www.theasianstar.com Vol 15 - Issue 20
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NRI Marine saved 60 to 70 lives during Orlando massacre
former US Marine sergeant of people streamed to the back of the hall, Indian origin, Imran Yousuf, has “I’m screaming ‘Open the door! Open been hailed as a hero for saving scores the door!’ And no one is moving because of lives at a Florida night club when a they are scared.” “There was only one terrorist went on a rampage killing 49 choice,” he added in the interview. “Either we all stay there people. and we all die, or I When Yousuf, who was working as a could take the chance, and I jumped over to bouncer at the Pulse night club catering to open that latch and we got everyone that the gay community we can out of there.” in Orlando, Florida, Yousuf--whose mother heard the first gunshots his military and grandmother are Imran Yousuf experience fighting Hindus--risked his in Afghanistan kicked in, according to life because he could have drawn the media reports. As everyone in the packed attention of Omar Mateen, who had night club froze in fear, he jumped up sworn loyalty to the Islamic State and and at personal risk opened a back door was carrying out the attack, considered allowing many people to escape. He told the worst mass shooting in US history. CBS News television that as panicked Continued on Page 6
Overseas cash ‘obviously’ plays a role in Vancouver housing crisis: PM
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rime Minister Justin Trudeau says “obviously overseas money coming in is playing a role” in Metro Vancouver’s housing crisis. But it remains unclear what his government will do to cool down the region’s red hot real estate market. “We know that there is an awful lot of capital that left Asia in the past few years,” Trudeau said on Friday morning in Vancouver. “This reminds me of the challenges around the Hong Kong handover, where we saw in Yaletown all these new buildings come up after Expo 86, and then nobody was living
in them because they were all bought as investments and insurance around the handover.” “We are all hoping to stabilize the market,” he said. “We are on a trajectory that doesn’t have any good outcome.” But when pressed for specifics on what he could do, Trudeau said the federal government needs to move cautiously to avoid taking action that could negatively affect other regions. “We need to make sure that any action we take is not going to make the situation worse. Continued on Page 10
Saturday, June 18, 2016
South Asian man charged 6 years after Abbotsford woman murdered
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ix years after 22-year-old Mandy Johnson was shot and killed while sitting in a car in Abbotsford, police have charged two men in her slaying. Gavinder Grewal, 29, has been charged with manslaughter in Johnson's death and attempted murder in the shooting of her boyfriend, Gator Browne, who escaped the attack unharmed. Jason Himpfen, 41, has also been charged with attempted murder in relation to Browne and with second degree murder in Johnson's slaying. The shooting took place around 3 a.m. PT on July 28, 2010, in the 31100 block of Polar Avenue. Police said at the time that Browne was well known to police, and that they believed the shooting was related to the street level drug trade. RCMP said Wednesday that the investigation team has been working "tenaciously" to gather enough evidence to warrant charges. "IHIT has remained committed to obtaining justice for Mandy Johnson despite the passage of time, and we would be remiss if we did not thank the family and friends for their patience and trust in us for the past six years," RCMP Staff Sgt Jennifer Pound said Wednesday, in a statement. Continued on Page 7
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