basilan," military spokesman Major-General Restituto Padilla said. Militants from the Abu Sayyaf were notorious for bombings, beheadings, extortion and kidnap-for-ransom.
German nurse may have killed over 100 patients
Frankfurt: A German nurse serving prison sentence for murdering two patients is suspected of killing 102 people, more than previously known, police said. If found guilty, it would make him Germany's deadliest serial killer. Niels H has admitted to deliberately injecting patients at two clinics with deadly drugs and then trying to revive them in order to play the hero. Probe has now led to evidence that he may have killed 38 people at a clinic in the city of Oldenburg and 62 at one in Delmenhorst, Oldenburg police said. This does not include the murders for which he was sentenced in 2015. The toll could rise further still, the statement said.
Mass graves found in Iraq could contain 400 bodies
Kirkuk (Iraq): Iraqi security forces have found mass graves in an area recently retaken from the Islamic State group that could contain up to 400 bodies, an Iraqi official said. The bodies of civilians and security forces were found in an abandoned base near Hawija, a northern town retaken in early October, Kirkuk governor Rakan Saed said. He didn’t say when authorities will start exhuming the bodies from the mass graves. Khalaf Luhaibi, a local shepherd who led troops to the site, said IS used to bring captives to the area and shoot them dead or pour oil over them and light them on fire. The area was strewn with torn clothing and what appeared to be human bones and skulls.
