AUSTRALIA
Watchdog pans airline tie-up
The nation’s competition watchdog yesterday said it was leaning toward blocking a tie-up between Qantas Airways and China Eastern Airlines because it could increase fares on the popular Sydney-Shanghai route. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a draft decision to deny authorization for Qantas and China Eastern to coordinate their operations between Australia and China under an agreement proposed in November last year. The watchdog said in a statement that the tie-up could result in “significant public detriment” by giving Qantas and China Eastern increased ability and incentive to limit capacity and increase airfares on the Sydney-Shanghai route. Commission chairman Rod Sims said the regulator understands the commercial reasons for the alliance, as Qantas wants to establish a gateway to northeast Asia, but is concerned the two airlines have chosen to do so with their main competitor on the route.
MYANMAR
Police reject monks’ lawsuit
Police in the northwest have rejected a lawsuit filed by two Buddhist monks against the nation’s Minister of Home Affairs Ko Ko and national police chief Police Major General Zaw Win, saying that they are protected by law. In declining to accept a first information report, which is needed for a lawsuit to proceed, police officials said no lawsuit can be brought against any officer who carries out acts in good faith. Human rights lawyer Aung Thein yesterday said that the two Buddhist monks, among scores seriously burned during a 2012 police crackdown on protests at a Chinese-backed copper mine, registered the first information report at the Hsalingyi police station. Aung Thein, who works with the Justice Trust, said a letter was also sent to Burmese President Thein Sein asking that the lawsuit proceed against government ministers. He said the purpose of the lawsuit was “to fight for justice and to highlight human rights violations and the lack of rule of law in Myanmar.”
ALGERIA
Threat spurs evacuation
Authorities temporarily evacuated about 100 Turkish construction workers from a roadway project east of Algiers as a precaution after a threat from militants affiliated with the Islamic State group, security sources said on Monday. The measure underscores growing concern over militant attacks in North Africa following last week’s National Bardo Museum massacre of foreign tourists in Tunisia and the Islamic State group’s growing presence in neighboring Libya. The Turkish workers were evacuated for 24 hours as a “preventative measure,” but returned to the Kabilye region east of the capital on Monday. A French tourist was kidnapped and beheaded in the area by Islamic State extremists last year.
RUSSIA
Human rights group fined
A Moscow court on Monday fined the prominent Sakharov Centre, a human rights group seeking to preserve the legacy of a Nobel Prize-winning Soviet-era dissident, for failing to declare itself as a “foreign agent.” The organization was slapped with a 300,000 ruble (US$5,100) fine for not registering under a controversial law signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2012 as part of a broader crackdown on rights activism. The law forces non-governmental groups who receive funding from abroad and carry out political activities to use the “foreign agent” tag on all their paperwork and to undergo more intrusive checks.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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