NEW YORK CITY: New York police opened fire on a suspect in Times Square on Saturday night, injuring two bystanders in the city’s busiest commercial district, police said yesterday.
A 35-year-old man described as “emotionally disturbed” was weaving in and out of traffic at the Manhattan crossroads — one of the city’s top tourist attractions — and appeared to be trying to be hit by a car when an officer tried to arrest him. “The male eluded the officer, and when additional officers responded to the scene, the male put his hand in his pocket and then took it out, simulating that he was shooting at the officers,” police said in a statement.
One officer fired a shot and missed, and another fired two shots and also missed. The bullets hit a 54-year-old woman in her knee and a 35-year-old woman was injured in her left buttock. The man was arrested after being hit with a Taser.
Alabama marks 50th year of bombing
BIRMINGHAM: Fifty years after a bomb ripped through a Sunday school, killing four girls and rocking a racially divided nation, the city of Birmingham, Alabama, is commemorating the tragedy that led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“It is a sad story, but there is a joy that came out of it,” said Sarah Collins Rudolph, who survived the blast at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Her 14-year-old sister, Addie Mae Collins, was among the victims of the bomb planted by a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Yesterday at 10:22am (1522 GMT), the time of the blast, the church’s bell tolled in remembrance of Collins, 11-year-old Denise McNair, and Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, both 14. Celebrated as martyrs in the history of civil rights, the four bombing victims were honoured earlier in the week with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honour bestowed on civilians.
Bishops in Cuba appeal for change
HAVANA: Cuban bishops appealed to the government for political reform and continued economic change Sunday in their most direct plea in decades.
The Cuban Bishops Conference made its request in a letter published on their website. It also asked for better ties with the US.
Cuba under President Raul Castro has tinkered with pro-market economic change since he took over from his brother Fidel in 2006 to head the hemisphere’s only communist country. The bishops said: “As has been happening in the economic realm, we think it essential in our Cuban reality that our national legislation with regard to the political order be brought up to date.”
Agencies
