NEW PLANS TO MAKE LONDON’S HISTORIC INDIA CLUB SAFE FROM FIRE SUBMITTED

LONDON : Days after the Westminster City Council refused permission to redevelop a hotel building in central London that houses the historic India Club, its owner has submitted revised plans that includes retention of a restaurant and changes to deal with fire risk. Following an online and media campaign prompted by leaseholders of the Indian Club, which highlighted its links with V K Krishna Menon, India League and a popular meeting place of Indian students, journalists and others, the venue was saved from potential demolition when the council refused permission on July 31. Marston Properties, owners of the building, insisted demolition was never envisaged. The new plans will retain a restaurant, which is important to the community.

Spain knife attacker was ‘gay and suicidal’

BARCELONA: A man shot dead as he tried to attack a Spanish police station had come out as gay and wanted to commit suicide, a source close to the probe said on Tuesday based on testimony of the assailant’s wife. Abdelouahab Taib, a 29-year-old Algerian man, invoked the name of Allah during the assault on Monday in the town of Cornella de Llobregat. Authorities are treating the incident as a “terrorist attack” although the source said “there don’t appear to be any signs of jihadism”.

US deports exnazi camp guard, 95, to Germany

BERLIN: The last Nazi war crimes suspect facing deportation from the US was taken from his New York City home and spirited on Tuesday to Germany, following years of efforts to remove him from the United States. The deportation of the 95-year-old Jakiw Palij came 25 years after investigators confronted him about his World War 2 past.

AP

Israel eases gun controls following lonewolf attacks

JERUSALEM: Israel changed its gun regulations to enable hundreds of thousands more civilians to apply for licences, a move authorities say will increase security but others argue will stoke violence. The shift in policy, announced by the public security ministry, means that up to 600,000 Israelis could apply for gun licences, a dramatic increase on the current 140,000 civilians with permits. Public security minister Gilad Erdan said the change could help thwart “lonewolf attacks” by Palestinians.

Man kills six people in southern China

BEIJING: Six people were killed after a man went on a killing spree in southern China, stabbing his girlfriend and her relatives, ploughing a car into pedestrians and attacking passersby. The 54-year-old man surnamed Huang had relationship problems and decided to take it out on his girlfriend and her family in Monday’s attack, police said.