UK govt seizes assets owned by Dawood

Authorities in the UK have seized properties belonging to fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, the media from England reported.

Dawood’s name appears on the latest UK Treasury Department’s “Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets”, newspapers from England carried reports. The seizer comes as a shot in the arm of India that has been asking Pakistan to act against Dawood who after the Mumbai serial blast is reported to be hiding in Pakistan.

The assets which have been frozen include properties in Midlands. Dawood Ibrahim owns a hotel in Warwickshire and residential properties across the Midlands, as per the report.

The treasury sanction document lists three recorded addresses for Dawood Ibrahim in Pakistan, including one called The White House in the seaside Clifton area in Karachi. It also lists 21 aliases used by the don.

Singapore gets 1st woman President Without a vote

An establishment stalwart has been named  Singapore’s first woman President. The achievement has been embroiled with criticism as her selection was undemocratic after she was handed the job without a vote.

Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of Parliament from the Muslim Malay minority, did not have to face an election for the  ceremonial post originally due this month after authorities decided her rivals did not meet strict eligibility criteria.

It was not the first time in the affluent city-state—which is tightly controlled and has been ruled by the same party for decades—that the government has disqualified candidates for the presidency, making an election unnecessary.

But there was already unease about the process as it was the first time that the presidency had been reserved for a particular ethnic group, in this case the Malay community, and the decision to hand her the job without a vote added to anger.

Halimah, a member of parliament for the ruling People’s Action Party for nearly two decades before resigning to contest the presidency, tackled the doubts about the selection process in a speech to a cheering crowd after she was named president-elect.

“I’m a president for everyone. Although there’s no election, my commitment to serve you remains the same,” she said.

1 dead, 3 injured in Washington school shooting

A shooter opened fire at a high school in Washington state killing one person and injuring three others.

Brian Schaeffer of the Spokane Fire Department said one person died at Freeman High School in Rockford town and three injured victims were taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said the shooter was in custody and the injured were in stable condition. Worried parents rushed to the school in the town of about 500 people near the Idaho border, about 25 miles southeast of Spokane. The two-lane road into town was clogged as people sped to the school.

Governor Jay Inslee said “all Washingtonians are grateful to the school staff working to keep our students safe.”

Italian city bans cricket in parks after a child is hurt

The mayor of Bolzano in northern Italy has banned cricket in parks after a two year-old boy was struck by a ball while he was on the balcony of his home, dealing a blow to the cricket-loving Afghan and Pakistani migrants there. The boy, who was on the balcony of his home overlooking a park, recovered from the concussion. He was about 100 metres away from the cricket game. Bolzano is now restricting cricket to tennis courts and a baseball field.Brescia, another northern Italian city, banned cricket in public spaces in 2009.

France may legalise assisted reproduction for gays

The right of lesbian couples and single women to have access to assisted reproduction was “a matter of social justice“ and will likely be legislated next year, a French government minister has said. The move would mark a significant extension of gay rights in France, where violent protests preceded the legalisation of same-sex marriage and adoption by homosexual couples in 2013.

“It was a campaign promise. It will be honoured,“ Marlene Schiappa, minister for gender equality , told local media. She said a bill would likely pass through parlia ment in 2018. Current legislation means that gay women with sufficient funds travel abroad for artificial insemination while other women without the financial means cannot. Schiappa said that was unjust.

French law still restricts techniques such as artificial insemination using donated sperm to heterosexual couples. A national ethics committee said last June that it backed the idea of medically assisted procreation for female couples and single women. President Macron had set such a recommendation as a prerequisite to any legislative action.