UNITED STATES
Harry Dean Stanton dies
Harry Dean Stanton, whose grizzled looks and acclaimed acting talent earned him a prolific Hollywood career playing mainly supporting roles, on Friday died at a Los Angeles hospital at 91. He “passed away from natural causes” at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said his agent, John Kelly. Despite more than 150 television and film appearances spanning six decades, including roles in Alien, The Green Mile, Pretty In Pink and The Avengers, Stanton was not a household name. One of his rare leading roles came in the 1984 road movie Paris, Texas.
ECUADOR
President says Correa spied
President Lenin Moreno on Friday said his predecessor planted a hidden video camera in his office so that he could spy on him remotely. In a televised appearance from Guayaquil, he said the camera had been monitored remotely by former president Rafael Correa on his cellphone. He did not explain or provide any evidence to back the accusation. Moreno said the camera was even more perplexing, because every day at 8am his security detail checks his office for bugs, meaning it would have been activated remotely after the daily scan was performed.
UNITED STATES
Boy made to stand for pledge
A Detroit-area teacher is on leave after an 11-year-old boy said he was physically forced out of his chair during the pledge of allegiance. Stone Chaney, a sixth-grader, said he makes a pledge to God and family — not a flag — and has skipped participation since second grade. “I told the lady that I don’t stand for the pledge and she just kind of glared at me... I was confused when it happened because I didn’t know what was going on and then I was irritated, because that’s not supposed to happen,” Stone said. He said another teacher the next day yelled at him to stand up. Superintendent George Heitsch said one teacher has been placed on leave while the district investigates.
UNITED STATES
Foie gras ban reinstated
A US court in California on Friday reinstated a ban on foie gras in a move celebrated by animal rights advocates, who have long opposed the controversial French delicacy made by force-feeding ducks and geese. The decision reverses a ruling in 2015, which said that a statewide ban on the food was superseded by federal law. California’s legislature had voted on its ban in 2004 with an eight-year grace period — after which any restaurant caught selling the product risked a fine of US$1,000. Friday’s judgement will not go into effect until the completion of an appeals process.
UNITED STATES
Slender Man girl mentally ill
A Wisconsin girl who admitted to participating in the stabbing of a classmate to please horror character Slender Man is to avoid prison after a jury determined that she was mentally ill at the time of the attack. Anissa Weier trembled as the jury’s verdict was read late on Friday after a week of testimony and about 11 hours of deliberations. Weier and Morgan Geyser lured classmate Payton Leutner into the woods at a park in Waukesha, a Milwaukee suburb, in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier urged her on, investigators said. A passing bicyclist found Leutner, who barely survived her wounds. All three girls were 12 at the time. Both Weier and Geyser told detectives they felt they had to kill Leutner to become Slender Man’s “proxies” and protect their families from the demon’s wrath.
PAKISTAN
Blasphemer ordered to death
A Christian man has been sentenced to death on blasphemy charges by a court in eastern Pakistan after a close friend accused him of sharing anti-Islamic material, the defendant’s lawyer said on Friday. Blasphemy is a criminal offense in Muslim-majority Pakistan, and insults against the Prophet Mohammed are punishable by death. Most cases are filed against members of minority communities. Nadeem James, 35, was arrested in July last year, accused by a friend of sharing material ridiculing the Prophet Mohammed on WhatsApp.
BANGLADESH
Myanmar violate airspace
Authorities have summoned the Burmese envoy to protest what they say were violations of their airspace amid an exodus of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in western Myanmar. The Burmese presidential spokesman yesterday said there is no evidence of any trespassing and that Dhaka should have reached out to discuss its concerns instead of issuing public statements. The Bangladeshi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday said that Myanmar drones and helicopters flew into Bangladeshi airspace on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday last week. Bangladesh warned that the “provocative acts” could lead to consequences.
CHINA
‘Coercive measures’ ordered
The government has ordered 31 people to be placed under “coercive measures” for a collapse last year at a construction site that killed 73 people, the state news agency reported yesterday. Coercive measures are a form of detention that can range from constant surveillance to outright arrest. It is often used against people accused of endangering national security. The punishment follows the collapse in November last year of a platform being built for a cooling tower at a power plant in southern China, killing 73 people, injuring two more and causing losses of US$15.6 million, a government report said.
VIETNAM
Typhoon repairs begin
Shaken residents were piecing their homes and businesses back together yesterday after a powerful typhoon hammered large swathes of coast and killed at least four people. Typhoon Doksuri tore through the nation on Friday afternoon, reducing structures to piles of debris and knocking out electricity and telecommunications in several provinces, in one of the worst storms to hit the country in years. Residents yesterday woke up to the widespread destruction in normally idyllic coastal communities.
THE VATICAN
Diplomat recalled from US
The Vatican has recalled a priest serving as an envoy in Washington and opened a child pornography investigation after US officials asked the church to lift his diplomatic immunity. The Vatican said on Friday that US officials complained in August “of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See.” A US Department of State official said that the diplomat in question had been allowed to leave the US because he enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution. “The United States formally requested that the Nunciature waive diplomatic immunity for the individual, but the Nunciature declined to do so,” the official said, on condition of anonymity. Neither the church nor US officials named the priest — one of four assigned to the Apostolic Nunciature, the Vatican embassy in Washington — but the Vatican said an investigation is under way.
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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