Clashes in Sri Lankan prison leave 26 dead
COLOMBO, July 6: Clashes broke out inside a prison in the outskirts of Sri Lanka’s capital, killing at least 26 people and injuring more than 100, officials reported Monday. Police said the clashes erupted on Sunday between two rival groups of inmates in the over-capacity prison in Negombo, about 35 kilometres north of the capital, Colombo. On Monday, clashes erupted again as rioting inmates got hold of prison guns. Twenty-six people, including seven prison officials, have been killed and over 100 injured as a result of the clashes and subsequent disturbances within the prison, authorities said. “This is an institution under my purview; hence, I take responsibility. Seven prison officials and nineteen inmates have died,” Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told reporters. He said that the situation had been brought under control while adding that action must be taken to prevent recurrence of this nature. Preliminary findings have revealed that the violence is believed to have erupted between a group allegedly supporting drug trafficking activities within the prison and another group opposed to such activities. (PTI)
PAF officer shot dead while foiling kidnapping bid
Islamabad, July 6: A Pakistan Air Force group captain was shot dead while trying to save a woman from kidnapping in Islamabad, police said on Monday. Group Captain Asim Tariq on Sunday noticed a motorbike rider arguing with a woman and forcing her to ride the bike, with an apparent intention to abduct her near the Shaheen Chowk area of the capital, they said. Tariq, who saw the scene while driving by, stopped his car to intervene, resulting in arguments. The man, identified as Saad Abbasi, flared up, pulled a gun and fired at the officer, who died on the spot, police said. Abbasi, 20, a salesman at a shop, was arrested by police in the evening. (PTI)
Trump posts doctored Obamas, Air Force One photo
Washington, July 6: President Donald Trump on Sunday posted a falsified image of former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, waving before boarding an Air Force One that had been spray-painted with graffiti. It came months after another racist post by the president that showed the couple as primates in a jungle. That one was deleted after stiff, bipartisan backlash. The latest image shows the Obamas smiling and waving at the top of stairs alongside a baby blue and white presidential plane with graffiti painted on it that included the Democrat’s campaign slogan “Yes We Can,” “Obama” and “BLM,” short for Black Lives Matter. The post also shows graffiti in Arabic on the plane that says the phrase “alhamdulillah,” which means “praise be to God”. The use of graffiti is a coded message to remind people of crime and urban decay and has been used in racist messaging against Black people in the past.Trump has a yearslong record of intensely personal criticism of the Obamas, and of using incendiary, sometimes racist, rhetoric. That includes everything from feeding the lie that Obama was not born in the US to crude generalisations about majority-Black countries and posts that have sparked anger on his Truth Social website. (AP)
