UNITED STATES
Families ‘victims’ of Boeing
A federal judge on Friday ruled that relatives of people killed in the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max planes are crime victims under federal law, and should have been told about private negotiations over a settlement that spared Boeing from criminal prosecution. The judge said the next step is to decide what remedies the families should receive. Some relatives are pushing to scrap the government’s settlement with Boeing, and they have expressed anger that no one in the company has been held criminally responsible. Boeing, which misled safety regulators who approved the Max, agreed to pay US$2.5 billion along with a US$243.6 million fine. The US Department of Justice agreed not to prosecute the company for conspiracy to defraud the government.
PAKISTAN
Terrorism reforms hailed
An international watchdog said on Friday that it is removing Pakistan from its so-called “gray list” of countries that do not take full measures to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, a move that was welcomed by the country’s government. “Pakistan’s significant progress in improving” its money laundering curbs and counter-terrorism policies was announced by Financial Action Task Force president Raja Kumar. Being on the Paris-based watchdog’s gray list can deter investors and creditors, hurting exports, output and consumption. It also can make global banks wary of doing business with a country.
JAPAN
Princess’ husband passes bar
The man who married a former Japanese princess has passed the New York bar exam, defying detractors back home who had criticized their romance. Kei Komuro’s name is on the list of those who passed the New York state bar exam in July, which was released on Friday. Komuro’s engagement to former Japanese princess Mako in 2017 prompted public outcry in Japan, mostly on social media and in the tabloids. Komuro, 31, has a job at a New York law firm and has been living in the city with Mako, a museum curator. She relinquished her royal status last year when she married Komuro.
INDIA
Troops die near China border
Five Indian army soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed near the country’s disputed border with China, the Indian Ministry of Defense said yesterday — the second such fatal accident in the region this month. The helicopter went down on Friday south of Tuting, a remote town near the area that divides a northeastern state from Chinese territory. A mayday call was received before the crash that suggested technical or mechanical failure, the ministry said. Four bodies had been recovered and rescuers were working to retrieve a fifth. The accident comes weeks after an Indian army pilot was killed while on a routine flight aboard a Cheetah helicopter farther east of Tuting.
ARGENTINA
Calls to ease currency curbs
The next government needs to unwind currency controls and let the exchange rate trade freely, Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta said. Larreta is seen as a likely presidential contender next year. “You’d have to see how much foreign reserves the central bank has when you take over. Today it’s practically zero.” Argentina has been conrolling currency and exchange rates, increasing bureaucracy for companies and consumers and reducing the incentive for foreign investors to bring dollars into the country.
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
NUCLEAR WARNING: Elites are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers, perhaps because they have access to shelters, Tulsi Gabbard said After a trip to Hiroshima, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday warned that “warmongers” were pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Gabbard did not specify her concerns. Gabbard posted on social media a video of grisly footage from the world’s first nuclear attack and of her staring reflectively at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. On Aug. 6, 1945, the US obliterated Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people in the explosion and by the end of the year from the uranium bomb’s effects. Three days later, a US plane dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, leaving abut 74,000 people dead by the
RSS