A Malaysian court jailed an Indian man for five months for violating a home quarantine order, leading to dozens of new coronavirus infections, the Bernama state news agency reported. The 57-year-old, who resides in Malaysia and owns a restaurant in the northern state of Kedah, pleaded guilty to four charges of violating a mandated 14-day home quarantine order upon his return from India in July. He was also fined 12,000 ringgit ($2,864) by the Alor Setar Magistrate's Court, which held a special hearing at a Kedah hospital where the accused was undergoing treatment. Authorities had earlier said the man, who initially tested negative for the coronavirus, had left his home during the quarantine period to visit his restaurant. After a second test came back positive, dozens of people, including the man's family members, restaurant workers and customers, were found to have been infected. A total of 45 cases linked to the cluster have since been reported in at least three Malaysian states. Malaysia has gradually lifted strict lockdown measures since May after successfully containing the spread of the pandemic, but has warned that curbs may be reimposed after more than a dozen new clusters emerged in recent weeks.
Dhaka court indicts first Hindu CJ in graft case
A Dhaka court indicted Bangladesh’s first Hindu chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others on charges of embezzling 40 million taka ($472,995) from a bank, a court official said. The indictment comes seven months after another court issued an arrest warrant against the 69-year-old former chief justice who lives in the US and was described as a “fugitive” by the anti-corruption commission (ACC) in its chargesheet. “The court framed charges against S K Sinha and 10 others (former officials of the bank), beginning their trial in the Farmers Bank scandal,” said a prosecution lawyer. Date for the next hearing is August 18. The ACC said it found evidence of fraud involving transactions of 40 million taka borrowed with fake documents by two businessmen from the bank in 2016. The money was deposited in Sinha’s account. Sinha now lives in the US where he is said to have sought asylum. The graft case was lodged days after Sinha, in his autobiography “A Broken Dream: Rule of Law, Human Rights and Democracy”, claimed he was forced to resign in 2017 following threats. His comments had drawn a sharp reaction from PM Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladeshi smuggler killed along border
A suspected Bangladeshi smuggler died after the Border Security Force (BSF) opened fire in self-defence during an operation along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Jalangi, Murshidabad. The BSF troops seized 150 bottles of pesticide from the spot where the skirmish occurred. The criminals had cut the border fence and were smuggling the pesticide to India through jute fields. “There were five or six of them. Our small patrol party was attacked from both sides. Some even attempted to snatch weapons from the troops. This was when one of our men was forced to fire a round from his gun. The immediate effect was unknown, but later, after the smugglers escaped towards Bangladesh, a search revealed an injured person and 150 bottles of pesticide. As this border is unfenced, we had erected an improvised cattle fence, 400m from the international border. The miscreants cut through this fence to smuggle in the contraband,” a senior BSF official said.
Pak court suspends sentence of two Saeed aides
The Lahore HC suspended the one-year sentence of two senior leaders of the proscribed extremist militant group Jamaat ud-Dawah and close aides of 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed in a terror-financing case. In mid-June, a special anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore had convicted four top leaders of JuD - Zafar Iqbal, Yahya Aziz, Abdul Rehman Makki and Abdus Salam - for collecting funds and unlawfully financing activities of the terrorist group LeT. Iqbal and Aziz each had been sentenced to five years in prison while Makki and Salam had been given one-year jail terms each. Makki and Salam had challenged their conviction in the Lahore HC. During hearing, a two-member bench of the Lahore HC, after hearing arguments from the defence and prosecution, accepted the plea of Makki and Salam and ordered the suspension of their one-year sentence by the ATC. The court also ordered their release on bail.
No extradition deals with France, Germany: HK govt
Hong Kong said it had suspended its extradition agreements with France and Germany after the two countries made the same move to protest shrinking freedoms in city. “The two have politicised juridical cooperation, thereby damaging the basis of juridical co-operation between (Hong Kong) and Germany and France,” the city’s government said. Meanwhile, pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai walked free on bail, a day after he and other critics of China were rounded up by police. In a display of solidarity for Lai, people rushed to buy copies of his Apple Daily, with the newspaper saying it had upped its print run to 550,000 from the normal circulation of 70,000.
FB removed 22.5m hate-content posts
While the world was busy battling the spread of misinformation after the Covid-19 outbreak, hate speech on Facebook and Instagram went up exponentially. Facebook removed 22.5 million pieces of hateful content between April and June, its latest community guidelines enforcement report said. It’s higher than the 9.6 million pieces removed in the first three months of the year. In fact, it’s an all-time high. “Since October 2019, we have used (an enforcement strategy)14 times to remove 23 banned organisations,” said Monica Bickert, Facebook’s vice-president (content policy). That includes The Right Stuff (a neo-Nazi conspiracy theory site), Patriot Front (a white supremacists group) and KKK.
Russia offers military help, Belarus claims Nato threat
Russia said it had told Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko it was ready to offer military assistance if necessary as demonstrators held the biggest protest yet against what they call Lukashenko’s rigged re-election. The protest in the capital, Minsk, attracted around 200,000 people, a reporter estimated. At least two protesters have died and thousands have been detained in demonstrations since last Sunday’s vote. Opponents of Lukashenko, in power for 26 years, say the vote was rigged. He denies losing, citing official results that gave him 80% of the vote. The Kremlin said Russian President Putin had told Lukashenko that Moscow was ready to assist Belarus in accordance with a collective military pact if necessary and that external pressure was being applied to the country. It did not say where from. Lukashenko, under pressure from the European Union for cracking down on his opponents, said Nato tanks and planes had been deployed 15 minutes from the Belarusian border. Nato said it was closely monitoring the situation in Belarus, but that there was no military build-up at the border.
Robert Trump, prez’s younger brother, dies
Robert Trump, the younger brother of US President Donald Trump, died in Manhattan. He was 71. The White House, which announced his death, did not give a cause. “He was not just my brother; he was my best friend,” Trump said. “He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again,” he said. Robert, who took blood thinners, had experienced brain bleeds that began after a recent fall, according to a family friend. Robert was a business executive and real estate developer. Unlike his reality TV star brother, he shunned the limelight. As the youngest of five kids, Robert was shielded from the pressure exerted by his strict father over his brothers. He was never groomed to take over the family real estate firm and was considered by those who knew him to be the inverse of the brash, self-promotional brother.
France on UK’s quarantine list after virus rebound in Paris
The UK announced a 14-day quarantine on travellers returning from a number of countries, including France, the Netherlands and Malta. The move came as France faces a resurgence of the virus. The country’s seven-day average is now above 2,000 cases. France declared Paris and the Marseille region to be high-risk zones, granting local authorities the powers to impose new restrictions aimed at containing the spread of Covid-19.
EU inks first vaccine deal with AstraZeneca
The European Union has agreed to buy at least 300 million doses of AstraZeneca’s potential Covid-19 vaccine in its first such advance purchase deal. The European Commission, which is negotiating on behalf of all 27 EU states, said the deal included an option to purchase 100 million additional doses from the UK drugmaker should its vaccine prove safe and effective. The EU deal mirrors move by the US and further reduces the potentially available stock in race to secure vaccines.
TikTok US staffers prepare to fight ban
TikTok and its US employees are planning to take President Trump’s administration to court over his order to ban the app. The employees’ case will be separate from a lawsuit from the firm that owns the app, said Mike Godwin, the lawyer representing the employees. The ban takes effect in September, but it’s unclear if it will make it illegal for TikTok to pay its 1,500 workers in US.
Malaysian Islamist party seeks snap poll
Malaysia’s majority Malay ethnic group must secure a dominant position in new national elections to ensure political stability in the country, an Islamist party leader who is also a senior figure within the ruling coalition said. Malaysia has faced political uncertainty since former premier Mahathir Mohamad resigned in February and a new government was formed with a razor-thin majority in parliament. Mahathir was replaced by Muhyiddin Yassin, once his close associate, with the backing of the Bersatu party and two others representing Malays – the scandal-tainted United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang said fresh polls were needed to increase Malay representation in parliament and legitimise the ruling Perikatan Nasional coalition’s claim to power.
76-year-old proposes to 71-year-old girlfriend
Two residents of an assisted living facility got engaged in Brooklyn, New York, to the delight of healthcare staff, video posted August 6 shows. Video uploaded to Instagram by the pair’s assisted living facility shows 76-year-old Jeffrey Miller proposing to 71-year-old Gloria Alexis with a ring, surrounded by red roses and balloons. Local news reported Alexis had been recently hospitalized. According to Amber Court Assisted Living, Miller had said: “I miss her so much, as soon as she gets back I’m going to ask her to marry me.” Fortunately for the smitten groom, Alexis said yes.
Frozen food from Brazil found positive, says China
Two cities in China have found traces of the new coronavirus in imported frozen food and on food packaging, local authorities said, raising fears that contaminated food shipments might cause new outbreaks. A sample taken from the surface of frozen chicken wings imported into the city of Shenzhen from Brazil, as well as samples of outer packaging of frozen Ecuadorian shrimp sold in Xian city, have tested positive for the virus. China has been stepping up screenings at ports amid the concerns over food imports. Shenzhen’s health authorities traced and tested everyone who might have come into contact with potentially contaminated food products, and all results were negative, the city’s notice said. “It is hard to say at which stage the frozen chicken got infected,” said a China-based official at a Brazilian meat exporter.
Two Chinese test positive months after recovery
Two patients in China that recovered from Covid-19 months ago tested positive again, raising concern about the virus’s ability to reappear in people who it previously infected. A 68-year-old woman in Hubei, where the virus first surfaced in December, tested positive, six months after she recovered. Another man infected in April tested positive in Shanghai.
Duterte to use Russia vaccine after final tests
The Philippines will begin large-scale human testing of Russia’s vaccine in October, but President Rodrigo Duterte will not receive the inoculation until regulators guarantee its safety. Duterte had offered himself up as a guinea pig for the very first jab, expressing “huge trust” in the vaccine, despite growing scepticism about its effectiveness. But his spokesman Harry Roque said the president was scheduled to receive the vaccine no earlier than May 1 - weeks after the Russian-funded Phase 3 clinical trial in the archipelago is due to end in March. The country’s food and drug administration is expected to approve the vaccine in April.
Spanish region bans smoking to curb virus spread
A ban on smoking on streets and restaurant terraces when social-distancing cannot be guaranteed came into effect in Spain’s region of Galicia, with other areas mulling similar restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Under a law approved by the regional government of Galicia, removing a face mask to smoke in public is not allowed if it is not possible to maintain a distance of two metres (6.7 feet) between people. It is mandatory in all of Spain, except in the Canary Islands, to wear a face mask in all outdoor and indoor public spaces.
