GLOBAL SNAPSHOT

Nelly law suit

SEATTLE: A woman is suing US rapper Nelly, claiming he sexually assaulted her on his tour bus and later damaged her reputation by disputing her account. The Seattle Times reported that Monique Greene’s lawsuit against Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Haynes Jr, seeks unspecified damages. The rapper was arrested on his tour bus in a suburban Seattle Walmart car park in October. Prosecutors said last week they weren’t charging him because the woman wasn’t co-operating. Nelly’s lawyer says a countersuit is planned.

Killings down

NEW YORK: Even after two terrorist attacks and a motorist’s deadly rampage through Times Square, New York City is on track to smash its modern-era low for homicides. Up to December 17, the city had 278 killings. That puts it on pace to beat the previous record low of 333 set in 2014. Those numbers mean a person’s odds of getting murdered in tightly packed, diverse New York City this year were similar to those of Wyoming, Montana or South Dakota. Crime has been dropping for many years in New York, once one of the world’s most violent cities.

Backhoe tragedy

MEXICO CITY: A heavy construction vehicle plunged on to a congested road outside the Mexican capital on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring six more. The Mexico State government said in a statement that the backhoe fell from a height of about 10m and struck five passing passenger cars. The operator of the backhoe was one of the two people killed. An eight-year-old girl was among the injured, who were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Huge toll of war

BAGHDAD: Between 9000 and 11,000 people were killed in the nine-month battle to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group, a civilian casualty rate nearly 10 times higher than has been previously reported, an Associated Press investigation has found. Iraqi or coalition forces are responsible for at least 3200 civilian deaths from air strikes, artillery fire or mortar rounds between October 2016 and the fall of IS in July 2017, according to the investigation.

Soldier defects

SEOUL: South Korean soldiers fired 20 warning machine gun rounds yesterday, turning back North Korean soldiers apparently pursuing a comrade who had earlier dashed across the rivals’ shared border, officials said. It is the fourth time this year a North Korean soldier has defected across the world’s most heavily armed border.