In a rare judgment, a court in Pakistan has nullified the marriage of a minor Hindu girl, who was converted to Islam and married to a Muslim man in Sindh province. The girl, a class IXth student, was allegedly abducted on January 15 by Ali Raza Solangi who later married her. Her father filed an FIR, claiming that Solangi had married her forcibly. He said the girl was 15-year-old when she was abducted. Additional Session Judge Ghulam Ali Kanasro ruled the girl was underage. The couple had initially claimed that the girl had embraced Islam of her own will after which they got married. But the girl later said changing her religion was a mistake. The judge ruled that the girl was not fit for marriage under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act. He directed police to take action against all those involved in conducting and abetting the child marriage.
Wagah bombing: Pak court jails 3 for 300 years
Three terrorists belonging to the banned Jamaat-ul-Ahrar were handed down death sentences and 300 years of imprisonment for their involvement in the 2014 Wagah border bombing that killed over 60 people. Over 60 people, including women and children, were killed in the suicide attack on November 2, 2014 at the Wagah border on the Pakistani side. The responsibility for the attack was claimed separately by the proscribed Jundullah and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. “The anti-terrorism court announced the verdict in the Wagah border bombings. It handed down death sentence to three suspects - Haseebullah, Saeed Jan Ghana and Hussainullah - on five counts and also gave them 300-year jail term and imposed a fine of Pakistani Rupee 1 million on each one of them,” a court official said. The court acquitted three other suspects giving them the benefit of doubt.
Mysterious toxic gas kills 14 in Karachi
Toxic gas has claimed the lives of 14 people and affected more than 500 others in the coastal residential areas of Karachi. But the authorities have yet to identify the source of the toxic gas. Authorities said they became aware of the incident after people in Karachi’s Kiamari neighbourhood, close to the main port, suddenly started rushing to hospitals with severe breathing problems. Iftikhar Shallwani, Karachi’s commissioner, said that while multiple theories were being considered, the source of the mysterious gas leak remains unclear. He said experts from the armed forces are also part of the investigation. Meanwhile, fear and panic has gripped the area with residents wearing face masks, while many families are moving away from the place.
Pakistan says 5 militants killed in shootout
Security forces in Pakistan said that five suspected militants were killed in a raid in the country's northwest, and that two other militants were arrested in a separate operation. Senior counter-terrorism officer Tahir Khan said the shootout took place at a compound in the working-class suburb of Mathra near Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He said the militants belonged to a banned group and that security forces found suicide vests, sub-machine guns and other weapons at the scene. Two militant commanders from the Sajna group of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban, were captured in the raid, according to counter-terrorism officer Mohammad Ajmal. The operation took place in Tank district, which serves as a gateway to the mountainous South Waziristan district, a former militant stronghold.
Lanka proposes ban on burqa in public places
A Sri Lankan parliamentary committee on national security has proposed an immediate ban on burqa and suspending the registration of political parties on ethnic and religious basis, following the Easter Sunday terror attack that killed over 250 people. The proposals featured in a special report presented in parliament. The report was tabled by MP Malith Jayatilaka. The report suggested that the police should have the power to ask anyone to take off face covering in a public place in order to establish the identity of the person. If such a request is not complied with, police should have the power to arrest the individual without a warrant. It also recommended the country’s election commission to suspend the registration of political parties on ethnic and religious basis. Other proposals include absorption of all students studying in madrassas into the normal school system under the ministry of education within three years.
Boat carrying 91 migrants goes missing in Mediterranean
The UN refugee agency said that a rubber dinghy packed with 91 migrants that set out from Libyan shores in hopes of reaching Europe has apparently gone missing in the Mediterranean. The inflatable boat carrying mostly African migrants departed from al-Qarbouli, 50 km east of the capital Tripoli on February 8, said Osman Haroun, whose cousin was on board. He hasn't heard from the 27-year-old Mohamed Idris, or his 10 other friends also on the boat, since. “It's the first time I've heard of this happening,” Haroun said from the western coastal district of Zawiya, where he has lived with his family since fleeing the conflict-ridden Darfur region of Sudan in 2016. "Those who set out you usually hear from within a few hours ... no one has even seen the boat's remains." News of the missing boat comes amid criticism of the European Union's lack of rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea.
Niger stampede kills 20
Fifteen women and five children were trampled to death in a stampede for food and money for refugees in southeast Niger, a regional governor said. The accident occurred at a youth and culture centre in Diffa, the main town of a region of the same name that hosts more than a quarter of a million refugees and internally displaced people. "Unfortunately, fifteen women and five children died... in this regrettable drama," Issa Lemine, the regional governor of Diffa, said after visiting the injured in hospital. The region which abuts Nigeria and Chad has been repeatedly hit by attacks by Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadist group since 2015. It hosts 119,000 Nigerian refugees, 109,000 internally-displaced people and 30,000 Nigeriens who have come home from Nigeria because of the instability in its northeast, according to UN figures.
Togo President Gnassingbe wins re-election
Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe declared an electoral victory and called on his rivals to drop a competing claim, with official preliminary results showing him re-elected in a landslide. The win, if confirmed, will give Gnassingbe a fourth five-year term and extend a family dynasty that began when his father took power in a 1967 coup. But some Togolese worry that a contested outcome could lead to political violence. Preliminary figures released by the electoral commission showed Gnassingbe winning with 72 per cent of the vote, with his main opponent, former Prime Minister Gabriel Messan Agbeyome Kodjo, at 18%. Longtime opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre received just 4%. Final results are expected in the coming days.
Thieves steal 6,000 surgical masks in Japan
Thieves in Japan have made off with some 6,000 surgical masks from a hospital, with the country facing a mass shortage and a huge price hike online due to the coronavirus. Four boxes containing the face masks disappeared from a locked storage facility at the Japanese Red Cross hospital in the western port city of Kobe, a hospital official said. “We still have a large number of masks - enough to continue our daily operations at the hospital, but this is so deplorable,” the official said. Police have launched an investigation as they suspect the thieves intend to resell the masks. Masks have sold out at many stores as the number of infections have increased in Japan.
Ring lost 47 years ago in US found in a forest in Finland
A woman has been reunited with her late husband’s high school class ring which she lost in Portland, US, 47 years ago, after it was found in a Finnish forest in January. Debra McKenna, 63, lost the ring while she was a student in Morse High School, Maine, in 1973. She received the blue-stoned silver ring from her husband Shawn, who was her boyfriend at the time. It was not known how the ring ended up in Finland.
Last seen off Africa, ghost ship washes up in Ireland
A ghost ship last seen floating off the African coast six months ago has washed up in Ireland. The 77-metre MV Alta cargo ship was spotted snagged on rocks in County Cork. The vessel, flying a Tanzanian flag, had been drifting unmanned across the Atlantic for more than a year after it was abandoned near Bermuda.
Cambodia orders women not look sexy on Facebook
A crackdown in Cambodia on women who wear provocative clothing while selling goods via Facebook live streams was slammed by women’s rights groups as dangerous and baseless. PM Hun Sen said low cut tops were an affront to Cambodian culture and ordered authorities to track down Facebook vendors who wear them to sell items like clothes and beauty products - a popular trend in the conservative country. “Go to their places and order them to stop live-streaming until they change to proper clothes,” the PM told the government’s Cambodian National Council for Women. “This is a violation of our culture and tradition,” he said, adding that such behaviour contributed to sexual abuse and violence against women. The national police posted a video on Facebook in which a Cambodian woman makes a public apology for sullying the “tradition and honour of Cambodian women” by wearing “extremely short and sexy clothes” in her online sales pitches. Facebook was not immediately available to comment.
Man kidnaps woman, forces her to watch slavery series
A man allegedly kidnapped a woman and forced her to watch 1977 slavery mini-series Roots to “understand her racism”. Cedar Rapids police department in Iowa arrested Robert Noye, 52, an African American, on charges of first degree harassment and false imprisonment. A complaint stated he allegedly forced the woman to sit with him and watch the mini-series. When the woman attempted to leave, Noye told her to “remain seated and watch the movie with him or he would kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago,” according to the Gazette. Roots is a celebrated mini-series created about author Alex Haley’s family line.
Russian MPs for relaxing rules on Nazi symbols
Russian lawmakers have voted to lift a legal ban on displays of Nazi symbols like swastikas as long as they are not intended to promote fascist ideology. Currently the public display of Nazi symbols along with logos of extremist organisations is banned in Russia and punishable with a fine or up to 15 days behind bars. A vote by the lower house of parliament backed lifting the ban, which was introduced in 2014
Police find secret underground cigarette factory
Police have dismantled what they say is the Europe Union’s first clandestine underground cigarette factory - 4 metres under a horse stable in Spain. Spanish police and Europol said people from UK, Ukraine and Lithuania were arrested. Europol said beds and living quarters for the workers were found in the bunker in Malaga province. Access to the plant, operating since 2019, was hidden by a cargo container. Europol said the factory had a complete production line and produced 3,500 cigarettes an hour.
Samsung sends alert that reads only ‘1’, creates panic
Samsung users have been left “creeped out” after receiving strange notifications. Galaxy phone users worldwide were hit with the notification, which read only: “1”. The message spread panic among those who received it, since it was sent from the app “Find My Mobile” that can be used to track a phone’s location or remove the information stored on it. Samsung said the notification was sent “inadvertently”. “We can assure our users that this notification does not affect their devices in any way. We sincerely apologise to our customers,” the firm said. Samsung did not explain how the message was sent or how many users were affected.
US agency told to pay fees in ‘IM GOD’ licence plate case
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has to pay more than $150,000 in legal fees for a man who won a lawsuit allowing him to put “IM GOD” on his licence plate. A judge ruled this week that the agency must pay $150,715 in attorneys’ fees and $491 for court costs.
Trump struggles to pronounce ‘statistics’ at rally
Speaking to supporters at a rally in Colorado Springs, US President Donald Trump repeatedly stumbled over the word ‘statistics’ and then complained about coverage of his pronunciation. “I’m telling you, within a very short period of time you’re gonna see some statics, some sa-tiks-tics coming out on – STA-TIS-TICS, I gotta do it right. Otherwise they’ll say ‘what’s wrong?’ You know, if you go 16 of these, and if you mispronounce one word they say ‘what’s wrong?’” Trump has often stumbled with his diction. At another rally on February 19, he substituted “privit” for “prison” and “neonetical” for “neonatal”. At both rallies he was reading from a teleprompter.
First US prez sought honest Brits over slovenly Americans
George Washington, the first president of the US, praised the honesty of British farmers and sought to entice some to his estates because local tenants were so “slovenly”, according to a handwritten letter he wrote in 1796. In a three-page letter to the Earl of Buchan, Washington asks the Scottish nobleman if he knew of any “honest and orderly” farmers who would like to emigrate to the US to work on his land. The letter was unveiled by the University of Edinburgh. It was donated to the university by Scottish polymath and antiquarian David Lang in the 1870s.
New snail species named after Greta Thunberg
Scientists have discovered a new temperature-sensitive species of land snail, and have named it Craspedotropis gretathunbergae in honour of the Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg for her efforts to raise awareness about climate change. According to the study, published in the Biodiversity Data Journal, the newly discovered species belongs to the so-called caenogastropods — a group of land snails known to be sensitive to drought, temperature extremes, and forest degradation.
Nepal PM's b'day celebrations marred by controversy
Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli's birthday celebrations were marred by controversy after pictures of him cutting a 15-kg-cake with the country's map drawn on it went viral. Oli's wife Radhika Shakya, along with a large number of people, including school children, and his close aides attended the 69th birthday celebrations of the premier on Sunday at his birthplace in east Nepal's Terhathum district. Social media users expressed anger at the use of the country's map on the cake. 'According to Article 151 of Criminal Code 2017, denigrating glory of the national anthem, flag and coat of arms is restricted. The Code prohibits the use of national emblems in inappropriate places and situations. Anyone found to have been involved in such an act can face legal action,' said one of the social media users online. Cutting Nepal's map in the form of the cake is inappropriate as it indicates motive to disintegrate the country, senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi was quoted as saying. This may invite legal action, he said, demanding apology from the prime minister.
Indian shot dead dead in Los Angeles
A masked assailant shot dead an Indian national Maninder Singh Sahi at a grocery store in Los Angeles on last Saturday, local police said. Maninder, who had turned 31 last month, was married and father of two. Hailing from Karnal, Sahi had arrived in the US less than six months ago and had sought political asylum. He was working at a 7-Eleven grocery store in the Whittier City in Los Angeles County of California. The only earning member of his family, Sahi used to send money to his wife and two children back home, his relatives in the US said. According to the police, it appears the suspect entered the store with a semi-automatic handgun with the intent to commit a robbery.
Gunman kills 9 people, including Indians, in Germany
A 43-year-old German man who posted a manifesto calling for the “complete extermination” of many “races or cultures in our midst” shot and killed nine people of foreign background, including Indians, in an attack on a hookah bar and other sites in a Frankfurt suburb, authorities said. He was later found dead at his home along with his mother, and authorities said they were treating the rampage as an act of domestic terrorism. The gunman first attacked the hookah bar and a neighbouring cafe in Hanau, killing several people, then travelled about 2.5km and opened fire again, first on a car and then a sports bar, claiming more victims. The bloodshed came amid growing concerns about far-right violence in Germany and stepped-up efforts from authorities to crack down on it, including last week’s detention of a dozen men on suspicion they were planning attacks against politicians and minorities.
