CHINA
Rocket launch fails
The first attempt by a private company to send a rocket into space has failed. Beijing-based Landscape late on Saturday said that the first and second stage of its ZQ-1 rocket worked normally, but something went wrong with the final stage. It was the first three-stage rocket built by a private company in the nation. Video posted by a news site showed the 19m-tall red-and-white rocket lifting off against clear blue skies. Landscape said that “cowling separation was normal, but something abnormal happened after the second stage.”
PAKISTAN
Indian TV ban renewed
The nation’s top court has reinstated a ban on the broadcast of Indian TV content following a petition from local producers. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar announced the verdict on Saturday, overturning a lower court’s ruling last year that had lifted the 2016 ban on airing Indian content on TV or FM radio. The regulatory body for electronic media said that Saturday’s order was implemented immediately. Earlier this year, India banned performances by Pakistani artists, while some Indian stations have stopped airing Pakistani content. Indian producers have called for a comprehensive ban on Pakistani content.
CAMEROON
Election protesters arrested
Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji said that anti-riot police have arrested at least two dozen people who on Saturday staged peaceful protests against the re-election of President Paul Biya. Nji said that among those arrested was a lawyer who represented opposition candidate Maurice Kamto, who said he won the Oct. 7 election. Nji said the government would not tolerate acts to undermine national security as it prepares to inaugurate 85-year-old Biya for his seventh term in the next week or so.
AUSTRALIA
Police rescue kangaroo
A kangaroo that hopped into the sea for a dip at a Melbourne beach was rescued by police, officers said yesterday. Officers said they were called to Safety Beach in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon amid reports that the animal was struggling in the water. When they arrived, the kangaroo had already made its way back onto dry land and was on the sand covered with a blanket by a beachgoer. However, as they approached, it suddenly turned around and bounded back into the waves. “It began to swim, but got into difficulty in the swell and breaking waves and went under water a couple of times,” Victoria Police said in a statement. Two officers jumped into the water and brought the marsupial, by now unconscious, back to a grassy area and resuscitate it using compressions, they said.
ROMANIA
Earthquake shakes capital
An magnitude 5.8 earthquake rattled central and eastern Romania early yesterday and was also felt in Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria. No significant damage was reported. The temblor, which lasted several seconds, occurred at 3:38am in the eastern region of Vrancea at a depth of 150km, the National Earth Physics Institute said. The quake woke residents in the capital, Bucharest, and elsewhere. Bucharest Ambulance Service spokeswoman Alice Grasu said a dozen or so residents telephoned immediately after the quake reporting panic attacks. Electricity was temporarily downed in an area near the epicenter northeast of Bucharest. There were reports of pictures and plaster falling off walls in the capital.
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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