Police: Members of a family bombed Indonesian churches

Police: Members of a family bombed Indonesian churches

SURABAYA, Indonesia

Coordinated suicide bombings carried out by members of the same family struck three churches in Indonesia’s second-largest city Sunday, police said, as the world’s most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of its worst attacks since the 2002 Bali bombings.

At least seven people died at the churches in Surabaya along with the six family members, the youngest of whom were girls aged 9 and 12, according to police. Another 41 people were injured.

Indonesia’s president condemned the attacks as “barbaric.”

National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father detonated a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother and her two daughters wore explosives.

Cleric al-Sadr leads in early vote results

Iraq’s electoral commission says influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s alliance is the early front-runner in national elections, with official results in from just over half of the country’s provinces.

The announcement Sunday night comes a day after polls closed across Iraq. The results are from 10 of the country’s 19 provinces, including Baghdad and Basra.

An alliance of candidates with close ties to Iraq’s powerful Shiite paramilitary groups are in a close second while Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has performed poorly across majority Shiite provinces that should have been his base of support.

Iraq’s election commission says the results of the first national vote since declaring victory over the Islamic State group are expected within two days.

Ex-Chipotle manager gets $8 million for wrongful termination

FRESNO, Calif.

A California jury has awarded nearly $8 million dollars to the former manager of a Chipotle Mexican Grill for wrongful termination.

Jeanette Ortiz was accused in 2015 of stealing $626 in cash from a safe at the restaurant in Fresno. Her bosses claimed the theft was recorded on surveillance video, but when Ortiz asked to see the evidence she was told it had been destroyed.

Ortiz fired a wrongful termination suit. The Fresno Bee reports that last week jurors ordered Chipotle to pay her $7.97 million in damages.

The panel ruled Ortiz was a victim of a scheme to defame her for filing a worker’s compensation claim for a job-related injury to her wrist.

Man survives fall from balcony of Las Vegas hotel

LAS VEGAS

Police in Las Vegas say a 20-year-old man survived a fall from a fourth-story balcony inside of a casino-hotel on the Strip.

They say the man either jumped or fell from the balcony around 9:30 p.m. Saturday inside of the Luxor.

Police tell the Las Vegas Review-Journal that some of the decorations broke the man’s fall, and he suffered only minor injuries.

They say alcohol played a role in the incident.

The man was taken to a hospital for treatment. Authorities did not release his name.

Associated Press