Spiritual leader and yoga guru Anand Giri was arrested in Australia for alleged sexual assault of two women on two separate occasions, during prayer meetings at their houses. Anand, who is a mahant at the Bade Hanuman temple in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, was picked up from Oxley Park suburbs. The 38-year-old yoga expert had been on a six-week tour of Australia. According to police, Anand met a 29-year-old women at her house for prayers in 2016 and indecently assaulted her there. In November 2018, Anand assaulted a 34-year-old woman during a prayer meet at her house. Both women knew Anand prior to the assaults. Charged on two counts, Anand is set to appear at the local court on 26 June and will be remanded in police custody until then. He was refused bail.
Indian woman dies after hip operation in Dubai
An Indian woman died at a Dubai hospital due to complications after a hip replacement surgery. Betty Rita Fernandes, originally from Mumbai, was a chef and ran a specialty grocery store in the city. Mohayem Abdelghany, chief executive officer of the Al Zahra Hospital, in a statement said: “We have made the family transparently aware of all the developments and ongoing reviews. This incident is currently being dealt with multi-level in-depth reviews as per the hospital, Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Joint Commission International guidelines.” The DHA said the department will look into “every single case of alleged negligence and/or malpractice stringently”.
Pak to review re-opening of airspace for Indian flights
Pakistan will review re-opening of its airspace for Indian flights on May 15 amid heightened Indo-Pak military tensions, a civil aviation official said, but a senior minister indicated that the status quo will remain till the elections are over in India. Pakistan fully closed its airspace after an Indian Air Force strike on a terror camp in Balakot on February 26. On March 27, it opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. “The government will decide whether to lift or not its airspace ban for the Indian flights on May 15,” Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Mujtaba Baig said. However, federal science and technology minister Fawad Chaudhry said: “Status quo will remain till the elections are over in India. I don’t see any improvement in relations between Pakistan and India till the elections are over,” he said.
10 killed in Pak bombing outside shrine
A suicide bomber attacked security forces guarding a famous Sufi shrine in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20 others. Hizbul Ahrar, an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their target was the police. Hundreds of pilgrims were inside and outside the shrine, where a local Sufi saint is buried, when the blast took place. Police said five policemen and five passers-by were among the killled.
Attacks in Pak province kill 3 soldiers, 2 coalminers
Three soldiers and two coalminers were killed in attacks in Pakistan's volatile southwestern Baluchistan province. Kalim Ullah says the miners were killed when gunmen opened fire as they stood near the mine in the town of Hernai. The attackers fled the scene after firing. Ullah says members of the paramilitary forces were rushing to the scene when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle, killing three of them. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks. An investigation is underway. Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, which has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region's natural resources such as gas and oil.
Militants attack Pak hotel popular with Chinese; four shot dead
Three militants belonging to the Baloch Liberation Army attacked a luxury hotel in the Pakistani port city of Gwadar, triggering a three-hour-long shootout in which one hotel guard and all the attackers were killed. The fighters stormed the Pearl Continental (PC) hotel and the security men challenged the attackers. “Three gunmen attempted to enter the hotel, killing a security guard as they stormed the building,” said a statement released by the Inter Services Public Relations. “The attackers were surrounded by security forces in a staircase leading to the top floor.” Mir Zia Langove, the provincial home minister, said some people in the hotel were injured in the firing. It was unclear how many people were in the building but the military said all guests were safely evacuated. A spokesman for the Baloch Liberation Army said the attack was carried out on Chinese and other foreign investors.
Pak court grants month's bail to 2 radical clerics
A Pakistani court has granted a month's bail to two clerics, leaders of a radical party behind widespread protests last year against the acquittal of a Christian woman in a blasphemy case. A lawyer says the Lahore High Court ordered that Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his deputy Pir Afzal Qadri be released on medical grounds for a month. Rizvi's Tehreek-e-Labbaik party had long demanded the execution of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy charges last October by Pakistan's Supreme Court. Bibi had spent eight years on death row for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Plane skids off wet runway; pilot, 3 others hurt
A plane operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines skidded off the runway while landing at Myanmar's Yangon International Airport, injuring at least four people, including a pilot, an airline official said. Biman spokesman said the accident occurred when the aircraft was landing in bad weather after a flight from Bangladesh's capital Dhaka. There were 33 people on board, including two pilots and two flight attendants, he said, adding that the condition of the four injured was not life-threatening.
Egg thrown at Australian PM
A 24-year-old woman struck Australian PM Scott Morrison with an egg as he campaigned for May 18 general election. Police said she has been charged with assault. They didn’t give details about her motive. The woman told reporters that her action ‘speaks for itself’ and she referred to Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea, where Australia has long detained refugees, according to a reporter with the Australian newspaper. After being grazed with the egg, Morrison rubbed his head briefly. The egg did not break.
One killed as 2 students open fire at US school
Two male students armed with handguns burst into a Denver-area school and opened fire, killing one classmate and wounding eight others before being taken into custody. Two surviving victims of the attack at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math School in Highlands Ranch, a Denver suburb, remained in serious condition. Others were stable or had been discharged from hospital. County sheriff Tony Spurlock said the suspects, each armed with a handgun, opened fire in two separate classrooms. Devon Erickson, 18, was named as one of the suspects, while the other was identified only as a juvenile. “We’re still working toward the motive,” he said.
Man faces up to 140 years in jail for threatening Trump, others
A Connecticut man has been indicted after prosecutors say he threatened to kill US President Donald Trump and sent others bomb threats and mail containing suspicious white powder. Gary Gravelle, 51, was indicted on 16 counts, including that he threatened the president in September 2018 by sending an envelope containing white powder and the handwritten message "You Die." He sent similar envelopes to a synagogue, a mosque and a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), according to the indictment. The note claimed the power was a biotoxin but it was found to be harmless. Gravelle also sent emails and made phone calls threatening to detonate bombs in Vermont, Washington and at various locations in Connecticut. If convicted, he could face a maximum prison sentence of 140 years.
Prisoners escape after riots break out in Indonesian prison
Hundreds of prisoners escaped from an Indonesian jail on Sumatra island after rioting and fire broke out at the detention centre. The incident occurred after the police raided the Siak Sri Indrapura prison and found a prisoner in possession of crystal methamphetamine. Following this, the authorities searched the entire penitentiary. Rioting broke out after a prison guard reportedly hit one of the inmates who was caught using the drug. The angered prisoners set the guard's office on fire. A manhunt was launched and around 110 prisoners have been recaptured, while an unknown number of others remain at large.
Pakistan reaches accord with IMF on $6 bn bailout
Pakistan has reached an accord with the International Monetary Fund over a three-year, $6 billion bailout package aimed at shoring up fragile public finances and strengthening the slowing economy, officials said. Pakistan's Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh said he hoped the accord, which was still be approved by the IMF board, would be the last for Pakistan, which has had repeated bailouts for the past three decades. "Pakistan is facing a challenging economic environment, with lacklustre growth, elevated inflation, high indebtedness, and a weak external position," the IMF said in a statement. Prime Minister Imran Khan's government came to power last year reluctant to seek what is now expected to be its 13th IMF bailout since 1980s. Inheriting an economy with yawning budget and current account deficits, his government initially sought billions of dollars in funding from friendly countries including China, Saudi Arabia and the United Aran Emirates. The package will include "an ambitious structural reform agenda" to boost growth, which the IMF sees slowing to 2.9 per cent this year from 5.2 per cent last year. It also envisages tax reforms to improve public finances and cut public debt as well as a "comprehensive plan for cost-recovery" in the creaking energy sectors, where mounting debt backlogs have acted as a growing drain on government resources.
Clashes in Ebola-affected Congo city kill at least 9
Heavy fighting between the army and local militiamen in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola-stricken city of Butembo killed at least nine people, the mayor said. Butembo is one focus of Congo's worst ever outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever, which has killed more than 1,000 people since mid-2018. Efforts to contain the virus have been hampered by attacks on treatment centres by armed groups operating in Congo’s lawless east as well as by distrust among local residents, many of whom view the disease as a conspiracy. The mayor said that eight militiamen and one police officer were killed in fighting as the gunmen tried to storm the city. Security forces successfully repelled the attack before the assailants could reach the city's Ebola treatment centres and made several arrests, the mayor said.
France passes law to restore gutted Notre Dame within 5 years
French lawmakers approved a law aimed at outlining measures to restore, within the next five years, the famed Notre Dame Cathedral that sustained great damage in a fire last month. "We will rebuild Notre Dame de Paris... We will not confuse speed with haste. We must offer Notre Dame a restoration worthy of its splendour," France's Culture Minister Franck Riester was quoted as saying. "At certain points, it is urgent to intervene, at others we will take the time to reflect. The current situation of Notre Dame imposes these two approaches and this law manages to reconcile them," he added. Rebuilding the 850-year-old French gothic architecture in five years is an "ambitious timeframe," Riester said, but "we want to move quickly. Some have accused us of wanting to move too quickly but the outpouring of generosity was very fast so we can and must respond, which is what we are doing."
