SRI LANKA TOP COP SENT ON LEAVE OVER ALLEGED PREZ ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

COLOMBO: A top Sri Lankan policeman has been sent on leave following an investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate President Maithripala Sirisena and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the brother of ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The ministry of law and order said it has asked the National Police Commission to send Deputy Inspector General of Police Nalaka Silva on compulsory leave. Silva was in charge of the police’s Terrorist Investigation Division. He was accused by Namal Kumara, who alleged Silva had told him that both Sirisena and Gotabhaya should be assassinated before the next presidential election in 2020. Law and order minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara said investigations were underway and action will be taken as appropriate following the probe.

Suspected hate crime attack in UK, 3 injured

LONDON: Police in London launched an investigation on Wednesday into a possible hate crime after a car hit a crowd outside a mosque, injuring three people. The collision, in Cricklewood in north London in the early hours of Wednesday, followed the occupants of the car allegedly directing “comments of an Islamophobic nature” at the group, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Former columnist jailed for ‘abusive’ posts on Suu Kyi

YANGON: A former columnist for state media has been jailed for seven years for “abusive” Facebook posts about Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a court official said on Wednesday, the latest case threatening free expression in the country. Ngar Min Swe was sentenced for sedition on Tuesday, Yangon’s Western District Court spokesman Htay Aung said.

Iraq court sentences to death ‘deputy of IS leader’

BAGHDAD : An Iraqi court on Wednesday sentenced a prominent jihadi described as a deputy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-baghdadi to death on terrorism charges. “The Karkh criminal court in Baghdad sentenced to death by hanging one of the most prominent leaders of IS, who served as a deputy of Baghdadi,” judicial spokesman Abdel Sattar Bayraqdar said.

Austrian police hunt crossdressing, hijabclad robber

BERLIN: Police in Austria are on the lookout for a man who robbed a bank disguised with a latex mask, glasses, bright red lipstick and a headscarf. Vienna police said the suspect robbed a bank in Linz in July, threatening staff with a pistol and making off on an electric kick scooter. The suspect had tried to rob a bank in Vienna earlier wearing the same hijab-and-mask outfit, but fled without any money. AP