United States
Rushdie makes appearance
Author Salman Rushdie made his first in-person public appearance after being stabbed repeatedly and hospitalized nine months ago. He on Thursday night attended the annual gala of PEN America, the literary and free expression organization for which he once served as president. “I feel great,” Rushdie said. “I have a long association with PEN America, and I’m just happy to be among writers and book people,” he said. In August last year, Rushdie was at an event at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center in western New York, when he was assaulted by a young man carrying a knife. Rushdie sustained multiple wounds, leaving him blind in his right eye and struggling to write.
New Caledonia
Tsunami warning lifted
The government lifted a tsunami warning yesterday, after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean off the archipelago. The police had evacuated the coast of the territory, and tsunami sirens had been activated on the coast urging people to evacuate.
United States
Group disputes TikTok ban
A group of Montana TikTok creators with hundreds of thousands of followers sued to challenge the first statewide ban of the popular app, saying that the law contravenes free-speech rights and would disrupt their livelihoods. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a measure on Wednesday that would prohibit the app’s download by the general public beginning next year. The law “attempts to exercise powers over national security that Montana does not have, and to ban speech Montana may not suppress,” the complaint said.
New Zealand
Alleged arsonist charged
A 48-year-old man accused of igniting a New Zealand hostel fire that killed at least five people said that someone else started the blaze during a court appearance yesterday. During the hearing, he shouted: “I need bail, I need a good lawyer. Someone else done it.” Prosecutors charged him with two counts of arson: setting the four-story Loafers Lodge on fire in the early hours of Tuesday, and earlier burning a couch in the building. Wearing a dark hooded top, he gestured frantically with his hands and paced from side to side in the dock during his first hearing at Wellington District Court. The man, whose name was not released by the court, was remanded in custody.
United States
Ford attends film premiere
Harrison Ford was in Cannes for the much-anticipated premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on Thursday evening, 15 years after the actor last picked up the adventurous archaeologist’s iconic bullwhip and hat on the big screen. The new film, which also stars Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen and Phoebe Waller-Bridge of British dramedy Fleabag, is the fifth in the series and the first not directed by Steven Spielberg. The director was James Mangold of Ford v Ferrari. Celebrities and fans turned out on the Boulevard de la Croisette for the film. A visibly-moved Ford, 80, received an honorary award for his cinema career ahead of the premiere. “They say when you’re about to die, you see your life flash before your eyes, and I just saw my life flash before my eyes, a great part of my life,” he told the audience.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
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
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
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
RSS