Tag: Florida

  • 14 sets of twins and one set of triplets graduate from same high school

    14 sets of twins and one set of triplets graduate from same high school

    Fourteen sets of twins and one set of triplets graduated from Cooper City High School in Cooper City, Florida, on June 5.

    The group comprised about 6 percent of the 543 graduates.

    The school’s principal took the momentous occasion to state, “It was very special as they would come across the stage; I would shake their hand and give one a diploma, and then the second one would come over to do the same thing.”

    “It kind of just symbolized they’re their own person, but also, they have been together all these years as twins,” she adds.

    Gabrielle and Jocelyn Reed are one such set of identical twins.

    The sisters have attended school together since pre-K. Come August, they will go their separate ways for college.

    Gabrielle is headed to Cornell University, while Jocelyn will attend Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

    “Everywhere I go, I’m lumped together with her and not really seen as my own person, so I’m really excited to be able to have my own experiences,” Gabrielle told TODAY.com.

    Broward County Public Schools believes the graduates have set a county record as most sets of twins to simultaneously graduate from one school.

    Students even created a slogan to remember their unique graduating class: “Twice as nice and triple the fun.”

  • Karachi gangster, US spy Kamran Faridi, freed from American jail on condition of deportation

    Karachi gangster, US spy Kamran Faridi, freed from American jail on condition of deportation

    Kam­ran Faridi, a former gangster from Karachi, later serving as a high-profile agent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has been released after serving nearly four years of his seven-year sentence in a Florida prison.

    Faridi was sentenced to 84 months of imprisonment on his convictions for “transmitting threats in interstate commerce, threatening to assault a federal officer, and obstruction of justice,” on December 9, 2022.

    On March 18, 2024, a New York federal judge, reduced the sentence of Kamran Faridi to 72 months.

    Faridi was recently released on some conditions which most prominently include surrendering his US citizenship and agreeing to leave the United States permanently before August.

    Faridi, now 60, grew up in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Karachi. He was affiliated with the Peoples Students Federation (PSF), and was a close associate of PSF leader Najeeb Ahmed, who was assassinated in 1990.

    His family sent him to Sweden after he was found involved in several violent acts.

    Faridi migrated to the US in 1991, and within four years, he purchased a gas station in Atlanta, Georgia. There he met some FBI agents who were impressed with his proficiency in Urdu, Pun­jabi, Hindi, and Spanish. In 1996, they formally recruited him as a full-time informant and agent, according to Dawn.

    Faridi’s journey from a street hustler to FBI agent came to light when he played a pivotal role in the arrest of a Karachi businessman Jabir Motiwala in London in 2018. He orchestrated a plot, posed as a Russian mafia operative, to trap Motiwala in illegal activities. However, a rift developed between Faridi and his FBI handlers when he threatened to expose their manipulation of evidence against Motiwala. This led to the end of his career and he was arrested by Scotland Yard shortly afterwards.

    In a report by Geo News, Murtaza Ali Shah explains the extraordinary journey of the Pakistani-origin FBI agent, whose residence permits in UAE and Turkey, issued by FBI have been revoked and he is released only on the condition of never coming back to the US.

  • Video: Man kicked off from flight for wearing women’s underwear as face mask

    Video: Man kicked off from flight for wearing women’s underwear as face mask

    A Florida man was kicked off of an United Airlines flight earlier this month for wearing women’s underwear over his nose and mouth instead of a mask.

    “The customer clearly wasn’t in compliance with the federal mask mandate and we appreciate that our team addressed the issue on the ground prior to takeoff, avoiding any potential disruptions on the air,” the United Airlines said in a statement.

    In a video that is being widely shared on social media the flight attendant can be heard saying, “You’re going to have to come off the airplane. We’re not going to let you travel,” said a flight attendant in a cell phone video recorded by a passenger.

    “Why?” responds the man.

    “You’re not in mask compliance,” says the attendant in the video.

    The man while talking to a media outlet said that he believes his underwear mask followed the guidelines of the airline regarding the masks. However, he also said this isn’t the first flight he’s been kicked off of for this.

  • Diner leaves $10,000 tip to reward employees’ services

    A man left a tip of $10,000 (Rs 1,653,433) at a restaurant in the American state of Florida to reward restaurant workers for their hard work.

    “On Tuesday night, a customer asked our entire restaurant staff to come to the dining area. He thanked them for showing up and working hard,” the restaurant stated in a social media post.
    ⠀
    “Then something incredible happened. He told them he was giving them $1,000 each. Our staff couldn’t believe it,” the statement added.

    Wahoo Seafood Grill’s owner, Shawn Shepherd said, “I’m not usually an emotional guy, but this really got me. I’m blown away. We’re ALL blown away by his generosity.”
    ⠀
    “The last year and a half hasn’t been easy on this industry. We’re hurting and we’re exhausted, but this incredible act of kindness has restored our faith in humanity.”

  • ‘Avengers: Endgame’ fan breaks world record by watching the film 191 times in cinemas

    ‘Avengers: Endgame’ fan breaks world record by watching the film 191 times in cinemas

    Iron Man may have finally defeated Thanos with one consequential snap in Avengers: Endgame, but a fan snapped a worldwide record of his own recently.

    Marvel superfan Ramiro Alanis, a Florida-based personal trainer, officially holds the Guinness World Record for watching Avengers: Endgame 191 times in cinemas – the most times anyone has watched the film.

    As per details, Alanis completed the feat on July 29, 2019, according to the certificate he received, just over three months after the movie hit theatres on April 26, 2019.

    Alanis watched the movie 191 times in 94 days, averaging out to just over two screenings per day to get to the record.

    The commitment took a lot out of Alanis.

    Speaking to Guinness, the trainer said: “The most difficult part about this attempt was giving up my social life with my family, the gym (I lost 16 pounds of muscle) and managing my work hours and screening times at the theatres.”

    It was all worth it when he received the official email confirmation, with Alanis saying tears flooded his eyes.

    He said he couldn’t have done it without “the support I got from family, friends, managers and staff from the theaters I visited” as well as the fellow Marvel fans cheering his journey on social media.