WASHINGTON: A businessman of Indian-origin has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining contracts worth $6 million from a federal program. Tarsem Singh was sentenced by Washington Federal Judge Reggie Walton, who also fined him $25,000 and ordered him to pay $120,000 in restitution, officials said. After his original company was counted ineligible for it, Singh set up a shell company to take advantage of the Small Business Development Program run by the Small Business Administration, and obtained over 25 federal contracts. He took elaborate steps to cover up the truth. Singh made up magnetic signs with the shell company's logos and had the original company employees use the other's emails and pretend to be its employees when working on the fraud contracts, officials said.
Lanka to create special court to probe war abuses
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka government plans to set up a special court by next year to hear allegations of abuses during the country's decades-long civil war, the foreign minister said. Mangala Samaraweera made the comments after returning from a UN Human Rights Council meeting at Geneva in which High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein expressed concerns over the government's slow progress in implementing its pledge to investigate allegations of human rights violations and war crimes. Samaraweera said the government places high priority on reconciliation and is putting together a truth-seeking commission. A plan for the commission will be available for discussion by September and will then be presented to Parliament for approval, he said.
Former Lanka president Rajapaksa's son arrested
COLOMBO: Namal Rajapaksa, the oldest son of Sri Lanka's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested on charges of money laundering in the government's latest effort to prosecute members of the previous administration - many of whom have been under investigation since Rajapaksa's election defeat last year. Namal, who is a member of Parliament representing his father's home district of Hambantota, was placed in police custody on charges of accepting US$480,000 from a real estate company. During the last 18 months, several high-ranking members of the Rajapaksa family have been arrested on corruption charges. Namal is the third member of the former president's immediate family to be arrested. He was widely believed to be his father's heir apparent.
Typhoon batters China's coast, killing at least 6
BEIJING: Typhoon Nepartak that ripped through China's coastal Fujian Province, killed at least six people and left 8 missing. The first typhoon of the season, Nepartak first struck Taiwan, leaving two people dead and 72 injured. It later weakened into a strong tropical storm after making a landfall in Fujian, but kept pouring while workers continued rescue operations for residents trapped in submerged buildings. Chinese civil affairs ministry announced that six were dead and eight others were missing in the province. They did not give details.
After 8 days in limbo, Oz PM claims victory
SYDNEY: A little over a week after Australia's general election ended in a fray, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball claimed victory for his conservative coalition. Bringing an end to the country's political clog, Turnball hasn't necessarily answered how he intends to mend the country's broken parliament. Even with millions of votes still needed to be counted, there was no way for the opposition centre-left Labor Party to win majority in the House of Representatives.
Japan's ruling coalition wins House polls
TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a landslide victory in the parliament's upper house, despite criticism over his economic policies and plans to re-do the nation's post-war pacifist constitution for the first time. Abe's coalition, like-minded parties and independents won two-thirds "super majority" needed to try to revise the constitution's restraints on the military, a step that might strain Japan's ties with China.
Nepal gets 1st woman chief justice
KATHMANDU: Nepal unanimously voted for its first woman chief justice to lead the country's judiciary. The appointment of Sushila Karki, 64, means Nepal will now have a woman president, speaker of parliament and chief justice of the Supreme Court. Speaking at the hearing by the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee, Karki said the SC faces a tough time due to a shortage of judges. Known for 'zero-tolerance' for corruption, Karki has passed previous judgments like allowing women to pass their citizenship to their children, formerly open only to men.
US, India conspiring against Pakistan: Hafiz Saeed
LAHORE: JuD chief Hafiz Saeed did a lot more than just offer Eid-ul-Fitr prayers, taking the opportunity to instigate the masses against India. Speaking at the Gaddafi Stadium, the Lashkar-e-Taiba founder called for unity among the Muslim community "to fail the design of infidels". Saying that India and the US are signing agreements against Pakistan, he alleged that there are preparations coming for a "big war". "The United States and India are signing agreements against Pakistan and there has been a preparation of war. Drones are parked at Indian airports and our rulers are engaged in a fight with opposition," Saeed said. "It is a blessing in disguise that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are getting distanced from America. This will lay foundation of the Islamic Union which is the need of the hour for the Islamic world."
