Former PM Nawaz Sharif will reach Pakistan in a chartered plane from Dubai on October 21, ending his four-year-long self-imposed exile in the UK, according to a media report. The flight carrying Nawaz will have the name “Umeed-e-Pakistan” which can carry approximately 150 passengers, Geo News reported. “The booking has been made and all arrangements are in place,” the report said. The three-time PM is expected to lead his PML-N party in the general elections likely to be held in January next year.
Journalist detained for in China returns to Australia
Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who had been detained in China on national security charges for more than three years, returned home after being released, Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese said. Cheng, 48, was a business anchor for Chinese state television when she was detained in August 2020 for allegedly sharing state secrets with another country. Cheng, who was tried in secret in 2022, arrived in Melbourne and has been reunited with her two children and family. China’s state security ministry, for the first time giving details of the charges against Cheng, said she had pleaded guilty to charges of illegally sending state secrets abroad related to her work for a state media outlet. She had been deported after serving her sentence of two years and 11 months.
In US, car rams into China consulate; driver shot dead
A car rammed into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, coming to a stop in the lobby and creating a chaotic scene that ended with police shooting the driver, who later died at the hospital, officials said. Police descended on the consulate building after a report of a vehicle crashing into the building and urged people to avoid the area. Officers entered the lobby of the consulate’s visa office, made contact with the suspect and there was a shooting involving an officer and the driver, police Sgt. Kathryn Winters said. The suspect was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.Television cameras showed a Honda sedan crashed into the visa office. Winters said they had no reports of other injuries.
China chases away Philippine navy ship
China’s coast guard claimed to have chased away a Philippine navy ship from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea as tensions between the two countries over rich fishing areas escalate. Coast guard spokesman Gan Yu said the Philippine ship had sailed into waters next to the Scarborough Shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island, and ignored “multiple calls” to turn back. “The Chinese coast guard took necessary measures to expel the Philippine ship in accordance with the law, ” Gan said. In Manila, the Philippines’ military chief of staff, Gen Romeo Brawner Jr, said authorities were still looking into the alleged incident but think it was more likely “propaganda from the Chinese” than an actual confrontation.
Woman stabs 3 at US airport
In a shocking incident, a woman from the United States stabbed three people, including a police officer and a cab driver, inside the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In the terrifying video, passengers are seen just a few feet away from Damaris Milton, aged 44, as she waved the knife in the direction of a police officer. The outlet stated that police were alerted about a lady "who stood outside the security checkpoint near the airport's south terminal". The woman first attacked her taxi driver when she arrived at the airport. Later, as the police tried to "limit her movement, she attacked an airport clerk and a police lieutenant. She was arrested and taken into custody and an investigation is underway.