Indian origin gas station owner killed in US
A 45-year-old Indian-origin gas station owner was shot dead during a daylight robbery near a police station in the US state of Georgia, according to media reports, some three weeks after another Indian-American was shot dead in Dallas in Texas. Amitkumar Patel was killed at Synovus Bank in Colombus, the Muscogee county coroner’s officer was quoted as saying. The building also houses a precinct of the Columbus police department. Vinnie Patel, Amitkumar’s partner in the gas station, said the victim was at the bank to deposit money when he was shot at the entrance. The shooter took the money, he said. Police believe he was targeted, he said.
Pak denies offering military bases to China in Gwadar
Pakistan has not offered any military bases to China in the strategic Gwadar port, National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf has said while reiterating that any country can invest in the $60 billion CPEC project since “we are not closed to anybody”. “There are economic bases of China in Pakistan, where any country in the world can invest…the same were also offered to the US, Russia and the Middle East. We are open to all countries,” Yusuf said in an interview. Massive protests had erupted in Gwadar last month against unnecessary checkpoints, a severe shortage of water and electricity and threats to livelihoods from illegal fishing. These protests were part of growing discontent over China’s presence in Gwadar. India has protested to China over the CPEC as it traverses through PoK. The infrastructure project connects China’s Xinjiang with Gwadar. Yusuf called China, “a close friend of Islamabad”and said Pakistan does not agree with the West version about the alleged atrocities against Muslims in Xinjiang.
Scholz takes over as German chancellor
Social Democrat Olaf Scholz was sworn in as German chancellor, ending Angela Merkel’s 16 years of conservative rule and paving the way for his coalition government that has promised to boost green investment and strengthen European unity. Scholz, 63, who over the past four years served as vice-chancellor and finance minister in coalition with Merkel, won a majority of 395 votes from lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, Bundestag president Baerbel Bas said. After being formally nominated by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the nearby Bellevue Palace, Scholz returned to the historic Reichstag building in the heart of the German capital to take the oath of office in front of lawmakers and become Germany’s ninth chancellor since the end of World War Two.
Dozens of camels barred from Saudi ‘beauty’ contest
Authorities in Saudi Arabia have launched their biggest-ever crackdown on camel “beauty” contestants that received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups with 40 dromedaries disqualified from the annual pageant. Judges at the festival near Riyadh began their clampdown on artificially enhanced camels, Saudi Press Agency reported. Saudi Arabia’s popular King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, which kicked off earlier this month, invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for some $66m in prize money. Botox injections, face-lifts, and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited. Jurors decide the winner based on the shape of the camels’ heads, necks, humps, dress and posture.