A Sikh teacher in Peer Baba, Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was reportedly abducted and converted to Islam, triggering protests. Dina Kaur, daughter of Gurcharan Singh, was abducted at gunpoint, raped and married to her abductor on August 20. Her family approached the police, but no case was registered. Gurcharan Singh claimed the crime had been committed in connivance with the District Police Officer (DPO) and Station House Officer (SHO) of Buner district. “They tortured her and forced her to get converted. They misled us the entire day,” he said. Livid, the Sikh community in the district organised massive protests. A video of one such protest went viral.
Hindu worker held in Pak over alleged blasphemy
A Hindu sanitation worker has been arrested in Pakistan for allegedly committing blasphemy by burning pages of a religious book following a series of protests by an extremist group, a senior police official said. Ashok Kumar was arrested after the extremist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) staged protests in front of a building housing Hindu families over the alleged blasphemy incident that took place in Hyderabad city. A Hindu community leader in Hyderabad said the police had arrested Kumar without carrying out a proper investigation. “The Hindu families living in a building where the incident occurred are scared after the protests organised by the TLP and held outside their building on Sunday,” he said.
Overseas Pak flyers to make cash declaration
The Pakistan government has made currency declaration by all international passengers mandatory as part of the measures to curb money laundering to fulfil the condition set by the global money laundering and terror financing watchdog FATF, according to a media report. The notification issued by the Civil Aviation Authority came as a team of Financial Action Task Force is expected to arrive in Pakistan next month for “on-site” visit to verify steps taken by Islamabad to curb money laundering and terror financing. No international passenger would be able to board the flight or leave the airport without submitting the declaration. The passengers would be required to submit the currency declaration form to the customs staff before checking in for the flight, the notification said. Pakistan has been on the grey list of the Paris-based FATF since 2018.
Chinese ship leaves Lanka after controversial visit
A high-tech Chinese research ship docked at the strategically important Hambantota port departed from Sri Lankan waters on Monday after a controversial six-day visit. The ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship ‘Yuan Wang 5’ ship was originally scheduled to arrive at the Chinese-run port on August 11 but it was delayed in absence of permission by Lankan authorities following security concerns raised by India. The Chinese ship arrived in Hambantota on August 16. It was docked there for replenishment. The ship left the port on Monday, harbour master Nirmal Silva said.
Singapore to decriminalise gay sex
Singapore will decriminalise sex between men but has no plans to change the legal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, PM Lee Hsien Loong. LGBTQ groups welcomed Lee’s decision to repeal Section 377A of the penal code, a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men, but also cautioned that ruling out same-sex marriage would help to perpetuate discrimination. In his annual national day rally speech, Lee said Singaporean society, especially young people in the city-state, were becoming more accepting of gay people. “I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept,” he said.
Mogadishu hotel siege ends; 21 killed, 106 hostages freed
Somali forces have ended a deadly siege at a hotel in the capital Mogadishu which saw more than 21people killed and dozens of hostages freed, authorities said. Elite armed forces in the Horn-of-Africa nation battled al-Qaida-linked militants for 30 hours, after the jihadis blasted and shot their way into the Hayat Hotel on Friday. “We have confirmed so far 21 dead people and 117 others injured,” Ali Haji, the minister for health, said. The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab group, which has been fighting to topple the Somali government for more than a decade, claimed responsibility for the attack. It wants to establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
US first lady tests Covid +ve
US first lady Jill Biden tested positive for Covid-19 after developing cold-like symptoms last week, her communications director Elizabeth Alexander said. After testing negative earlier as part of her regular testing cadence, a later PCR test taken after she developed symptoms came back positive, the spokeswoman said. President Joe Biden tested negative on an antigen test, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Twitter. Jill Biden is experiencing mild symptoms and has been prescribed a course of Paxlovid, Alexander said. The first lady is currently in South Carolina where the Bidens have been on vacation. She will return home after she receives two consecutive negative Covid-19 tests, Alexander said.
Turkey, Israel to restore full diplomatic relations
Turkey and Israel have agreed to restore full diplomatic relations following improvement in relations between the two countries. The two countries will return ambassadors to each other’s countries following a gradual improvement in relations. The announcement was made following a conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It comes after four years after the two countries expelled ambassadors over the killing of 60 Palestinians by Israeli forces during protests on the Gaza border against the opening of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.
Cops rush to a US zoo to find monkey dialled 911
California cops rushed to a zoo after a 911 call - only to find it had been placed by a mischievous monkey. Dispatchers sent officers to investigate a possible emergency after receiving a call. Sheriff’s deputies traced the call to the offices of Zoo to You, but couldn’t find any humans in trouble. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, they began to probe. “Apparently, Route the Capuchin monkey had picked up the zoo’s cell phone. . . which was in the zoo’s golf cart which is used to travel around the 40 acre site,” said a post by the sheriff’s office. Capuchins are particularly inquisitive creatures, who enjoy poking objects they pick up. “Just so happened it was in the right combination of numbers to call us,” it read.
Asteroids may have brought water to Earth
Water may have been brought to Earth by asteroids from the outer edges of the solar system, scientists said after analysing rare samples collected on a six-year Japanese space mission. In a quest to shed light on the origins of life and the formation of the universe, researchers are scrutinising material brought back to earth in 2020 from the asteroid Ryugu. The 5. 4 grams of rocks and dust were gathered by a Japanese space probe, called Hayabusa-2, that landed on the celestial body and fired an “impactor” into its surface. Studies on the material are beginning to be published, and in June, one group of researchers said they had found organic material which showed that some of the building blocks of life on Earth, amino acids, may have been formed in space. In a new paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists said the Ryugu samples could give clues to the mystery of how oceans appeared on Earth billions of years ago.
Airplane part falls from sky, nearly hits man in US
A metal object believed to have fallen from a trans-Atlantic jet came crashing down outside the Maine State House, landing with a loud bang just feet from a Capitol Police worker, officials said. . The FAA believes the metal sleeve weighing 6 to 7 pounds came from a wing flap of a large passenger jet. No one was hurt.
