Two Indian origin brothers were shot dead by a compatriot in the US state of Oregon in a case of possible homicide, police and media reports said. The accused, 21-year-old Jobanpreet Singh, shot and killed two men in their 20s in a strip mall in Portland city. The identities of the victims were not released by the police. However, Kamal Singh, an owner of a tobacco shop across the mall, said he believed the two victims were his cousins. The two men were brothers and in their 20s, Singh said. Jobanpreet was detained at the scene on two counts of first-degree murder and booked into a detention centre.
Pak inflation hit record 36.4% in April
Pakistan consumer prices rose a record 36. 4% in the year to April, the highest inflation rate in South Asia, up from March’s previous record of 35. 4%, the statistics bureau said. Pakistan’s rural areas recorded food inflation of 40. 2%, the bureau said. Food inflation for both rural and urban areas reached 48.1%, the highest since FY16 when the bureau started recording the categories separately. Pakistan has been in economic turmoil for months with an acute balance of payments crisis while talks with the IMF to secure $1. 1 billion as part of a $6. 5 billion bailout have not been successful. Prices rose 2. 4% in April from March, the bureau said.
Imran to face indictment
An Islamabad court announced that it will indict former Pakistan PM Imran Khan on May 10 in a case in which he allegedly hid the proceeds from the sale of state gifts. The Toshakhana case was filed against Khan last year after the Election Commission of Pakistan ruled that he failed to declare the funds he received after selling the gifts given by foreign dignitaries. A Toshkhana is a treasure house where gifts that are received as honour from foreign dignitaries are stored. Khan, 70, has challenged the maintainability of the case but a additional sessions judge of the sessions court dismissed the pleas and objection regarding the jurisdiction after hearing arguments by the lawyers. The judge announced to indict the accused, Khan and also summoned him in person on the day of the indictment.
130 killed in Rwanda floods
Powerful floods and landslides tore through Rwanda killing at least 130 people and leaving many thousands homeless. The government was still counting the cost as families buried their dead in the aftermath of one of the worst such natural disasters in years in the hilly East African nation. Rivers of mud swept away homes and other infrastructure and cut off roads after heavy rains in several areas, particularly the Western Province bordering Lake Kivu where the worst devastation was reported. "The death toll is now 130 people. We do not know the total number of homeless people at the moment, but counting is ongoing," deputy government spokesperson Alain Mukuralinda said.
7 teachers killed in shooting at Pak school
At least seven teachers were killed in a shooting at a school in northwestern Pakistan, in an apparent retaliation to an earlier attack in which another teacher was shot dead, Geo TV reported. Both incidents took place on in the Parachinar area of Kurram tribal district near the border with Afghanistan, the local television channel said. It said the motive behind the killings remained unclear, and that the teachers killed in both incidents belong to the country's Shi'ite Muslim minority. The tribal district contains a majority Shi'ite population who are often attacked by Sunni militant groups as part of the local Taliban movement.
Astronomers spot Sun-like star
For the first time, astronomers have caught a star in the act of swallowing an entire planet, hinting that Earth may meet the same fate though not in the near future. The Sun-like star, called ZTF SLRN-2020, lies about 15,000 light-years away in the Milky Way galaxy in the constellation Aquila and is said to have engulfed a hot gas giant bigger than Jupiter. The study, published in Nature journal, is an international collaboration among 26 astronomers from several key institutes, mainly MIT, Harvard University and Caltech. Among the 26 astronomers, six are Indian-origin researchers.
Iran forces seize second oil tanker in 6 days
Iranian forces seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, the US navy said, the second such incident in less than a week. The Greek-owned tanker was sailing from Dubai towards Fujairah, another port in the UAE, when it was stopped by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. “A dozen IRGCN fast-attack craft swarmed the vessel in the middle of the strait,” said a Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet statement. “The IRGCN forced the oil tanker to head toward Iranian territorial waters off the coast of Bandar Abbas,” it said. Six days ago, Iran’s navy seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, maritime security firm Ambrey. The captured tanker was also moved to Bandar Abbas. Ambrey said the latest seizure followed a warning from Greek authorities after the US seized a tanker with Iranian oil last month.
100 held during European ani-mafia swoop
Police in eight European countries raided 150 addresses and arrested more than 100 people in a vast, coordinated swoop targeting the notorious Italian Ndrangheta mafia, Belgian prosecutors said. “It is likely the biggest operation ever carried out in Europe against the Calabrese mafia,” a spokesman for the federal prosecutors’ office Eric van Duyse said. He said 1,400 police officers in Italy and over 1,000 officers in Germany took part. The EU countries where the raids took place were Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Romania, prosecutors said.