News in Brief
Sarkozy faces jail term:
The trial of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy concluded Tuesday in Paris, after a month during which the court sought to determine whether he broke laws on campaign financing in his unsuccessful 2012 re-election bid.
The verdict is to be delivered on September 30. Prosecutors have requested a six-month prison term, as well as a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of 3,750 euros ($4,468).
Sarkozy, France’s president from 2007 to 2012, denies wrongdoing. He is accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros ($27.5 million) on the re-election bid that he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande.
The trial comes after Sarkozy, 66, was found guilty on March 1 of corruption and influence peddling in another case. He has appealed that verdict.
In their conclusions last week, prosecutors said Sarkozy knew weeks before the 2012 election that his campaign financing — strictly limited under French law — was getting close to the legal maximum. They accused him of having ignored two notes from his accountants warning against racking up additional expenses.
Instead, he gave instructions that led to more money being spent and did not put in place a supervision system, prosecutors said. (AP)
Bombing kills 3 in Lahore:
A powerful car bomb went off near the residence of a jailed anti-India militant leader in the eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding 15 others, police and rescue officials said.
The blast happened in the Johar Town neighborhood, provincial police chief Inam Ghani told reporters. He said officers were still trying to determine whether it was a suicide bombing or the bomb was remotely detonated.
Ghani said some police officers were also among the wounded persons.
He confirmed that the bombing happened near the residence of anti-India militant leader Hafiz Seed, who has been designated a terrorist by the US Justice Department and has a $10 million bounty on his head. Saeed is the founder of an outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
TV footage showed badly damaged homes, and many residents said it was a bomb attack. Doctors say some of the wounded were in critical condition. (AP)
Nine pardoned walk free:
Nine Catalan separatists pardoned by the Spanish government walked out of prison on Wednesday to the cheers of supporters, leaving behind their lengthy terms for organizing a bid for an independent Catalonia republic nearly four years ago.
Spain’s Cabinet pardoned them Tuesday in the hope of starting what Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a much-needed reconciliation in the country’s restive northeastern region, although fervent local support for the pardoned separatists indicated the problem won’t go away anytime soon.
Former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, five fellow Cabinet members, the former regional parliament’s speaker and two pro-independence activists walked free shortly after noon. They had spent between three-and-ahalf and four years behind bars.
Spain’s official gazette on Wednesday published the government decree pardoning them.
The freed separatists were met by dozens of cheering, clapping supporters and relatives who had gathered in the rain. The men, released in a group, held up a small banner that said, in
English, “Freedom Catalonia,” as well as a Catalan flag. They addressed their supporters in the Catalan language.
The Catalan regional president, Pere Aragonès, and the speaker of the Catalan parliament, Laura Borràs, also went to the prison for the separatists’ release.
The pardon canceled the remainder of prison terms ranging from nine to 13 years over sedition and misuse of public funds linked to the 2017 banned referendum and a short-lived Catalonia independence declaration. But the separatists won’t be able to hold public office until the end of their sentences and they could go back to prison if they break Spanish law again, the decree said. (AP)
2 bodies pulled from canal:
The bodies of two young girls were found, hours apart, in a South Florida canal, and investigators are treating the case as a homicide.
The body of the first girl, who detectives said was between the ages of 10 and 13, was spotted Tuesday afternoon outside a condominium complex in Lauderhill, which is near Fort Lauderdale.
The second body was found just before 9 p.m., not far from where the first body was located.
Police said no parents had come forward to say their child was missing by late Tuesday night. At first, authorities did not suspect foul play because the first girl showed no signs of trauma. The second girl’s body was still in the water late Tuesday night as detectives continued their investigation.
“It’s a very complicated case with a lot of moving parts,” Lauderhill police Lt. Michael Santiago said during a news conference.
He said investigators believe they have identified the first child, but have
not been able to confirm her identity because the family had not been notified.
After the first body was found, detectives walked the length of the canal that runs behind the Habitat II Condominiums, but did not find anything else, Santiago said. Then, at 8:45 p.m., police received a 911 call from someone who spotted the second child’s body. (AP)
Taliban take key district:
Taliban fighters took control of a key district in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province Monday and encircled the provincial capital, police said, as the insurgent group added to its recent battlefield victories while peace talks have stalemated.
The Taliban’s gains came as the Pentagon reaffirmed the U.S. troop withdrawal was still on pace to conclude by early September.
Fighting around Imam Sahib district began late Sunday and by midday Monday the Taliban had overrun the district headquarters and were in control of police headquarters, said Inamuddin Rahmani, provincial police spokesman said. (AP)