A 27-year-old Indian student Sumedh Mannar drowned after jumping off from a recreation spot into the Crater Lake in the US state of Oregon, authorities said. Mannar who belonged to Andhra Pradesh was doing MS in rotobics from Oregon State University. Mannar, dove off the “Jumping Rock” and did not resurface, Marsha McCabe, a spokeswoman for Crater Lake National Park, said. McCabe said the cliff Mannar had jumped from was about 25 feet high. The cliff was not a prohibited area for jumping, she said, adding that officials have not yet determined exactly why he drowned. In the summers, the surface of the lake warms up to about 15 degrees Celsius, but the average temperature of the lake is around 3 degrees. Swimming is only allowed in the area around Cleetwood Cove and along the shore of Wizard Island. Immediately after Mannar disappeared, people on scene threw a life ring into the water, and Crater Lake hospitality staff took a small boat out to the area to help search, she said. His body was found on a rock ledge on the next day.
Man says Indian eatery didn’t serve him ‘as he’s desi’
An Indian restaurant in Dublin has been ordered to pay €3,000 after officials ruled its owner refused a man service because he was Indian. Mayank Bhatnagar won a discrimination case heard before the Workplace Relations Commission. Bhatnagar told the WRC he had gone to Ravi’s Kitchen in July last year to have lunch. He claimed he asked the restaurant’s owner how long he would have to wait. He alleged Ravi Shukla, the owner, then asked him if he was Indian. He replied that he was. He claimed Shukla said he did not serve Indians and asked him to leave. He also claimed that Shukla began shouting about how he his family had suffered before the group left. “I am satisfied that he has established that Bhatnagar was treated less favourably than a person who was not Indian,” Judge Marie Flynn said.
Hafiz Saeed challenges his arrest
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, a UN designated Pakistani terrorist whom the US has placed a $10 million bounty on, challenged his arrest in the terror financing cases in the Lahore high court. In a fresh petition, Saeed and 67 other members of the banned Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) and its charity wing Falah-i-Insaniat (FIF), challeneged the FIRs of terror financing against them in the LHC through their counsels. The petitioners have made the interior ministry, the Punjab home department and the Counter Terrorism Department of Punjab police respondents in the case. The court will fix hearing of this case later. The petitioners said Saeed and the others are not members of Lashkar-e-Taiba and that they don’t have any nexus with it.
No pardon for Qandeel Baloch killers: Court
A Pakistan court rejected a request made by the parents of social media star Qandeel Baloch to pardon her brothers, who are accused of killing her. Fouzia Azeem, better known as Baloch, was strangled to death at her home on July 15, 2016, by her brother Waseem Azeem. Waseem later confessed to have killed his 26-year-old sister because she brought “disrepute” to the “family’s honour” with her “risque videos and statements on social media”. Her brother Aslam Shaheen was also an accused in the case. Qandeel’s parents, who are complainant in this case, submitted an affidavit, stating that they have forgiven her alleged murderers and asked the court to acquit them. Multan sessions court judge, meanwhile, dismissed the parent’s plea, observing that the “court no longer accepts pardon or reconciliation in honour killing case.
19 killed in Myanmar fighting
More than 2,000 people have been forced to flee from their homes, and 19 have been killed, since fighting broke out between government troops and ethnic minority insurgents in northern Myanmar last week, government officials said. The escalation in hostilities in Myanmar’s fractured north is another setback for civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s bid to bring peace amid a stuttering transition from full military rule. The people displaced in the latest fighting are sheltering in monasteries around Lashio town in the north of Shan State, and are depending on aid groups and the government for their supplies, aid workers said. "We are providing basic rescue materials as well as cash to displaced people in the camps, the injured people and also to family members of those who got killed," Soe Naing, director of the Department of Disaster Management in Shan State, said.
Saudi Arabia eases travel curbs on women
Saudi Arabia began implementing a landmark reform allowing women over the age of 21 to receive passports and travel abroad without permission from a male "guardian", authorities said. The reform, announced earlier this month, weakens the restrictive guardianship system that has long been a symbol of repression against women. "The passport department has started receiving applications for women aged 21 and above to issue or renew passports and to travel outside the kingdom without permission," the department said. Women in the kingdom have long required permission from their male "guardians" " husband, father and other male relatives " for these tasks, a restriction that drew international censure.
German park shuts Swastika-shaped ride
An amusement park in Germany shut down a new attraction this week after complaints that it resembled a pair of giant, spinning swastikas that lifted riders into the sky over the Black Forest town of Löffingen. The ride, called Eagle’s Flight, included a set of four eagle-shaped cars, each connected at a right angle to a central axis, giving it a swastika-like appearance that was only amplified when it rose from the ground and twirled in the air. Rudiger Braun, the owner of the park, said that he had not noticed the ride’s resemblance to symbol of Nazi Germany. Braun said he apologised “to all persons who feel disturbed and insulted by our design” and said that the ride would be redesigned to have three cars on each arm instead of four.
Couple face jail for taking sand from Italian beach
A couple on holiday in Sardinia face up to six years in jail after they stole some sand as a souvenir. The Italian island’s white-sand beaches are highly protected, with harsh penalties for those who try to remove any sand - from one to six years in jail for theft with the aggravating circumstance of having stolen an asset of public utility. The French couple were caught with 14 plastic bottles full of sand, weighing 40kg, in the boot of their car. They claim to have not known the practice was forbidden and had no idea they were committing an offence when they removed the sand. Sardinian environmental scientist Pierluigi Cocco said that Sardinia’s beaches are under threat from both erosion and tourists removing the sand.
De Niro’s co sues ex-staffer for watching Netflix on job
Robert De Niro’s Canal Productions filed a $6 million lawsuit against former employee Chase Robinson, accusing her of embezzling money and binge watching Netflix while on the job. The complaint alleged that over a four-day period in January she watched 55 episodes of “Friends” and that over a four-day period in March she watched 20 episodes of ‘Arrested Development” and 10 episodes of “Schitt's Creek”. The suit also alleged that she charged the company huge hotel and restaurant bills.
‘Sacred Games’ faux pas gives desi sleepless nights
An Indian man in Sharjah is having sleepless nights as his phone keeps ringing with unwanted calls from around the world after his mobile number was flashed during the second season of the series “Sacred Games” on Netflix. Kunhabdulla CM had his phone number flashed as fictional gangster Sulaiman Isa’s number. Netflix told Gulf News, saying they had removed the number. “We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” the firm said.
Man survives a week in jungle on berries and bugs
A Utah man said he ate berries and bugs to survive for nearly a week while lost in wilderness along the Idaho-Montana border. Kaden Laga, 25, is about to become a father and told himself he had to survive and make it home to his pregnant wife. The man was on a horseback in Bitterroot-Selway Wilderness when one of the horses went lame. He said he started to hike back but took a wrong turn and got lost without cellphone service.
N Korea tests new multiple rocket launcher
North Korea said leader Kim Jong-un supervised the test-firing of a “newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher”, another demonstration of its expanding weapons arsenal apparently aimed at increasing its leverage ahead of a possible resumption of nuclear talks with the US. The North’s Korean Central News Agency said weapons test was successful and cited Kim as saying the rocket launcher is “indeed a great weapon.” Kim underscored the need to “continue to step up the development of Korean-style strategic and tactical weapons for resolutely frustrating the ever-mounting military threats and pressure offensive of the hostile forces,” according to the KCNA.
Boy, 8, goes on joyride with mom’s car in Germany
Police say an 8-year-old boy took his mom’s car and went for a nighttime joyride on a highway in Germany. Police said the boy’s mother called them after she noticed that both her son and her VW Golf had disappeared. Police eventually found the boy at a highway service area where he’d parked the car, turned on the hazard lights and put up the warning triangle. According to police, the boy said he started feeling “uncomfortable”' once he hit 140 kph on the highway.
Flyer forgets snake at airport security checkpoint
A girl discovered something slithery at a New Jersey airport security checkpoint: a 15-inch long snake. Transportation Security Administration officials at Newark Liberty International Airport said it appeared the black snake with a yellow ring around its neck was forgotten by a flyer. Officials said the snake was harmless.
Man arrested in Spain for upskirting over 500 women
Spanish police said they have arrested a man suspected of secretly recording videos of the underwear of over 500 women on public transit and supermarkets. The man allegedly used a mobile phone concealed inside a backpack which he placed on the ground to take pictures up women’s skirts without their consent, a practice known as “upskirting”, police said. He then uploaded at least 283 of these videos to a porn site where they were viewed over a million times.
