A woman was arrested on suspicion of pepper-spraying an Uber driver, apparently of Indian-origin, in San Francisco who was insulted after he demanded a passenger wear a mask, police announced. Malaysia King, 24, was arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of assault with a caustic chemical and other charges. She was being held without bail. Arna Kimiai, 24, also sought in relation with the attack, hinted via legal counsel she intended to turn herself in soon, police said. The driver, Subhakar Khadka, was attacked after he picked up three women. When he noticed one woman wasn’t masked, he stopped and told them he couldn’t continue. A video then shows the woman without the mask coughing on him, grabbing his cellphone from the center dash area and ripping off his face mask. Khadka said that after the women got out, another of the women pepper sprayed him through the front passenger window.
Indian American grandmother jailed for 29 years
Beant Kaur Dhillon, who was found guilty of drowning her teenage daughter’s newborn son, was sentenced for 29 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Dhillon had been charged with first degree murder, felony child abuse, and assault on a child with great force likely to cause death. Last December, a jury found the Indian American woman guilty of all three charges. The 45-year-old woman has been in custody at a jail facility in Bakersfield, California, since 26 Feb 2019. On the night of Nov. 12, 2018, Beant Dhillon’s daughter went to the bathroom for an extended period of time. Beant testified in court that she believed her daughter was attempting to commit suicide, something she had previously tried. Instead, Beant found her daughter had just given birth in a bathtub. She took the newborn baby from her daughter and told her she was putting it up for adoption, according to reports. She then allegedly drowned the baby and placed the prone body inside a bag in a bucket.
Pak HC orders TikTok ban over ‘immoral’ clips
A Pakistani high court ordered the country’s telecom regulator to ban TikTok - the social media app for entertainment videos - over proliferation of “immoral and indecent” content. The decision was taken by Peshawar HC chief justice Qaiser Rasheed Khan on a petition alleging that the platform was spreading obscenity. Khan said: “Videos being uploaded on TikTok were unacceptable for Pakistani society. It’s our duty to protect the young generation from immoral activities.” TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, was banned last October after repeated warnings over unethical content. However, the ban was lifted the same month after assurances from TikTok that it would take down the errant handles.
Bribery charge against Imran Khan
Pakistan’s former premier and senior opposition leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has accused PM Imran Khan of receiving PKR 700 million from a business tycoon of Balochistan to make him a senator. “Mohammad Abdul Qadir won the seat as an independent after securing votes from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and other parties,” said Abbasi, the senior vice president of main opposition PML-N. Khan will be answerable for selling the senate ticket, Abbasi said, adding that even the ruling party’s members are saying that this man was made a senator after he paid money to Khan. Abbasi has requested the election commission to take notice of this selling of the senate seat by the prime minister to the business tycoon.
Car bomb kills 8 in Afghanistan
A car bomb killed at least eight people and wounded 47 in Afghanistan’s Herat province, officials said. Hours later, the UN condemned an “alarming” increase in attacks in the country targeting civilian. The toll in the blast is expected to rise because several of the injured were critical, said Rafiq Sherzai, a spokesman for the provincial hospital. One among the dead and11 of the injured were Afghan Security Forces personnel while the remainder were civilians, including women and kids, said interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian. No one claimed responsibility. In New York, the UN security council condemned an “alarming” increase in attacks in Afghanistan targeting civilians even as the Taliban and the Afghan government hold on-again-off-again talks in Qatar.
Thai PM sprays disinfectant on scribes
Politicians are often accused of sanitising the news. Recently, Thailand PM Prayuth Chan-ocha sanitised members of the press with a disinfectant. Riled by a question about a possible cabinet reshuffle at a press meet in Bangkok, the famously mercurial PM told reporters to mind their own business, then grabbed a container of alcohol mist and doused the front row before sauntering off. In the past, he’s spoken to a media scrum while fondling the ear of one of the reporters and flung a banana peel at camera operators.
Spainish cops sink drug smugglers’ plan
Spanish police announced that they seized a homemade narco-submarine able to carry up to 2 metric tons (2.2 tons) of cargo. Police came across the 9-meter-long craft last month while it was being built in Malaga, on Spain’s Costa del Sol, during a broader international drug operation involving five other countries and the European Union crime agency Europol. The 3-meter-wide (10-feet wide) semi-submersible craft has two 200-horsepower engines operated from the inside. Spanish police chief Rafael Perez said the vessel had never sailed. “We think it was going to go into the high seas to meet a mother ship to take on board the drugs,'” he said.
China to begin trial of two Canadians
Two Canadian citizens charged with espionage in China could go on trial "soon," according to the state-run Global Times newspaper. Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been detained since December 2018 and were charged in June last year with spying. The Global Times said that their cases had previously been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic but were now proceeding. While the article did not carry a byline, on Twitter, the paper's editor Hu Xijin said that an anonymous source had told him "China's judicial department will conduct first trial over these two cases soon." Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat who worked for the International Crisis Group (ICG), is accused by the Chinese authorities of "stealing sensitive information and intelligence through contacts in China since 2017," while Spavor, a businessman based in Beijing with a focus on North Korea, is accused of providing intelligence to Kovrig.
Non-Muslims can use ‘Allah’ to refer to God
A Malaysian court ruled that non-Muslims can use the word “Allah” to refer to God, in a major decision in a divisive issue for religious freedom in the Muslim-majority country. The high court decision squashed a 35-year-old government ban on the usage of “Allah” and three other Arabic words by Christian publications, deeming the ban unconstitutional, said the plaintiff ’s lawyer, Annou Xavier. The government has previously said the world should be reserved exclusively for Muslims to avoid confusion that could lead them to convert to other religions, a stance that is unique to Malaysia and hasn’t been an issue in other Muslim-majority nations with sizeable Christian minorities. Christian leaders in Malaysia say the ban is unreasonable because Christians who speak the Malay language have long used Allah, a Malay word derived from Arabic, in their Bibles, prayers and songs.
Aide claims NY guv groped her
An aide to New York governor Andrew Cuomo says he groped her in the governor’s residence, a newspaper reported, in the most serious allegation made yet by a series of women against the embattled Democrat. Times Union of Albany reported that the woman, who it did not name, was alone with Cuomo late last year when he closed the door, reached under her shirt and fondled her. He had summoned her to the Executive Mansion, saying he needed help with his cellphone. “I’ve never done anything like this,” Cuomo said via a spokesperson. “The details of this report are gut-wrenching.”
US govt to further delay Trump’s H-1B pay clause
The Biden administration issued a formal notification to delay the implementation of the previous Donald Trump regime’s controversial rule to raise mandatory minimum pay for foreign workers on the H-1B visa, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals. The department of labour in its federal notification said it is considering whether to propose a further delay of the final rule’s effective date and accompanying implementation periods that are currently scheduled to take effect on May 14, 2021, and July 1, 2021, respectively. Before further delaying the effective date and implementation periods, the department will provide the public an opportunity to comment, it said. Federation for American Immigration Reform, however, opposed the move to reverse decisions of the Trump administration on H-1B, asserting that the Trump era rules would reduce abuse of the H-1B programme.
N Korea unresponsive to outreach by US admin
North Korea has not responded to behind the-scenes diplomatic outreach since mid-February by President Joe Biden’s administration, including to Pyongyang’s mission to the United Nations, a senior Biden administration official said. The disclosure of the so-far unsuccessful US outreach, which has not been previously reported, raises questions about how Biden will address mounting tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. It also adds a new dimension to a visit America’s top diplomat and defence secretary will make next week to South Korea and Japan, where concerns over North Korea’s nuclear arsenal are expected to be high on the agenda.
Nigeria hunting for 39 kidnapped students
Nigerian security forces stepped up efforts to rescue dozens of abducted college students, police and officials said, as the media ran videos they said showed hostages pleading for help. President Muhammadu Buhari, meanwhile, vowed an early end to the hostage crisis. Gunmen abducted 39 students from their hostels in northwestern Kaduna state recently, the latest in a series of such attacks. The military managed to rescue 180 others after a fierce battle at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Mando at the outskirts of the state capital, Kaduna city. "A combined team of police, army and other security forces are in a frantic search for the kidnapped students," state police spokesman Mohammadu Jalinge said.
Rubis to invest $900 mn in Kenya
French energy firm Rubis Energy plans to pump in $900 million (about Sh98.7 billion) in its operations in Kenya over a five year period, as it rebrands KenolKobil and Gulf Energy outlets. The oil firm is investing in the storage, distribution and sale of petroleum and liquefied petroleum gas in the country, with plans to become a fully stand-alone brand in Kenya by end of 2022. This is after acquiring KenolKobil in March 2019 in a Sh36 billion deal. The Gulf Energy buyout amount, however, remains undisclosed. The firm which launched its Rubis brand in Kenya in October last year is phasing out the two firms and will rebrand 190 KenolKobil outlets and Gulf Energy’s 46 petrol stations in the country. It currently has a combined network of 230 service stations countrywide giving it a market share of 21.6 per cent in the country’s petroleum sales market.
