PAKISTAN
Chinese engineers attacked
Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) militants yesterday attacked a convoy carrying Chinese engineers to the Beijing-financed Gwadar Port in the southwest, the group said. “BLA Majeed Brigade today targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers in Gwadar. The attack is still ongoing,” the separatist group said in a statement. Security sources confirmed an attack on a convoy carrying Chinese engineers, but there was no immediate official response. No injuries were reported within the convoy, China’s Global Times said, citing unidentified “Chinese personnel” in Gwadar. One militant was killed and three were wounded in a gunfight with security forces, Aaj News reported.
INDONESIA
Miss Universe cuts ties
The Miss Universe Organization said it was cutting ties with its Indonesian franchisee and canceling this year’s Malaysia pageant after contestants accused local organizers of sexual harassment. The US-based organization said in an e-mailed statement late on Saturday that it had severed its contract with PT Capella Swastika Karya and its national director Poppy Capella, who also holds the license for Miss Universe Malaysia. Six Miss Universe Indonesia contestants filed complaints with police accusing organizers of sexual harassment, saying they were subjected to topless “body checks,” their lawyer said on Tuesday last week. “It has become clear that this franchise has not lived up to our brand standards, ethics, or expectations as outlined in our franchise handbook and code of conduct,” the Miss Universe Organization said.
COLOMBIA
Survivor abused: prosecutors
Prosecutors on Saturday announced sexual abuse charges against the father of two of the four indigenous children who survived a May plane crash in the Amazon. The children went missing after the small plane they were traveling in went down, killing their mother and two other adults. In a statement, prosecutors accused Manuel Ranoque of sexually abusing his 13-year-old stepdaughter, who was widely credited with ensuring that she and her younger siblings survived the more than five-week-long ordeal in the Amazon that garnered headlines across the globe. Ranoque, who was arrested on Friday, stands accused of abusing his stepfedaughter since she was 10 years old, the statement said.
UNITED STATES
Child influencer law passed
Illinois is the first state to ensure that child social media influencers are compensated for their work, said Illinois Senator David Koehler, who sponsored a bill that was signed into law on Friday and goes into effect on July 1 next year. “The rise of social media has given children new opportunities to earn a profit,” Koehler said in an e-mailed press release after the bill was signed Friday afternoon. “Many parents have taken this opportunity to pocket the money, while making their children continue to work in these digital environments.” The idea for the law, which covers children under the age of 16 featured in monetized online platforms, including video blogs, was brought to Koehler by a 15-year-old in his district, the Democratic senator said. Besides coordinated dances and funny toddler comments, family vlogs might share intimate details of their children’s lives — grades, potty training, illnesses, misbehaviors and first periods — for countless strangers to view. Brand deals featuring children can reap tens of thousands of dollars per video, but so far there are minimal regulations for the “sharenthood” industry.
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
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
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