PERU
PM pledges free markets
Prime Minister Anibal Torres on Wednesday pledged to pursue free-market policies in his first public remarks a day after a new Cabinet was formed by President Pedro Castillo. Torres also told a government news conference that the administration would promote a strong government that can prevent monopolies and other concentrations of economic power. “Our policy is the free market, free economic enterprise, free business, but with the participation of the state to control monopolies, oligopolies and [other] dominant positions,” Torres said.
UNITED STATES
Soup gaffe draws ridicule
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday found herself the object of online ridicule after accusing Democratic leaders of “gazpacho” tactics on Capitol Hill, apparently conflating Nazi secret police with the Spanish soup. In an appearance on Tuesday on One America News, Greene described the Washington jail housing Capitol riot suspects as a “DC Gulag,” and denounced House of Representatives Speaker “Nancy Pelosi’s gazpacho police spying on members of Congress.” Greene later offered some self-mockery. “No soup for those who illegally spy on Members of Congress, but they will be thrown in the goulash,” she wrote on Twitter.
UNITED STATES
Assassin seeker sentenced
A Louisiana man has received the maximum 10-year sentence for trying to hire an assassin to kill his ex-wife while he was jailed on charges of sexually assaulting her two young daughters. District Judge Terry Doughty on Tuesday sentenced Steven Marcus Kelley, 48, of West Monroe, on a charge of using the mail to commission a murder for hire in December 2019. Kelley was in the Ouachita Parish jail awaiting trial on charges involving the rape and molestation of the girls, aged eight and 12, prosecutors said in October last year. Another inmate had recommended the person whom Kelley offered US$10,000 to shoot his ex-wife, prosecutors said. The person who had been recommended by the inmate brought the letter to police the morning after it arrived, they said.
UNITED STATES
Saget’s death explained
Bob Saget’s death last month stemmed from an accidental blow to the head, his family said in a statement on Wednesday. The comedian and Full House star was found dead on Jan. 9 in a Florida hotel room. He had performed in the area the night before as part of a stand-up tour. “The authorities have determined that Bob passed from head trauma,” the Saget family said. “They have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep. No drugs or alcohol were involved.”
UNITED STATES
Betty Davis dies
Pioneering funk singer, model and songwriter Betty Davis, who was credited with inspiring then-husband Miles Davis’ landmark fusion of jazz and more contemporary sounds, has died. She was 77. Davis died on Wednesday after a brief illness, said Danielle Maggio, a singer, adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh and associate producer of the 2017 documentary Betty: They Say I’m Different. Davis was the rare woman to make funk albums in the 1970s. “The reach of her influence & sonic lineage is immense,” author and critic Hanif Abdurraqib wrote on Twitter. “You’ve heard her, even if you think you’ve never heard her. I’m glad we got her at all.”
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
RSS