A man has been arrested for allegedly threatening to rape the 10-month-old daughter of Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli after the team’s dismal performance in the T20 World Cup. He was arrested in the southern city of Hyderabad on Wednesday. The Indian team has faced a deluge of online abuse after losing back-to-back matches in the ongoing tournament. The trolling appears to have begun after India’s loss to arch-rival Pakistan. It was the first time India lost a match to Pakistan in a World Cup. After entering as clear favourites to lift the trophy, the Indian team crashed out of the tournament, sparking shock and anger among fans back home.  Relations between India and Pakistan have always been frosty and a cricket match often sparks tensions. Soon after the game against Pakistan ended, Mohammed Shami, the only Muslim in the Indian cricket team, was bitterly trolled and abused online. Some social media users even accused him of deliberately giving runs to the Pakistani team and labelled him a traitor.(BBC)…[+]

Lawyers for a teenager charged with shooting three people amid civil unrest in Wisconsin last year have called for a mistrial. Kyle Rittenhouse’s defence asked that the case be dismissed after the judge angrily rebuked prosecutors for airing apparently inadmissible evidence. Mr Rittenhouse, 18, sobbed earlier in court as he took the stand. He testified that he killed two men and injured a third on 25 August 2020 on the streets of Kenosha in self-defence. Mr Rittenhouse is facing counts including intentional and reckless homicide, reckless endangerment and illegal possession of a firearm after he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28. He could get life in prison. Riots erupted on the streets of the city two days earlier after police shot a black man, Jacob Blake. Mr Rittenhouse – who was 17 at the time – travelled to the city from his home in Illinois and, with a semi-automatic rifle in tow, he said he sought to help protect property from unrest on the streets.(BBC)…[+]

Belarus’s leader has threatened to cut-off gas supplies to Europe if sanctions are imposed over an escalating migrant crisis at the country’s border. Thousands of people are at the border with Poland, where they are enduring freezing conditions in the hope of crossing into the European Union. Western officials have accused Belarus of provoking the crisis to undermine EU security, an allegation it denies. Meanwhile, the EU is reportedly preparing a package of fresh sanctions. “If they impose additional sanctions on us… we must respond,” the country’s long-time authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday. “We are heating Europe, and they are threatening us,” he said, referring to a Russian gas pipeline that runs through Belarus and into the EU. “And what if we halt natural gas supplies?” he added. “I would recommend that the Polish leadership, Lithuanians and [others] think before speaking.” His comments raised new concerns about a shortage of natural gas supplies and high prices in Europe. More EU sanctions could be introduced on Belarus as early as Monday, two unnamed diplomats told the Reuters news agency.(BBC)…[+]