Dinesh Chawla, an Indian-origin developer who previously partnered with the Trump Organization to bring a series of new hotels to the state of Mississippi, has been arrested for allegedly stealing luggage from a Memphis airport, media reports said. According reports, Chawla, 56, was arrested on August 22 and charged with one count theft of property $1,000 -$2,500 and one count theft of property $2,500 to $10,000. Chawla was given a $5,000 bond and released later. According to reports, Chawla was seen taking a suitcase off the baggage claim belt at the Memphis International Airport on August 18. The police said that Chawla put the bag in his vehicle then went back inside to catch a flight. Police then searched his vehicle and found "several bags that had been stolen." The bags "contained thousands of dollars worth of items." Chawla told the police he stole the bags.
Pak PM Imran's office faces power cut
The effects of Pakistan's crumbling economy have now been visible in Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan's office too, with the Islamabad Electric Supply Company issuing a notice to the secretariat over non-payment of bills for the past several months. The Imran's secretariat owes electricity bills worth 41,00,000 Pakistani rupees to the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESC), say Pak media reports. The IESC has said that the secretariat has not paid its electricity bills for the past several months. Power cuts, especially during summers, have worsened in Pakistan in recent years. These regular power cuts usually lead to the suspension of work at factories and offices, thereby affecting the overall business activity.
Lanka court orders reburial of suicide attacker
A Sri Lankan court ordered police to exhume and relocate the remains of an Easter Sunday suicide bomber buried in a public cemetery in the eastern district of Batticaloa, after residents' protests stoked tension. Hundreds of people, including the relatives of those killed in the attack at Zion Church in Batticaloa, protested this week over the burial of the militant in a Hindu cemetery nearby, saying it hurt their sentiments. Protesters blocked roads and law enforcement fired tear gas shells to disperse them, but an uneasy calm has prevailed since, police said. "The remains will be exhumed and kept in a mortuary until the government finds a suitable place to bury them," police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said. The bomber was buried in a Hindu public cemetery after Muslims declined to allow his burial in a community graveyard.
8,600 troops to stay in Af after deal with Taliban
President Donald Trump said that United States’ troop levels in Afghanistan will drop to 8,600 if a deal is reached with the Taliban and that a permanent presence will remain. “We’re going down to 8,600 and then we make a determination from there,” Trump said in an interview. “We’re always going to have a presence.” Trump also said that if another attack on the United States originated from Afghanistan “we would come back with a force like... never before”. US troops were first sent to Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on US soil carried out by al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the former Taliban regime. Washington now wants to end its military involvement and has been talking to the Taliban since at least 2018.
7 killed in Texas mass shooting
Seven people were killed and at least 21others were injured in a mass shooting in the West Texas cities of Midland and Odessa, as a gunman drove on the highways and streets opening fire on residents, motorists and shoppers, the authorities said. The attack terrified the sister cities, less than a month after gunmen killed 31 people in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, in back-to-back massacres. The Saturday attack brought the number of victims of mass killings by firearms to 53 for the month of August in the United States. The carnage was also the 38th shooting with three or more fatalities.
9-year-old girl told to 'cover up'
In a day and time when we talk of body positivity and encouraging women to be comfortable in whatever they wear, a 9-year-old's body-shaming case in Florida school has left everyone enraged. The 9-year-old girl student was told not to wear a tank top in school as it "distract boys". The girl was allegedly told to cover her shoulders. The mother of the child was outraged and they protested wearing "right to bare shoulders" tees! The mother and her husband have decided to make their opinion heard. She and her husband agreed that the school's dress code was too outdated. She gathered a few other friends, classmates of her daughter and took a peaceful protest approach. They came up with T-shirts for girls that read "Right to bare shoulders," and for the boys' that said, "Real men aren't distracted by shoulders."
US news anchor compares black colleague to gorilla
A television news anchorwoman in the US apologised after comparing her black colleague to a gorilla, NBC News reported. Alex Housden of KOCO 5 News in Oklahoma City made the remark during a segment on an ape. When a video of a baby gorilla appeared on screen, Housden, who is white, turned to her black co-anchor, Jason Hackett, and said that the ape “kind of looks like you.” The following day, Housden apologised to Hackett, saying: “I said something yesterday that was inconsiderate, it was inappropriate, and I hurt people.”
Iran publicly hangs man for killing cleric
Iran publicly hanged a man convicted of murdering the leader of main weekly prayers in the city of Kazeroun, state news agency IRNA said. Hamid Reza Derakhshandeh was executed at the scene where he killed the cleric on May 29. Mohammad Khorsand suffered fatal injuries when attacked with a “cold weapon” while returning from a ceremony during Ramadan. The cleric had been the leader of Friday prayers in Kazeroun, the capital of Fars province, since 2007.
10 students injured in Chinese school attack
At least 10 students were injured in an attack at an elementary school in central China. The attack occurred on the first day of the new semester in Enshi city in Hubei province. The wounded students were taken to a hospital. Media reports say police are holding the suspect for investigation. The motive of the attack was unclear and no further details were immediately available. In June last year, two children were stabbed to death by a man outside an elementary school in Shanghai. In April last year, nine were killed and more than a dozen injured outside a middle school in northwestern Shaanxi province by an attacker who allegedly was a former pupil seeking revenge for having been bullied.
Dog who stopped intruder honoured
A four-legged hero who saved then-US President Obama from a White House intruder is now an award-winner in Britain. Hurricane, a former Secret Service dog, has earned the Order of Merit from British veterinary charity PDSA. He’s the first foreigner to win the honour, to be bestowed at a London ceremony in October. The Belgian Malinois intercepted an intruder who scaled the White House fence in October 2014. The intruder swung Hurricane around, punching and kicking him, but the dog dragged him to the ground, allowing Secret Service agents to intercept him. Obama, home at the time, was not harmed.
100 killed in Saudi-led air-strikes in Yemen
Airstrikes launched by the Saudi-led coalition on a detention center held by the Houthi rebels in Yemen's Dhamar province, have killed at least 100 people and injured scores, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. The attack has been termed as the deadliest till now by the Saudi-led coalition, which has faced massive international criticism for airstrikes that have not only killed civilians but also hit non-military targets. Yemen officials said the airstrikes had targeted the university in Dhamar that is one of dozens of detention centers run by the Houthis in areas under their control. However, the Saudi-led coalition said it had hit a Houthi military structure used to store drones and missiles in Dhamar, “in accordance with international humanitarian law.” It said “all precautionary measures were taken to protect civilians.”
Attackers set Mexico bar on fire, 25 killed
At least 25 people were killed and 11 badly wounded when gunmen burst into a strip club in eastern Mexico, doused it with gasoline and ignited a raging fire, officials said. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador condemned the attack and said federal authorities would investigate evidence that it may have stemmed from collusion between the state prosecutor’s office and organised crime. The attack is the latest to rock the state of Veracruz, a flashpoint in bloody turf wars between rival drug cartels.
Deadly Taliban attack in Kabul casts shadow on peace deal
A Taliban attack on a housing complex used by international organisations in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday killed at least 16 people and angered local residents who demanded the heavily fortified compound be moved. The blast, which shook buildings several kms away, happened just as Zalmay Khalilzad, the special US envoy for peace in Afghanistan, was outlining details of a draft accord with the insurgents in a television interview. Following major Taliban attacks on two northern cities over the weekend, the bombing of the Green Village compound added to questions around the peace deal reached between US and Taliban negotiators in the Qatari capital, Doha. Habib Jan, who was in his house nearby when the blast occurred, said the area has been attacked repeatedly and many residents wanted the compound, used by foreign staff of international groups including aid organizations, moved.
