SINGAPORE: J Y Pillay, an Indian-origin civil servant, has been appointed as Singapore's acting president until a new head of state is sworn in later this month. Pillay, 83, took over from Tony Tan Keng Yam who completed a six-year term last week. Pillay, chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA), will act as the president until after polling day on September 23 - or after nomination day on September 13, if a candidate is elected unopposed. When the office of president is vacant, the first in line to exercise its powers is the CPA chairman, followed by the Speaker of Parliament. Pillay is no stranger to exercising the powers of the president since he has been the acting president every time the president goes on an overseas trip.
Sikh engineering student stabbed to death in US
Washington: Gagandeep Singh, a Sikh software engineering student, has been stabbed to death in his taxi allegedly by an American student who was upset over not getting admission into a university. Gagandeep was allegedly attacked by Jacob Coleman, the passenger who was upset as he was denied entry by Gonzaga University, a private Catholic school in Spokane. Coleman has been charged with first degree murder. The university said it "has no record of an application" from Coleman and that it was cooperating with law enforcement authorities. Coleman admitted that during the journey he "became homicidal" and bought a knife during a stop at a shop, police said.
Musharraf declared fugitive in Bhutto murder case
Rawalpindi: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court last week declared ex- military ruler Pervez Musharraf a fugitive in the murder case of former PM Benazir Bhutto and acquitted five people in the killing. As an “absconder,” Musharraf must be arrested and brought to trial if he returns to Pakistan after being allowed to leave the country last year. The court also ordered attachment Musharraf's property in Pakistan. Benazir was assassinated in a suicide and gun attack in Rawalpindi in 2007, weeks after she returned from exile to campaign in elections to bring back civilian rule. Bhutto's daughter Aseefa Zardari tweeted that “There will be no justice till Musharraf answers for his crimes!”
Death toll surges to 400 in Myanmar violence
Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh): Around 400 people - “most of them Rohingya Muslims”- have died in communal violence searing through Myanmar's Rakhine state, the army chief's office said, with tens of thousands forced to flee across the border into Bangladesh. A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, while 38 desperate people have drowned attempting to cross the Naf, a border river, in makeshift boats. Reports of massacres and torching of villages by security forces 'as well as by militants' have further amplified tensions, raising fears that communal violence in Rakhine is spinning out of control. "Until 30 August, terrorists carried out 52 waves of attacks on security forces .... in those attacks, 370 bodies of terrorists were found and nine others captured alive," a statement posted on the Facebook page of Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing's office. Fifteen security forces personnel and 14 civilians have also died in eight days of fighting, it added.
Blue Whale game `mastermind' held
Moscow: The teenager accused of being the global mastermind behind the Blue Whale suicide group craze has been arrested. Cops detained the 17-year-old, who is accused of being the brain behind the death group, which has incited dozens of vulnerable children to take their own lives. The unnamed Russian teenager issued threats to her victims to murder them or their family members if they failed to obey orders to complete tasks she set them involving cutting themselves with razor blades and other acts of self-harm. The tasks include self-harming, watching horror movies and waking up at unusual hours, but these gradually get more extreme. Separately, a 21-year-old man has been arrested near Moscow for inciting adolescent girls to take their own lives. The female “death group administrator“ used threats against parents or siblings of her victims as added pressure on them to obey her and commit suicide, say Russian state investigators.
Rains lash southern Pakistan
KARACHI: Torrential monsoon rains are lashing Pakistan's port city of Karachi following days-long downpours in neighbouring India that especially caused havoc in Mumbai. TV footage showed streets were submerged after the heavy rains began last week. Pakistan's meteorological department says rains will continue for some more days in various parts of Sindh province, where authorities closed schools as a precaution. Windstorms and rains are also expected in the southwestern Baluchistan and eastern Punjab provinces. The meteorological department says rains are also expected in the capital, Islamabad, and in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir.
Thousands evacuated, schools closed after typhoon hits China
Guangzhou: Nearly 70,000 people have been evacuated after Mawar, the 16th typhoon this year, made landfall in China's Guangdong Province on Sunday night. At least four cities, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Dongguan and Shenzhen, activated red alerts for heavy rainfall, the highest warning level, on Monday. Zhuhai flood control headquarters ordered all schools to be closed as heavy rain continues to batter the city, Xinhua reported. Some 10,000 fishermen returned to shore ahead of the typhoon's arrival. Another 57,120 people were evacuated from low-lying areas. The Guangdong provincial flood control headquarters warned of possible flooding and landslides. China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a yellow alert for rainstorms on Monday. Some regions will receive up to 200 mm of precipitation, the NMC said. Mawar is the third typhoon to make landfall in Guangdong in the last two weeks following typhoons Hato and Pakhar.
Taiwan appoints new premier amid tense China relations
TAIPEI: Taiwan's president has appointed a new premier seen as willing to reach out to rival China amid ongoing tense relations between the two sides. President Tsai Ing-wen named William Lai to head up the government following the resignation of Lin Chuan. Lin had asked to leave the post before local elections next year added an unwanted political element to his work. The smooth transfer of office "represents that there is absolutely no problem with the communication and handing over of the functions within the Cabinet," Tsai told reporters at a news conference attended by both Lin and Lai. "All the reform projects will be handed over and carried on," Tsai said. Lai, a 57-year-old Harvard-educated physician, served for 11 years in the legislature and since 2010 has been mayor of the southern city of Tainan. China cut off all contacts with Tsai's government more than a year ago after she refused to endorse Beijing's position that Taiwan is Chinese territory.
