Australia Spiderman burglar brought to justice Sydney, July 16 (IANS): A man who robbed almost 50 houses by scaling the outside of the buildings faced court in Australian on Monday. The 32-year-old man, who police dubbed Spiderman, has been charged with 49 counts of burglary and 16 counts of fraud after risking his life to access the high-rise homes, reports Xinhua news agency. “The risk is so high, you’ve got to be fairly confident in your own ability to be able to do it,” Queensland Police detective inspector Marc Hogan said. When one victim startled the burglar during a late night break-in, he allegedly apologised before hurling himself over the 20-story balcony and scaling back down to the ground. Wallets and credit cards were targeted during the break-ins. “Obviously he couldn’t carry a lot of things, so he wasn’t scaling down the walls with TVs or things like that,” Hogan said. Pakistan election meeting attack toll touches 149 Islamabad, July 16 (IANS): The death toll in the suicide attack targeting an election meeting in Pakistan has increased to 149, while the number of injured stands at 186, an official said on Monday. The attack on Friday, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) terror group, is one of the worst in recent years in the country and adds to a series of attacks perpetrated against electoral events and candidates for the upcoming elections on July 25. “The death toll has reached 149 including nine minors and the injured are 186,” Qaim Lashari, Deputy Commissioner of Mastung in Balochistan province, where the attack took place, told Efe news. The attack took place when Siraj Raisani, a leader of the regional Balochistan Awami Party, was holding an electoral meeting in a market. Raisani was seriously injured in the attack and died later in a hospital. On Friday, another attack had targeted an election campaign in the city of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leaving four dead and another 19 injured. On July 10, at least 20 people were killed and 60 were wounded in an attack on the regional Awami National Party election campaign in the same province. Sharif challenges his 10-year jail term Islamabad, July 16 (IANS): Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was given a 10-year jail term this month in a corruption case, challenged his conviction and sought suspension of the guilty verdict, media reports said on Monday. An anti-graft court had also handed down seven years in prison to Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz on the charges related to four luxury flats in London, reports Xinhua news agency. They returned to Pakistan from London on Friday. Both are currently in Adiyala prison in Rawalpindi city near the capital Islamabad where they will face trial in other two corruption cases. Sharif was accused of having wealth beyond his income. However, the charges were denied by the three-time Prime Minister as politically-motivated. He was also sentenced one-year in prison for “not cooperating” with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s anti-graft body. His son-in-law was also convicted for one year in jail for abetment. Sharif’s lawyers filed the petition in the Islamabad High Court, which sought acquittal of Nawaz Sharif and dropping all charges framed against him. The court had imposed 8 million pounds penalty on Nawaz Sharif and 2 million pounds fine on Maryam Nawaz. A team of four senior lawyers filed the petition which prayed to set aside the judgement, conviction and sentence on July 6, 2018. The Islamabad High Court has not yet accepted the petition. A date for hearing will be announced after the appeal is accepted.
