CBS News
Suburban D.C. man charged with murder 4 months after his wife’s disappearance
A Virginia man has been charged with murder more than four months after his wife disappeared and a substantial amount of blood was found in their suburban Washington home, authorities announced Monday.
Naresh Bhatt, 37, was indicted by a Prince William County grand jury and faces a charge of murder as well as a count of defiling a dead body, according to online court documents.
The body of Mamta Bhatt, 28, has not been found. But investigators linked her DNA to the blood found in the couple’s home, Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo said Monday evening at a news conference.
“From the beginning, we believed that she was murdered,” Lugo told reporters.
Investigators conducted their first search warrant when Naresh Bhatt was home with the couple’s baby and discovered blood in the bedroom as well as the bathroom, Lugo said.
He added that evidence shows that Bhatt cut up his wife’s body, which prompted the defiling charge.
“I feel we have a strong case for not having the body,” Lugo said.
Police also said that his conflicting statements, to police, the media and the public raised red flags, CBS affiliate WUSA-TV reported.
“We stood back and listened and that was one of the things. We try to see what he was saying to the public and that’s not what he was telling us was going on,” said Chief Lugo.
Chief Public Defender Tracey Lenox did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment on the new charges against Bhatt, who is already in jail awaiting trial on separate charges in the case.
The investigation has drawn international attention to the small northern Virginia community, where homicide cases are rare. The disappearance of Mamta Bhatt, a pediatric nurse, spurred community members and her family in Nepal to band together to try to figure out what happened.
They posted on social media, hosted community events and held a rally. Within days, community members began to apply public pressure on her husband.
Three weeks after her disappearance in late July, Naresh Bhatt was charged with a felony count of concealing a dead body and placed in jail, where he remains. A prosecutor had said in court over the summer that the amount of blood found in the home indicated injuries that were not survivable.
Olivia Diaz / AP
The investigation continued in Mamta Bhatt’s death. But in September, Lenox, the public defender, argued that Naresh Bhatt was still entitled to a speedy trial on the count of concealing a dead body. The trial on that charge was scheduled for next week.
Bodiless murder cases are not unheard of, according to law enforcement experts. And while they can still be difficult to prosecute, they’ve become easier in recent years because of new types of evidence, such as DNA, cellphone location information and surveillance cameras.
Tad DiBiase is a former federal prosecutor and author of the 2014 book, “No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting and Winning Cases When the Victim is Missing.”
He keeps a tally of bodiless murder trials on his website. As of September 2, DiBiase noted that there was an 87% conviction rate after 604 trials across the U.S.
“Searches ─ we’ve done over 10. We’ve done grid searches ─ searches with K9s,” Lugo previously told WUSA-TV. “In terms of search warrants and subpoenas, I think we’re pushing probably 30 that we have submitted and received information on.”
A Palestinian health official said at least 21 people were killed Wednesday by an Israeli strike on a camp housing displaced people in Gaza. A spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense agency said five children were killed in the strike.
Atif Al-Hout, the director of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, said at least 28 people were wounded.
The Israeli military said its aircraft struck senior Hamas militants involved in terrorist activities in the area. The military said that the strike had set off secondary explosions, indicating explosives present in the area were set off. It was not possible to independently confirm the Israeli claims, and the strike could also have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp.
At least 15 bodies arrived at the hospital, but reaching a precise number was difficult because many of the dead were dismembered and some were badly burned.
The strike hit in the Muwasi area, a sprawling coastal camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people near Khan Younis. It came after Israeli forces struck targets in other areas of the Palestinian enclave. Earlier strikes on central Gaza killed eight people, including four children.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images
Israel’s war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,500 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to position tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.
contributed to this report.
Considering a move abroad? Or being asked to relocate for work? A new ranking of international cities’ quality of life sheds light on which global locales offer the greatest appeal for expats.
A new Quality of Living City Ranking from global consulting firm Mercer lists more than 240 cities across five continents in order of their quality-of-life ratings. The report took into account living standards, cultural environment, housing, infrastructure, air quality and other features that can make a city either an attractive or uninspiring place to live.
Zurich, Switzerland, a global financial hub known for its exceptional public services, safety and vibrant cultural scene, took the top spot. Vienna, Austria, placed second, while Geneva, Switzerland, came in third.
One factor that helped propel Zurich to the top of the list is that it recently improved its airport connections, making it a practical home base for people looking to travel to or from other continents.
Of the top 10 cities, eight are located in Europe. Auckland, New Zealand, ranked fifth, while Vancouver, British Columbia, ranked seventh. Singapore was the only Asian city in the top 50, according to Mercer.
“In an era of digital nomads and flexible working, countries and cities are consistently working to attract international businesses, talent and remote workers,” Mercer said in a statement. “The most successful destinations today are those that blend flexible governance around mobile talent with a high quality of life and an affordable cost of living.”
Here are the best and worst cities for international workforces. Click here to view the full ranking.
10 best
1. Zurich, Switzerland
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Copenhagen, Denmark
5. Auckland, New Zealand
6. Amsterdam, Netherlands
7. Frankfurt, Germany (tie)
7. Vancouver, Canada (tie)
9. Bern, Switzerland
10. Basel, Switzerland
10 worst
- (241) Khartoum, Sudan
- (240) Baghdad, Iraq
- (239) Bangui, Central African Republic
- (238) Sanaa, Yemen
- (237) Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
- (236) N’djamena, Chad
- (235) Damascus, Syria
- (234) Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
- (233) Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- (232) Tripoli, Libya
CBS News
French lawmakers pass no-confidence vote, ousting prime minister and deepening economic uncertainty
France’s far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined together to vote Wednesday a no-confidence motion prompted by budget disputes that forces Prime Minister Michel Barnier to resign.
The National Assembly approved the motion by 331 votes. A minimum of 288 were needed.
President Emmanuel Macron insisted he will serve the rest of his term until 2027. However, he will need to appoint a new prime minister for the second time after July’s legislative elections led to a deeply divided parliament.
Macron had turned to Barnier in September to navigate the impasse and address France’s soaring deficit. Yet Barnier’s proposed austerity budget — slashing 40 billion euros ($42 billion) in spending and raising taxes by 20 billion euros — has only deepened divisions, inflaming tensions in the lower house and triggering this dramatic political confrontation.
Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Barnier on Monday invoked a rarely used constitutional mechanism to push through the contentious 2025 budget without parliamentary approval, arguing it was essential to maintain “stability” amid deep political divisions.
The use of the constitutional tool, called Article 49.3, allows the government to pass legislation without a parliamentary vote but leaves it exposed to no-confidence motions. Opposition leaders argue that Barnier’s concessions, including scrapping an electricity tax hike, do not go far enough to address their concerns. The far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused Barnier of ignoring her party’s demands.
“Everyone must shoulder their responsibilities,” she said.
The political standoff has unsettled financial markets, with borrowing costs rising sharply amid fears of prolonged instability. Barnier warned of “serious turbulence” if the budget isn’t passed, but critics dismissed his remarks as fear-mongering.
Israeli strike on Gaza tent camp housing displaced people kills at least 21, hospital says
Why is this European city ranked the No. 1 place in the world for expats?
French lawmakers pass no-confidence vote, ousting prime minister and deepening economic uncertainty
Israeli strike on Gaza tent camp housing displaced people kills at least 21, hospital says
Why is this European city ranked the No. 1 place in the world for expats?