Brooklyn subway suspect tipped off police to his location
The man accused of shooting 10 people on a Brooklyn subway train was arrested Wednesday and charged with a federal terrorism offense after the suspect called police to come get him, law enforcement officials said, Associated Press reported.
Frank R. James, 62, was taken into custody about 30 hours after the violence on a rush-hour train, which left people around the city on edge.
“My fellow New Yorkers, we got him,” Mayor Eric Adams said.
James was due to appear in court Thursday on a charge that pertains to terrorist or other violent attacks against mass transit systems and carries a sentence of up to life in prison, Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace said.
In recent months, James railed in videos on his YouTube channel about racism and violence in the US and about his struggles with mental health care in New York City, and he criticized Adams’ policies on mental health and subway safety. But the motive for the subway attack remains unclear, and there’s no indication James had ties to terror organizations, international or otherwise, Peace said.
James didn’t respond to reporters’ shouted questions as he was led to a police car Wednesday afternoon. He was transferred hours later to federal Bureau of Prisons custody and was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. A message seeking comment was sent to a lawyer representing him, according to the Associated Press.
Police had urged the public to help find him, releasing his name and photo and even sending a cellphone alert before they got a tip Wednesday.
The tipster was James, calling to say he knew he was wanted and that police could find him at a McDonald’s in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood, two law enforcement officials said. They weren’t authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
James was gone when officers arrived, but he was soon spotted on a busy corner nearby, Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said.
Passer-by Aleksei Korobow said he saw four police cars zoom past, and when he caught up to them, James was in handcuffs as a crowd of people looked on.
“There was nowhere left for him to run,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
The arrest came as the gunshot victims, and at least a dozen others injured in the attack, tried to recover.
“I don’t think I could ever ride a train again,” Hourari Benkada, a Manhattan hotel housekeeping manager who was shot in the leg, told CNN from a hospital bed, Associated Press reported.
Gov. Kathy Hochul visited victims as young as 12 in a hospital Tuesday night. One had been heading to class at Borough of Manhattan Community College when he was hit by either a bullet or shrapnel and needed surgery, the governor said.
Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry said an 18-year-old Guatemalan national, Rudy Alfredo Pérez Vásquez, was hospitalized but “out of danger” Wednesday after being injured in the attack.
James detonated two smoke grenades and fired at least 33 shots with a 9 mm handgun in a subway car packed with commuters, police said.
When the first smoke bomb went off, a passenger asked what he was doing, according to a witness account to police.
“Oops,” James said, set off a second, then brandished the gun and opened fire, Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
When the train stopped at a station and terrified riders fled, James apparently hopped another train — the same one many were steered to for safety, police said. He got out at the next station, disappearing into the nation’s most populous city.
But James left behind numerous clues at the crime scene, including the gun — which he bought in Ohio in 2011 — ammunition magazines, a hatchet, smoke grenades, gasoline, a bank card in his name and the key to a U-Haul van he rented Monday in Philadelphia, according to police and a court complaint, according to the Associated Press.
Tucked in an orange workers’ jacket, which he apparently tossed on a subway platform, was a receipt for a Philadelphia storage unit. Authorities found ammunition, targets and a pistol barrel in the storage locker and learned he’d been there on Monday, the complaint said.
The van was found, unoccupied, near a station where investigators believe James entered the subway system.
Surveillance cameras captured the van arriving from Philadelphia early Tuesday, and a man wearing what appeared to be the same orange jacket leaving the vehicle near the station.
James was born in New York but had lived recently in Philadelphia and Milwaukee, authorities said. Bruce Allen, a neighbor near a Philadelphia apartment where James stayed for the last couple of weeks, said the man never spoke to him, even when moving in.
James had worked at a variety of manufacturing and other jobs, according to his videos. Police said he’d been arrested 12 times in New York and New Jersey between 1990 and 2007 on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to possession of burglary tools, but he has no felony convictions.
His hours of disjointed, expletive-filled videos range from current events, to his life story, to bigoted remarks about people of various backgrounds. James is Black, according to the Associated Press.
PM Deuba, CPN Gen Secy Chand hold talks
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and a team led by Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal held a meeting on Wednesday.
During the meeting held at the Prime Minister Deuba's official residence in Baluwatar, they discussed the implementation of a three-point agreement signed between the government and the Communist Party of Nepal and the local level elections slated for May 13.
Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, Nepali Congress Vice-President Purna Bahadur Khadka, Attorney General Khamma Bahadur Khati, Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey along with the Prime Minister from the government and General Secretary Chand and spokesperson Khadka Bahadur Bishwokarma from the Communist Party of Nepal were present in the meeting.
On the occasion, the Communist Party of Nepal urged the government to release the party's cadres and withdraw cases against at the earliest.
Prime Minister Deuba said that the government is committed to implement the three-point agreement signed with the Communist Party of Nepal.
Editorial: Central folly
Some disagreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank, is not only expected but also desirable. The bank has a high level of autonomy so that it can craft monetary policies and regulations with minimal political meddling. The exercise of this autonomy can often cause friction with the finance ministry, which works with a different set of priorities. Only with the right balance between the functioning of these two entities can the country’s economy hum along. The goal is not to remove the friction but to use it to come up with carefully-weighed monetary and fiscal measures.
Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, on the other hand, seems to believe that the central bank’s leadership should be beholden to him and seek his guidance every step of the way. He proposed for the removal of Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari—a proposal that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba promptly endorsed—on the charge that Adhikari refused to heed him on vital matters and leaked sensitive information to the press. Minister Sharma has furnished no good proof to substantiate his claims. Instead, recent media stories suggest his main gripe with Adhikari was that the latter refused to follow through on some of Sharma’s dubious directives.
This is the first time Nepal’s sitting central bank governor has been removed for insubordination. A horrible precedent has been set at a time the economy is battling strong headwinds and steady hands at the central bank are desperately wanted. Even PM Deuba seems to have acted out of spite: Adhikari had reportedly blocked one of Deuba’s chief financiers from expatriating his money. This kind of reckless governance at such a sensitive time could cause grievous damage to the economy that is already battered by the prolonged pandemic and ever-widening trade deficit.
All evidence suggests it is not Adhikari who should be fired but the finance minister who seems to lack even basic understanding of the economy’s functioning or the limits to his powers. PM Deuba has miscalculated. With the public uproar Adhikari’s untimely sacking has caused, he and his party could have to pay for it in the upcoming elections–—and rightly so.
Nepse surges by 30. 24 points on Wednesday
The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 30.24 points to close at 2,415.24 points on Wednesday.
Similarly, the sensitive index plunged by 6.97 points to close at 456. 09 points.
Meanwhile, a total of 3,398,643 unit shares of 229 companies were traded for Rs 1. 47 billion.
In today’s market, all sub-indices saw green. Non Life Insurance topped the chart with 129. 45 points.
Meanwhile, NESDO Samridha Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. United IDI Mardi RB Hydropower Limited was the top loser as its price fell by 2. 08 percent.
At the end of the day, total market capitalisation stood at Rs 3. 42 trillion.
Nepal records 19 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday
Nepal reported 19 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 349 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 16 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 336 people underwent antigen tests, of which four were tested positive.
The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 49 infected people recovered from the disease.
As of today, there are 520 active cases in the country.
Death toll in Nigeria's Plateau state rises to 154 -community leaders
At least 154 people were killed in Sunday's attack by gunmen on villages in Nigeria's northern Plateau state, more than three times the initial count, two community leaders said, Reuters reported.
Armed gangs in northwestern Nigeria have terrorised villagers for years through kidnappings for ransom, but they have become more brutal, killing and pillaging communities where state security agents are rarely seen.
Ya'u Abubakar, a senior councillor of Garga rural district in the Kanem local government area of Plateau told Reuters that the gunmen arrived on motorbikes and started shooting sporadically.
Houses and shops were burnt to the ground and some people who tried to hide in nearby bushes were pursued and shot and their bodies were discovered on Tuesday, he said.
Abubakar said there were mass burials as shocked communities tried to come to grips with the violent attack, according to Reuters.
"All in all we have in our records (the number) of those killed at 154, including those found in bushes," Abubakar said by phone.
Such attacks are not common in Plateau.
But the state shares a border with Kaduna state, where suspected bandits - a loose term for gangs of outlaws carrying out robberies and kidnappings - blew up train tracks, killed eight people and kidnapped dozens last month.
Alhaji Wada, a Garga community leader said soldiers had been deployed to secure the area and were pursuing the gunmen.
"They should not be spared or forgiven," President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement late on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Telephone services are patchy in Nigeria's rural hinterlands, making it difficult for communities to call in help from security forces, whose resources are stretched due to an Islamist insurgency in the northeast of the country.
UML, RPP-N agree to forge alliance in local level elections
CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal have agreed to forge an alliance in the local level elections.
UML Local Development Department Chief Devendra Dahal and RPP-N's Local Body Mobilization Department Chief Sushil Kumar Shrestha signed a five-point agreement to forge the electoral alliance.
Following the agreement, RPP-N candidates will contest the elections under the electoral symbol of UML.
The two parties have agreed to implement the agreement after the permission of the central level.
Meanwhile, UML and Pariwar Dal have also agreed to forge an electoral alliance.
Nepal limits imports as foreign currency reserves slide
Nepal has restricted imports of non-essential goods - including cars, cosmetics and gold - after its foreign currency reserves dropped, BBC reported.
It comes as a fall in tourism spending and money sent home by Nepalis working abroad helped drive up government debt.
Meanwhile, the governor of the country's central bank was removed from his role last week.
Nepal's finance minister said he was "surprised" the issue was being compared with the crisis in Sri Lanka.
According to the country's central bank, Nepal Rastra Bank, foreign currency reserves fell by more than 16% to 1.17tn Nepali rupees ($9.59bn; £7.36bn) in the seven months to the middle of February.
Over the same period, the amount of money sent to Nepal by people working abroad fell by almost 5%, according to BBC.
Narayan Prasad Pokharel, deputy spokesperson at the central bank, told the Reuters news agency that the institution believed the country's foreign currency reserves were "under pressure".
"Something must be done to restrict the import of non-essential goods, without affecting the supply of essential goods," Mr Pokharel said.
He added that importers were allowed to bring in 50 "luxurious goods" if they paid for them in full.
"This is not banning the imports but discouraging them," Mr Pokharel said.
Last week, Nepal's government removed central bank governor Maha Prasad Adhikari from his role, without giving a reason for the decision.
Government debt in Nepal has risen to more than 43% of its gross domestic product, as officials increased spending to help cushion the economic impact of pandemic, Nepal's finance ministry said on Monday.
The ministry also said indicators of the country's economic health were "normal".
"However, due to some pressures in the external sector, some steps have already been taken to manage imports and increase foreign exchange reserve," it said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, finance minister Janardan Sharma said Nepal's debt was lower than other countries in the region and elsewhere, BBC reported.
Mr Sharma told reporters: "I am surprised why people are comparing with Sri Lanka". The island nation is facing its most serious economic crisis since independence from the UK in 1948.
Alex Holmes, an emerging markets economist at research firm Capital Economics also told the BBC that the situation in Nepal appears "much better than in Sri Lanka".
Nepal's foreign currency reserves are double what is considered "a comfortable minimum" and government debt "is not particularly high", Mr Holmes said.
"Of course, things will eventually regress if the current account deficit does not narrow," he added. "But crisis does not appear imminent".
Last week, Sri Lanka named a new central bank chief and almost doubled its key interest rate to help tackle soaring prices and shortages of essential goods.
In recent weeks, demonstrators have taken to the streets of the capital Colombo as homes and businesses were hit with long power cuts.
Sri Lankans are faced with shortages and rising inflation after the country steeply devalued its currency last month ahead of talks with the International Monetary Fund over a bailout, according to BBC.