GURNEE, Illinois:Three people were injured in a shooting in the parking lot of an amusement park north of Chicago that sent visitors scrambling for safety, authorities said.
Officers responded about 7:50 p.m. Sunday after 911 calls reporting shots fired at Six Flags Great America, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Chicago, the Gurnee Police Department said.
“The shooting ... was not a random act, and appeared to be a targeted incident that occurred outside the park,” police said in statement posted to Facebook.
According to an initial investigation, police said a white sedan entered the parking lot and drove toward the park’s front entrance. People got out of the car and shot at another person in the parking lot before driving away, police said.
Additional detail about the suspects, including the number of people who fired shots, wasn’t immediately released. Police were investigating.
A 17-year-old boy from Aurora, Illinois, had a thigh wound and a 19-year-old woman from Appleton, Wisconsin, had a leg wound, police said. They were taken to a hospital and their wounds were described as non-life-threatening. A third victim had a shoulder injury and declined to be taken to a hospital.
In a statement, Six Flags Great America said park security responded immediately along with Gurnee officers.
WGN News in Chicago spoke with Laurie Walker and her daughter, Grace, who were inside the park when the shooting occurred. Walker said they were waiting in line for an attraction around 7:50 p.m. when she noticed people running.
“There is an active shooter, get down, get down,” Walker said she heard someone shouting. “We didn’t know what was going on, so we get down.”
Walker and her daughter climbed two fences to get where she could call her husband. Walker told WGN she was able to leave the park a short while later.
Gurnee is in Lake County, about 5 miles south of the Wisconsin border. It’s about 20 miles north of Highland Park, where seven people died in a mass shooting during a July Fourth parade.
3 injured in shooting at amusement park near Chicago
https://arab.news/cquea
3 injured in shooting at amusement park near Chicago
Unrest in Angolan capital after 4 killed in fuel hike protests
Police reported “a few isolated incidents of disorder” early Tuesday and said people involved “were repelled and continue to be repelled“
LUANDA: Shots rang out as Angola’s capital was gripped by a second day of looting Tuesday, after at least four people were killed and scores arrested when violence erupted during a strike against a fuel price hike.
Transport in Luanda remained suspended and shops closed after massive looting on Monday, the first day of the taxi drivers’ strike to condemn the July 1 price rise, which had already led to several protests.
Gunfire could be heard in central Luanda’s Cazenga area, where people were seen taking food and other items from shops, an AFP reporter said.
Images shared on social media showed clashes in the Rocha Pinto suburb near the airport and security forces deploying to a street where burning rubbish bins barricaded a road in the Prenda area.
The government’s decision to raise heavily subsidised fuel prices from 300 to 400 kwanzas ($0.33 to $0.43) a liter in July has caused anger in Angola, one of Africa’s top oil producers where many people live in poverty.
“We are tired ... they must announce something for things to change ... for us to live in better conditions,” a protester told Angola’s TV Nzinga.
“Why do you make us suffer like this? How will we feed our children? The prices have to go down,” a woman said, addressing President Joao Lourenco.
Police reported “a few isolated incidents of disorder” early Tuesday and said people involved “were repelled and continue to be repelled.”
“We currently report four deaths,” Deputy Commissioner Mateus Rodrigues told reporters in a briefing about Monday’s violence. He did not specify how they occurred.
Police rounded up 400 people overnight for suspected involvement in the unrest after arresting 100 on Monday, he said.
About 45 shops were vandalized, while 25 private vehicles and 20 public buses were damaged, he said. Banks were also targeted.
“We continue to stress that our forces are on the streets, equipped with the necessary resources based on the threat level, responding where order has been restored to maintain it, and intervening where there are still disturbances to reestablish public order and peace,” he said.
AFP photographs on Monday showed people running off with items looted from shops, while images posted on social media showed large crowds of protesters and, separately, police pushing back groups of people.
Local media reports said security forces had used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds.
A journalist in the city of Huambo, around 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Luanda, said there had also been looting and rioting there.
The New Alliance of Taxi Drivers Association (ANATA) distanced itself from Monday’s violence but said the three-day strike would continue.
It “has become clear that the voice of the taxi drivers reflects the outcry of the Angolan people,” the association said in a statement Tuesday.
Around 2,000 people demonstrated against the fuel hike on Saturday, with protests also held the previous two weekends.
Human Rights Watch said police had used excessive force in the July 12 protest, including firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
In a joint statement on Monday, civil society groups condemned the July 19 arrest of one of the organizers of the protests, Osvaldo Sergio Correia Caholo.
He was a “victim of the oppression in Angola, where freedoms and fundamental guarantees are constantly being trampled upon,” they said.
The protests were a “direct consequence” of the government’s failure to address unemployment, high living costs and a decline in public services, the Uyele civic group said.
It is “urgent to understand that we are facing a serious symptom: the social exhaustion of a youth with no alternatives,” it said in a statement.
Lourenco’s MPLA party has ruled Angola, which has a population of around 33 million, since its independence from Portugal in 1975.
Poland says 32 people detained and suspected of coordinating with Russia for sabotage
- One person has been convicted, while the others are in custody awaiting trial,
- The group includes a Pole, Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians
WARSAW: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Tuesday said authorities have detained 32 people suspected of coordinating with Russia to engage in acts of sabotage, according to Polish news agency PAP.
One person has been convicted, while the others are in custody awaiting trial, PAP reported.
The group includes a Pole, Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, PAP reported, as well as a 27-year-old Colombian man who is accused of two arson attacks in Poland last year at Russia’s behest.
The Polish Internal Security Agency in a statement Tuesday said he faces up to 10 years to life in prison in connection with the arson attacks on two construction warehouses in May 2024.
The suspect allegedly received his instructions, including how to make a Molotov cocktail to start the fires, from someone associated with Russian intelligence, the agency said.
Other details about the suspects or the alleged sabotage were not immediately available.
Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trade pushes deals online
- Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trading has strengthened the rupee, but traders say under-the-counter deals have swiftly shifted to smartphones and home deliveries instead
KARACHI: Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trading has strengthened the rupee, but traders say under-the-counter deals have swiftly shifted to smartphones and home deliveries instead.
Many unlicensed exchange shops have been shut since July 22, when the military spy agency summoned representatives of the sector to explain the US dollar’s rising cost in the open market. Soon after, raids were carried out by the Federal Investigation Agency, which tackles financial crime and smuggling.
Since the crackdown began, the rupee has rebounded from a sharp fall against the dollar earlier in July. In the open market, it firmed from 288.6 per dollar on July 19 to about 286 in recent sessions.
But traders and bankers say the trade continues, suggesting the crackdown’s effects could be short-lived.
The black market operates outside official channels and includes unlicensed dealers, personal networks, and digital peer-to-peer exchanges, with customers seeking to skip tax declarations, avoid burdensome paperwork and bypass limits on official currency purchases.
In Peshawar, a city near the Afghan border long known for black market currency deals, many shops in the historic Chowk Yadgar district remain shuttered, though some traders were still operating discreetly in back-alley booths.
“The trade didn’t stop. It just moved,” said Ahmad, a dealer whose family has been in the business for generations. “Now it’s on WhatsApp. If you know someone, the dollars come to your house.”
“The big players have shifted to safer locations and kept going,” said another trader, Gul. Both traders asked not to give their full names.
Even retail buyers are bypassing the formal foreign exchange market. Hassan, a manager at a multinational firm in Karachi, said stricter documentation drove him to an informal forex chat.
“Everyone there is a buyer or seller. No middleman, no commission. Sometimes it’s physical cash, sometimes bank transfers, sometimes crypto,” he said.
STRICTER FX DISCIPLINE
On Monday, Pakistan’s central bank called in bank treasury heads to address pressure on the rupee. Two bankers said they were told to stop buying dollars from exchange companies at above-official rates on the grounds it was skewing the market.
Banks were asked to rely on their own inflows from exports and remittances, but both sources have slowed. Exporters are delaying bringing money home, betting the rupee will weaken. Remittances are also tapering off as banks reduce incentives once offered to attract overseas inflows.
Authorities also pressed banks to keep the gap between the interbank rate and the open market rate narrow, a condition of Pakistan’s $7 billion IMF deal meant to discourage speculation.
“These meetings have been happening for years, but this one was more pointed,” one banker said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The central bank is expected to cut rates on Wednesday, easing inflation but risking pressure on the rupee.
Indonesia to cut Middle East oil imports to meet Trump’s tariff deal
- Saudi Arabia is among Indonesia’s top oil suppliers
- US to impose 19% import tariff under new deal
JAKARTA: Indonesia will reduce oil and gas imports from Middle Eastern and Asian countries, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said, as Jakarta moves to implement its $15 billion energy deal with the US under the latest tariff agreement.
Indonesia is among three Southeast Asian countries that have struck deals with Washington so far, following negotiations with US President Donald Trump to lower tariff rates.
Jakarta has agreed to increase its imports from the US by more than $22 billion — including energy products — under the framework trade deal, while US tariffs on Indonesian imports would be set at 19 percent.
“We have agreed to buy $15 billion worth of gasoline, crude oil and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), which we will do in steps by considering its economic viability. The prices must be competitive, and now we’re designing a framework for it,” Lahadalia told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.
“We will reduce (imports) from other countries (in) the Middle East and Asia.”
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy’s oil imports were valued at about $36 billion last year.
While the US is among Indonesia’s top oil suppliers, Washington still ranks behind Singapore, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.
The US deal, which is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, allows Indonesia to avoid the higher tariff rate of 32 percent threatened earlier by the Trump administration.
“We know that 32 percent (tariff rate) means no trade, which basically means a trade embargo, and that means around 1 million workers in labor-intensive sectors can be impacted,” Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said in a statement.
“What the government is doing through this cooperation with the US is to keep the internal and external balance so that we can maintain our trade balance, keep our economic momentum and ensure job creation.”
The US is Indonesia’s second-largest market after China, with exports valued at over $26 billion in 2024, according to Indonesia’s statistics agency.
Indonesia has consistently posted trade surpluses with the US in the past decade, including $16.8 billion last year.
Under the tariff agreement, Jakarta agreed to drop its tariff on nearly all American imports to zero and scrap all non-tariff barriers facing American firms, while also committing to purchase $4.5 billion worth of agricultural products from the US, including soybeans, wheat and cotton, as well as Boeing aircraft valued at $3.2 billion.
Uber loses UK Supreme Court appeal over tax on rival apps
- Uber sought to have the same terms applied to rival operators and the High Court ruled in its favor last year
- The ruling applied to rides in England and Wales outside London
LONDON: Uber’s rival taxi operators in England and Wales will not face a 20 percent VAT charge on their profit margins outside of London after the ride-hailing firm lost its appeal on Tuesday against a previous ruling.
Uber had sought a declaration that rival private-hire taxi operators enter into a contract with passengers, meaning operators must charge 20 percent value added tax (VAT) outside London as Uber is required to do.
It brought the case after a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that Uber drivers were workers, making them eligible for the minimum wage and holiday pay, and making Uber subject to VAT for rides.
Uber sought to have the same terms applied to rival operators and the High Court ruled in its favor last year. The ruling applied to rides in England and Wales outside London, which has a different regulatory regime.
However, that ruling was reversed by the Court of Appeal in July 2024 following a challenge by private hire operators Delta Taxis and platform Veezu.
Uber then brought an appeal to the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday unanimously dismissed the appeal, ruling that operators are not required to enter into a contract with passengers.
An Uber spokesperson said the ruling “confirms that different contractual protections apply for people booking trips in London compared to the rest of England and Wales,” but has “no impact on Uber’s application of VAT.”
Delta Taxis’ lawyer Layla Barke Jones, from Aaron & Partners, said a victory for Uber would have badly affected many private hire operators, adding: “A crisis has been averted.”
In a separate case, Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup Bolt this year defeated an appeal by Britain’s tax authority HMRC on what it has to charge VAT at 20 percent.
HMRC has since been granted permission to challenge the ruling that Bolt is only liable for VAT on its margin, rather than the full cost of the trip, at the Court of Appeal.
Kimberly Hurd, Bolt’s senior general manager for the UK, welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision on Uber’s appeal, but said a new regulatory framework was needed so that rules were consistent across the UK.
