UNITED STATES
Four die in helicopter crash
The navy on Tuesday said that four people died in the crash of a contractor’s helicopter on the Hawaii island of Kauai. The Pacific Missile Range Facility said the aircraft crashed on the north side of the installation shortly after 10am. There were no survivors. The names of those killed were not yet available, it said. The helicopter was being flown by Croman Corp in support of a training operation, the missile range facility said in a news release. The National Transportation Safety Board said on Twitter that the agency is investigating the crash of the Sikorsky S-61N helicopter. The Sikorsky S-61N was built between 1959 and 1980 by Sikorsky Aircraft, which is now part of Lockheed Martin. It was designed to carry a substantial freight or passenger payload.
ECUADOR
Prisoners to be pardoned
President Guillermo Lasso on Tuesday announced that about 5,000 prisoners would be pardoned to reduce overcrowding in the country’s prisons, which were hit with riots that left more than 320 inmates dead last year. “I hope that at least 5,000 people deprived of their freedom will be released,” the president told reporters. He said he aimed “to end overcrowding by the end of the year and thus have a much more favorable environment for security and for social rehabilitation inside the prisons.” The country’s 65 prisons have capacity for 30,000 inmates, but house about 39,000, equivalent to 30 percent overcrowding.
UGANDA
Author arrives in Germany
An award-winning Ugandan author who fled the country after being charged with insulting President Yoweri Museveni and his son has arrived in Germany to seek medical treatment after being “tortured” in jail, his lawyer said yesterday. “He arrived in Germany this morning,” Eron Kiiza, the lawyer for Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, told reporters, describing the news as “a big relief.” The novelist was detained shortly after Christmas and later charged with “offensive communication.”
TONGA
Web connection restored
The country’s main Internet connection to the rest of the world has finally been restored more than five weeks after a huge volcanic eruption and tsunami severed a crucial undersea cable. Three people were killed by the Jan. 15 tsunami, dozens of homes were destroyed and drinking water was tainted. The fiber-optic cable is now fully operational again after being reconnected on Tuesday, said Samiuela Fonua, chairperson of Tonga Cable Ltd, the state-owned company that owns the cable. “It’s a huge relief when you know things have come to the end and are working well,” Fonua said.
UNITED STATES
Oscar awards slimmed down
To combat slumping ratings, the Academy Awards are undergoing a radical slimming down, with eight awards to be presented off-air during next month’s telecast. In a letter sent on Tuesday to members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the group’s president, David Rubin, said that the awards for film editing, production design, sound, makeup and hairstyling, music (original score) and the three short film awards for documentary, live-action and animated short would be presented at the ceremony before the live broadcast begins on ABC. Instead of starting the ceremony and broadcast all at once, the Dolby Theatre ceremony is to begin an hour before the telecast does.
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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