IRAN
Filmmakers arrested
Authorities arrested award-winning filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and his colleague Mostafa Aleahmad for “inciting unrest” following protests related to the deadly collapse of a building in May, state media reported on Friday. “In the midst of the heart-breaking incident in Abadan’s Metropol, [the filmmakers] were involved in inciting unrest and disrupting the psychological security of society,” IRNA said. The 10-story Metropol building, which was under construction in southwestern Khuzestan Province, collapsed on May 23, killing 43 people and sparking angry protests in solidarity with victims’ families. A group of filmmakers led by Rasoulof published an open letter calling on the security forces to “lay down their arms” in the face of outrage over the “corruption, theft, inefficiency and repression” surrounding the Abadan collapse.
FRANCE
Blaze burns 600 hectares
More than 900 firefighters backed by aircraft were on Friday deployed to battle a massive blaze in the southern Gard region that burned 600 hectares overnight. “This fire is far from being done. There are fronts in hard-to-reach areas that we haven’t tackled and that are advancing freely,” said Eric Agrinier, a member of the fire service. “It’s going to be a feat of endurance,” he added later, warning that the blaze might not be brought under control until today due to unfavorable weather. Working into the night after the blaze began late Thursday, firefighters set backfires to protect inhabited areas. “We burn some parts [of the forest] so when the fire spreads it reaches an already burned zone and slows down,” another firefighter said.
UNITED STATES
California gun law challenged
The publisher of a youth shooting magazine and several gun-rights groups on Friday filed a lawsuit challenging a newly enacted California law banning the marketing of guns to minors by manufacturers and others in the firearms industry. In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the publisher of Junior Shooters and groups including the Second Amendment Foundation argued that the law contravened their freedom of speech guaranteed in the US constitution’s First Amendment. California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said in a statement that it would “take any and all action under the law to defend California’s commonsense gun laws.” California Governor Gavin Newsom last week signed the measure into law, citing the need for new laws “as the [US] Supreme Court rolls back important gun safety protections.”
SPAIN
Two injured in bull run
The third bull run of Pamplona’s San Fermin Festival ended yesterday with the event’s first gorings of the year. Two men were injured in the leg by bull horns, said Estrella Petrina, a local hospital spokeswoman. Seven people needed to be treated at the hospital following yesterday’s running of the bulls. Thousands of runners, most wearing traditional white shirts, scampered to avoid the charging animals. Many ended up piled on top of each other in the narrow cobblestone streets of the course. The increasingly criticized yet popular festival, which was made known to the English-speaking world through Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises, draws tens of thousands of visitors from around the world each year. Yesterday’s bull run was the third of eight scheduled this year. The six bulls that run each morning are killed in bullfights by professional bullfighters later in the day.
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