PARAMARIBO – Despite the fact that new rules regarding the airport fee were recently implemented to boost income for Airport Management, reports indicate that this money is not being handed over to Airport Management by the national carrier, Surinam Airways (SLM). An aviation expert explained that the SLM receives the airport fee but fails to hand it over to Airport Management. It is mandatory for all of the other airlines to hand over the airport fee to Airport Management. Whenever a person arrives at the airport to get on a plane, he or she has to pay the airport tax of USD 65. As of August 15th, USD 53 must be handed over to Airport Management to pay for the security fee and the passenger service fee. But despite the introduction of new rules, the authorities still have not managed to compel the SLM to hand over the money to Airport Management. Most of the passengers opt for the SLM which also means that most of the airport taxes end up and stay in the hands of the SLM. Airport Management is in charge of running the departure hall at the Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport which is why it needs the airport tax to finance its daily operations…[+]

LOS ANGELES – Tom Cruise pulled off an impressive stunt at the Paris Olympics closing ceremony for which he was compensated by… thrill? According to Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Cruise was all for his jump from the Stade du France to accept the official Olympic flag from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Olympian Simone Biles.

The Mission Impossible star then cruised (no pun intended) through the streets of Paris on his motorcycle to board a plane near the Eiffel Tower before reappearing for a skydive into the area near the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles in a pre-recorded segment.

“The backstory is that we realized we were producing a 15-minute live TV show, and so I hired who I think is the best person in the world to do that,” Wasserman said during the recent CNBC X Boardroom panel, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Wasserman said Cruise insisted on doing all the stunts himself.

“We’re like, well there’s no way were’s getting this. We’re going to get four hours of filming time,” Wasserman said. “We’ll do the thing that the LA with the Hollywood sign, he’ll hand the thing off and done. Maybe we’ll get the other stuff and the rest will be just a stunt double. About five minutes into the presentation [Tom Cruise] goes ‘I’m in. But I’m only doing it if I get to do everything.” Cruise not only did it all, but Wasserman said the actor did it for free. (CNN)…[+]

NEW YORK – Justin Timberlake is expected to enter a plea in a driving while intoxicated case related to his June arrest in Sag Harbor, New York, according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.

Timberlake will appear at a hearing this Friday, marking the singer’s first return to the Hamptons enclave since his arrest. The singer pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving while intoxicated last month, through a virtual court appearance, where the judge suspended his license. Timberlake will plead to a lesser charge, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors would not comment further on the details of the plea deal.

CNN has reached out to Timberlake’s publicist. His attorney, Edward Burke, declined to comment. At the time of his arrest in June, police said Timberlake, 43, was observed driving a 2025 BMW “in an intoxicated condition.” He allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign and also failed to maintain in his lane of travel, according to a statement from Sag Harbor Police. He was described by an officer as “unable to divide attention” and performing poorly on “standardized field sobriety tests.”

Timberlake told police he “had one martini and I followed my friends home,” according to court records. At a hearing in late July, Timberlake’s attorney disputed that the performer was intoxicated, arguing he should not have been arrested. “The police made a number of very significant errors in this case,” Burke said at the time. Timberlake has been performing on tour for much of the summer, promoting his most recent album, “Everything I Thought It Was.” (CNN)…[+]

MALAYSIA – Malaysian authorities on Wednesday rescued 402 children and arrested 171 suspects after raiding 20 welfare homes linked to an Islamic business group, in which children were exploited and sexually abused, the national police chief said.

Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain said the raids were conducted after investigations into allegations of child abandonment, deviant teachings and sexual assault at the homes, run by the Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings.

Some 201 boys and 201 girls, aged between 1 to 17 years, were rescued from 18 homes in central Selangor state and two in southern Negeri Sembilan state, he said. The 171 suspects — 66 men and 105 women — included religious teachers and caretakers, he said.

Children were sexually abused not only by the caretakers but were also forced to do the same to each other at the facilities, Razarudin said in a televised news conference. “Those who were sick were not allowed to seek medical attention until their condition became critical,” he said. Some young children were also burnt with a hot spoon when they made mistakes, and caretakers had touched the children’s bodies as if to conduct medical checks, he said.

Police believed that Global Ikhwan exploited the children and used religious sentiments to collect donations, he said. Investigations showed that the children at the welfare homes belonged to members of the Global Ikhwan group, placed by their parents at the homes since they were infants, he said. The children would undergo medical assessment amid ongoing investigations, he added.

According to its website, Global Ikhwan was founded by Ashaari Mohamad, who headed the Islamic sect Al Arqam which was deemed heretical and banned by the government in 1994. It said the group had undergone a series of rebranding since Ashaari died in 2010. The group recently also came under the radar of Islamic authorities amid claims that it was still involved with the deviant teachings of the Al-Arqam sect.

Global Ikhwan, in a statement Wednesday, denied allegations that it exploited children and said that it would cooperate with authorities. But it made no mention of allegations of sexual abuse against them. “The company will not compromise with any activity that goes against the law, particularly regarding the exploitation of children as workers,” the statement said. (CNN)…[+]