An Indian woman was among 26 civilians injured in a missile attack carried out by Yemeni rebels on an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia last week, a media report said. The attack came a day after Riyadh said it intercepted two drones fired by the Houthi rebels, which controls a large part of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. The attack resulted in the injury of 26 civilians of different nationalities, the report said, adding that the wounded included one Indian woman and two Saudi children. Eighteen of those injured were admitted to hospital for treatment of minor injuries and at least six have been discharged. Claiming responsibility for the attack, the rebels through an announcement said a cruise missile was used to carry out the attack.
Indian detained in Dubai for alleged molestation
An Indian national based in Dubai has been detained for allegedly molesting a seven-year-old girl, a media report said. According to the prosecutors, the 36-year-old man, who was produced in the court, took advantage of the girl and touched her inappropriately when her mother was away, the Khaleej Times reported. The accused, a construction worker, denied the molestation charge. The incident happened in April at a gift shop. The girl's mother, a Moroccan housewife, said she was with her daughter and her younger son at the shop on April 17. "As I was busy shopping, my son went to the playing corner and then my daughter went after him. Moments later, she came back looking scared," she said. The girl did not tell her mother right away. Later, she pointed at the defendant who was standing near them and said that he touched her twice. Her father lodged a complaint after he learned about the incident.
Kerala toddler dies after being left alone on Dubai bus
In a shocking development, a six-year-old boy died after being left alone in a bus for several hours in Dubai. The Indian boy, identified as Mohamed Farhan Faisal from Kerala, was a student of Islamic Centre in Al Quoz. Victims family said that Faisal slept off in a bus after boarding at Karama. He was left behind as all the students alighted from the bus. According to reports, the driver found the child as he took the bus out to drop the students back home. After the initial investigation, the body was shifted to the forensic department for an autopsy. "The mortal remains will be handed over to the family after all legal and administrative procedures have been completed," an official said.
5 Lanka blast suspects extradited
Five key suspects in Easter Sunday bomb attacks on Sri Lankan churches and hotels have been extradited from West Asia, police said. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the suspects arrived from Saudi Arabia after their arrest in an unspecified West Asian country. Gunasekara said the five include the main suspect in the killing of two policemen last year at a checkpoint in eastern Sri Lanka, in an attack blamed on Islamic extremists. He was identified as Hayathu Mohamed Ahmed Milhan.
61 killed in China floods
As many as 61 people were killed and 356,000 evacuated from their homes as heavy rain and floods swept through large parts of southern and central China this week, rescue authorities said. China's Ministry of Emergency Management said 9,300 homes have collapsed and 3.71 million hectares of farmland damaged during the floods, with direct economic losses now estimated at 13.35 billion yuan ($1.93 billion). It said more than 4,300 people had been rescued from floodwaters, which have affected regions stretching from Guangdong province in the southeast to southwest China's Chongqing on the upper reaches of the Yangtze river.
Canadian found guilty of sexual abuse in Nepal
A Canadian aid worker has been found guilty by a Nepalese court of sexually abusing two boys who were found at his home last year. Kavre District Court official said the judge issued a guilty verdict this week against Peter Dalglish, a year after he was arrested at his home with the boys, who were aged 12 and 14. Dalglish was arrested from his mountain villa in Nepal in April 2018 and charged with sexually abusing children. He had denied the charges. Dalglish helped found the charity Street Kids International and has worked for decades for a number of humanitarian agencies, including UN Habitat in Afghanistan and the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response in Liberia. He has focused much of the time on working children and street children.
Afghan govt says it has freed 490 Taliban prisoners
The Afghan government says it has freed 490 Taliban prisoners from jails across the country in a gesture of good will as part of efforts to move a stalled peace process forward. Feroz Bashari, government media center chief said that the freed Taliban insurgents were either ailing or had less than a year remaining on their prison sentence. He says they are part of a group of 887 inmates that President Ashraf Ghani ordered freed to mark the Eid-al-Fitr holiday. He didn't say when the remaining prisoners would be released. The development comes as US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in the Afghan capital of Kabul, trying to revive peace talks.
China conducts world’s first 5G remote surgery
Doctors in China have successfully directed surgeons 200km away to perform a gall bladder surgery using 5G network in a remote area. The laparoscopic cholecystectomy was conducted last week in north China’s Hubei Province which lasted about an hour. There was almost no network delay, and the patient’s vital signs remained stable after the surgery, state-run Xinhua news agency said. “With 5G network, more doctors can cooperate to conduct surgeries regardless of their distance,” Gui Kunpeng, an official with China Mobile’s Hubei branch, said.
Taiwan president wins nomination for 2020 election
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen won the ruling party's hotly contested nomination for the 2020 presidential election in a boost to her administration, which suffered a poll defeat amid rising threats from China. Tsai beat her former premier, William Lai, in a national tally for the party's primary race, Cho Jung-tai, chairman of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, told reporters. "We have come up with the strongest candidate for the Taiwanese people," Cho said, urging the party to unite after the month-long race marked by heated exchanges between Tsai's administration and the former premier. Tsai's administration suffered a defeat in local elections late last year amid mounting criticism over the party's reform agenda and rising pressure from China, prompting Lai's resignation as premier.
Christchurch gunman pleads not guilty
The man accused of the New Zealand mosque attacks smirked as his lawyer entered not guilty pleas to terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges before a judge who set his trial for next May. Brenton Tarrant, the 28-year-old Australian accused of the attacks, appeared at the hearing via video link from a small room at the maximum security prison in Auckland where he's being held. Other than smirking a couple of times, Tarrant showed little emotion during the hearing. When Judge Cameron Mander asked if he could hear and see what was going on in the courtroom, Tarrant nodded. Tarrant has been charged with 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one terrorism charge in relation to the March 15 shootings. The judge scheduled a six-week trial to begin May 4. Tarrant will remain in custody ahead of his next hearing in mid-August.
Saudi Arabia won't execute Shia boy
Saudi Arabia will not execute Murtaja Qureiris, the Shia boy who was arrested on terrorism charges when he was 13-year-old. The confirmation was issued by a top diplomat from the Kingdom on being asked by reporters in New York on Qureiris' pending execution. The official said Saudi would not execute Quereries, and also release him from custody in 2022. The lenient approach is being taken considering that the Shia minor was arrested for the alleged crimes at a tender age of 13. Some of the charges under which Qureiris has been booked date back to 2011, when he was merely 10-year-old. Reports had sparked a row across the western world, after they said that Saudi has issued orders to execute Qureiris for crimes he committed between the age of 10-13.
Power cut hits millions in South America
Power began to trickle back into the grid after a blackout hit Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay on Sunday, leaving tens of millions without power. Argentina’s grid “collapsed” around 7am local time, leaving the country and parts of Uruguay and Paraguay without power. The nations have a combined population of around 55 million. Argentina’s energy agency said it was investigating the causes of the outage, but hadn’t provided details.
Viral video shows baby walking right after birth
A newborn baby has been filmed appearing to take her first steps just moments after being born in astonishing footage taken inside the delivery room. In the video, the little girl is seen being held up by the midwife’s arm as she appears to walk along the counter, with many calling it a miracle. The infant was filmed while still in the delivery room as the midwife took her towards the sink area to give her a wash. As she is held up on just one arm, she takes clear steps forward, lifting each foot in turn. The woman dressed in surgical scrubs can be heard shouting in Portuguese: “Oh my gosh, the girl is walking! Good gracious!” The midwife seen in the video later said she had been trying to give the baby a bath but she had other ideas. She said: “I was trying to wash her here and she keeps getting up to walk.”
81-year-old robs bank just to go back to prison
An 81-year-old man who has spent most of his adult life behind bars for stealing from banks said he robbed a credit union in Tucson months after his release from prison because his monthly $800 social security payment wasn’t enough to live on, according to court records. Robert Francis Krebs also told FBI agents that he didn’t wear a disguise to the January 2018 robbery because he “kind of wanted to get caught” and return to prison.
