Indian-origin teen charged with threatening to kill Biden, Harris
Darpan News Desk IANS, 23 May, 2023 11:33 AM
ew York, May 23 (IANS) An Indian-origin teen has been charged with threatening to kill President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in order to "seize power", according to media reports quoting officials.
Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, allegedly rammed a rented truck into White House House barriers on Monday night.
ABC News said that according to police he was charged with "threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on a President, Vice President or their families".
The network reported that three law enforcement sources confirmed that Kandula told law enforcement that "he wanted to seize power, take over the government and kill the president".
Officials were also looking into the "mental health component" of the attack, it added.
Kandula may have neo-Nazi sympathies, according to media reports.
WUSA9 TV station reported that a Nazi flag was removed from the vehicle.
NBC News said that the charges of threatening to kill, kidnap or harm the President, Vice President or a relative stemmed from his statements to the Secret Service, the agency that protects the President and other VIPs.
Secret Service Spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said that shortly before 10.00 p.m., officers "detained the driver of a box truck after the vehicle collided with security barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square at 16th Street".
NBC News reported that a robot was used to examine the truck for explosives but none were found.
There were no injuries to anyone in the incident and it was not known if Biden or Harris were at the White House at that time.
Biden had held talks with Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the White House on averting a financial crisis by raising the borrowing limits for the US government to avoid a default.
Kandula, who is from Chesterfield in Missouri state, flew to Washington and rested the truck at the airport.
The Prime Minister has made it clear with officials that the unbuttoned collars and laid-back atmosphere in Downing Street both left with Boris Johnson, Daily Mail reported. During Johnson's time at No 10, he was often viewed as a scruffy dresser and his controversial chief of staff Dominic Cummings was notorious for wearing shabby outfits.
Over 1.1 million houses have been damaged and some 560,000 houses have been destroyed. Over 630,000 men, women and children are reportedly living in relief camps across Pakistan, most of them in Sindh. Many more displaced people are living with host communities.
The two victims of the fire appeared to be attempting to flee before being overcome by the blaze, officials said in a media briefing Tuesday morning. Due to the blaze, all schools in Hemet Unified School District will be closed on Tuesday. School district officials said in a statement that the decision "was not made lightly."
Truss had shared the same photo on Instagram and Twitter to mark Canada Day in 2018. "30 years ago, I spent a year in Canada that changed my outlook on life," wrote Truss, who included the hashtags "CanadaDay," "maplespirit" and "pioneercountry."
The Guardian newspaper maintained Truss will pack her cabinet with loyalists and there was unlikely to be any place in it for her defeated opponent in the 8-week race for the premiership Rishi Sunak, who is of Indian extraction. It reported that Kwasi Kwarteng could replace him as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Meanwhile, Sunak extended his 'full support' to Truss.
The most affected province is Sindh, followed by Balochistan. As of August 25, more than 33 million people have been affected and over 6.4 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 421,000 refugees, the WHO report highlighted.
