American businessman survived 9/11, dies in Nairobi hotel terror attack

Agencies
January 18, 2019

New York, Jan 18: The American man who was among the 21 people killed in an attack on a luxury hotel complex in the Kenyan capital Nairobi was a consultant who survived the 9/11 attacks, and specialized in emerging economies.

Authorities did not formally name Jason Spindler as one of the victims, but his mother Sarah and brother Jonathan confirmed his death on Facebook and to several US media outlets.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I have to report that my brother, Jason Spindler, passed this morning during a terror attack in Nairobi,” Jonathan wrote on Facebook, in comments visible only to his friends.

“Jason was a survivor of 9-11 and a fighter. I am sure he gave them hell!”

The Nairobi attack was claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Somali group Al-Shabaab, which has targeted Kenya since it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the jihadist group.

Spindler was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the New York University law school. He spent time in the Peace Corps in Peru.

On September 11, 2001, Spindler was working for investment bank Salomon Smith Barney in the World Trade Center.

The main Twin Towers collapsed after being hit by two passenger jets commandeered by Al-Qaeda operatives.

Spindler’s building, 7 World Trade Center, collapsed in the aftermath, but none of the nearly 3,000 fatalities that day resulted from that incident.

Kevin Yu, who attended UT-Austin with Spindler, said Spindler had helped save people stuck in the rubble on 9/11.

“That’s exactly the kind of person he is,” Yu told The Washington Post.

“I have no doubt that when he heard the explosions outside the hotel, he was one of those trying to jump in and help.”

Development work

After his ordeal on 9/11, Spindler’s life changed, according to Yu.

“Something struck a nerve and changed how he felt and thought about things,” he told the Post.

After law school, Spindler co-founded consulting and investment firm I-DEV, and was working in Kenya on a mini-power grid project tailored for remote areas, according to the company’s website.

“Jason was based mainly in Nairobi, but traveled frequently to San Francisco and across Latin America, Africa, Europe,” a spokesperson for the company told AFP by email.

His mother Sarah told NBC News that her son “was trying to make positive change in the third world in emerging markets.”

“We all miss him so much. And it’s so sad that such a bright young person is taken away by terrorism,” she added.

Spindler’s Facebook account had been converted on Wednesday into a tributes page.

He would have turned 41 on Monday, Yu said. His family was planning to hold a religious service that day instead.

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News Network
May 5,2024

Karwar, May 5: What commenced as a mere exchange of words between spouses swiftly transmuted into a calamitous ordeal, resulting in the heartbreaking loss of their innocent offspring. The heart-wrenching incident unfolded in the serene confines of Halamaddy village in the picturesque expanse of Dandeli, nestled within the idyllic expanse of Uttara Kannada district.

In the throes of a fervent dispute with her spouse, the aggrieved wife, succumbing to an overwhelming surge of emotions, callously propelled their tender six-year-old progeny into the somber depths of a nearby canal, thereafter alerting the local populace to her grievous act.

Promptly apprised of the distressing occurrence by concerned bystanders, the authorities were swiftly summoned to the scene to confront the harrowing aftermath.

Responding to the distress call, the diligent officers of Dandeli rural police swiftly converged upon the site where the innocent child had been cast into the unforgiving waters of the canal, subsequently effecting the retrieval of the child's lifeless form. 

Regrettably, it was discerned that a portion of the child's remains had been tragically claimed by the lurking jaws of a predatory crocodile.

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News Network
May 4,2024

somasundar.jpg

Mangaluru, May 4: A tragic incident unfurled last evening in Subrahmanya of Kadaba taluk in Dakshina Kananda, where a young gentleman, who had recently entered the bonds of matrimony a mere ten days hence, met his untimely demise due to a lightning strike.

As twilight descended, a tempestuous thunderstorm, accompanied by billowing rain clouds, cast its shadow over the locale.

Somasundar was diligently engaged in the task of piling up dried nuts in the yard to shield them from the impending deluge, when fate cruelly intervened, subjecting him to the fatal force of a lightning bolt.

Despite the expeditious efforts to convey him to Kadaba Community Hospital subsequent to his sudden indisposition, he tragically succumbed to his injuries. 

Somasundar, who operated a car washing enterprise in proximity to Subrahmanya, is mourned by his mother, sister, and wife.

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News Network
May 7,2024

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The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Monday responded to Karnataka’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) regarding a blue corner notice issued against JDS MP Prajwal Revanna.

In its response, Interpol said that all 196 member countries were alerted to identify and report if Prajwal Revanna is spotted at any port in their jurisdiction.

The Karnataka government issued a Blue Corner Notice on Sunday against Prajwal Revanna, who is facing allegations of sexual abuse by his staff members.

A Blue Corner Notice is issued by the international police cooperation body to collect additional information from its member countries about a person’s identity, location or activities about a crime.

The notice was issued after the 33-year-old Hassan MP reportedly flew to Germany soon after the Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary wrote to the CM to order a probe into the sexual allegations against Prajwal.

Last week, the anticipatory bail application of Prajwal Revanna was also denied by Justice Santosh Gajanana Bhat’s bench of People’s Representative Court in Bengaluru.

Earlier, his MLA father and son of former Prime Minster HD Deve Gowda, HD Revanna was remanded to Karnataka SIT custody in a kidnapping-related sex scandal case.

His arrest came after the kidnapped victim was rescued from Revanna’s close assistant Rajasekhar’s farmhouse in Kalenahalli, Hunsur Taluk after the SIT conducted the rescue operation to find her, the police said.

The abduction case was filed by the son of a woman who worked at the Revannas’ house for nearly five years. He alleged that his mother was kidnapped from her home on April 29 by Satish Babanna a relative of Revanna.

The Karnataka Sex Scandal case pertains to explicit video clips allegedly involving the 33-year-old Prajwal, grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, which went viral on social media.

Those videos began to make rounds in Hassan in recent days, following which the state government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the sexual abuse allegations against the MP.

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