A 17-year-old boy, a native of Kottayam in Kerala , was shot dead in Gilroy, California, according to relatives back home. The teen’s name was Jackson, son of Sunny Kavil. Sunny’s sister said she got a phone call from her brother informing her about the death. She said she wasn’t aware of the reason for the killing. Sunny had left for the US in 1992. He runs a restaurant in Gilroy and his wife works as a nurse in the US. The couple has four children, Jackson was the youngest.
Pak finance minister may be named interim PM
Following the conclusion of the current National Assembly's term next month, the ruling PML-N party is reportedly considering designating Ishaq Dar, the finance minister, as the interim prime minister. According to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the current administration's term will end on August 14 and the election commission will choose the date for the subsequent general election. According to media, Sharif may dissolve the national legislature on August 8, days before its term is set to expire. If the national assembly completes its term, polls are to be held within 60 days. But if it is dissolved prematurely, even if by a day, it would give the government 90 days to conduct elections. The caretaker PM will administer the country till a new government is formed.
Pak SC snubs Sharif govt on Imran protest trials
Pakistan’s Supreme Court turned down the Shehbaz Sharif-led government’s request to constitute a “full court” to hear pleas challenging military court trials of protesters charged with attacking army facilities following ex PM Imran Khan’s arrest in an alleged graft case on May 9 this year. Imran is among those who have filed the petitions contesting such trials. “It is impossible to make a full court at this time. Three judges had excused themselves from hearing the case, some judges are not in the country,” chief justice Umar Ata Bandial, leading a six-member bench, said. CJ Bandial pointed out that two more judges had recused themselves on the first day of hearing.
17 killed, over 35 injured as bus plunges into pond
As many as 17 people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured after a bus plunged into a roadside pond in Chhatrakanda area of Jhalakathi Sadar upazila in Bangladesh. There were seven minors and five women among the victims. The Barishal-bound bus from Bhandaria upazila to Pirojpur fell into the pond as its driver lost control of the wheels near the local union parishad office while giving side to an auto rickshaw, Jhalakathi Sadar police station Officer-in-Charge Nasir Uddin said. At least 35 passengers were injured in the accident and were taken to Jhalakathi District Hospital. Rescue workers recovered 13 bodies from the scene, while four others died in the hospital, according to Dr Zahirul Islam, the district's civil surgeon.
Iran bans film festival over hijab issue
Iranian authorities have banned a film festival that put out a publicity poster featuring an actress who was not wearing a hijab, state media reported. The ban comes after the Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA) released a poster for its upcoming short film festival featuring Iranian actress Susan Taslimi in the 1982 film “The Death of Yazdguerd”. “The culture minister has personally issued an order to ban the 13th edition of the ISFA Film Festival, after using a photo of a woman without a hijab on its poster in violation of the law,” state news agency IRNA reported. The festival had been scheduled to be held in September. Wearing a hijab, covering the head and the neck, has been compulsory for women in Iran since 1983, shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Knife-wielding man injures 3 in Japan
Three people were hurt in a knife attack on a train in western Japan, with police saying they had arrested a man for allegedly carrying out the stabbings. The victims - a train conductor in his 20s and two male passengers aged in their 20s and 70s - were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The 37-year-old male suspect was armed with three knives when he was arrested at Rinku Town station in the Osaka region, local police said. He was arrested for attempted murder and has already admitted to carrying out the attack, police said. Violent crime is rare in Japan but there are occasional stabbings and even shootings, including the assassination of former PM Shinzo Abe last year.
Putin to skip Brics meet in August
Vladimir Putin has agreed not to attend an economic summit in Johannesburg next month after being asked to stay away by host country South Africa, which was facing a major legal quandary over whether to arrest the Russian president on an International Criminal Court warrant. The office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Putin will not attend the Brics summit after a “mutual agreement”. South Africa is a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and would have been obliged it to arrest him. Though Russia has dismissed the warrant, Putin has not travelled to any country that is a signatory to the court’s treaty since he was indicted by the ICC for war crimes over abduction of children from Ukraine.
Chinese firm don't want drinkers, smokers and meat eaters
A job posting by a Chinese electronics business seeking individuals who do not smoke, consume alcohol, or eat meat has gone viral. The unnamed corporation in Shenzhen, southern China, garnered widespread condemnation on social media because of its requirements. An applicant uploaded screenshots of the job advertisement and the conversations with the company’s human resources online on July 8. According to the applicant, an anonymous HR professional argued that eating meat was an act of killing. “Meat consumption is a sin. Killing is inhumane. Not eating meat is doing good,” she said.
A lavish wedding of dogs draws backlash in Indonesia
Two Indonesian women have apologised after a lavish “wedding” for their dogs sparked a backlash in the country, where wealth distribution is one of the most unequal in the world. Two Alaskan Malamutes were wedded at a mall in the capital Jakarta, donning traditional Javanese costumes alongside their owners and relatives at a fake ceremony that reportedly cost 200 million rupiah ($13,350). A social media uproar followed, forcing the owners into a contrite news conference. “We would like to apologise for the Javanese culture enthusiasts and all Indonesians who were uncomfortable and hurt by the event,” Indira Ratnasari, owner of female dog Luna, said.
EU’s highest flagpole in bloc’s poorest Bulgaria
A soaring mast in the mountains of Bulgaria has made the EU’s poorest country the home of the bloc’s highest flagpole, filling some with pride and drawing scorn from others. The immense 1,110-square-metre flag was hoisted up the record breaking 111-metre pole last week in a forest meadow in the Rhodope mountains. With it Bulgaria takes the flagpole crown from Finland - which has a 100-metre one - though it does not nearly touch the heights of some outside Europe which are almost twice as high.