INDONESIA
Woman jailed for pork video
A court has sentenced a woman to two years in prison and handed her a heavy fine after she recited an Islamic prayer before eating pork in a viral TikTok video widely criticized in the Muslim-majority country. Lina Mukherjee, 33, was on Tuesday found guilty of “spreading information aimed at inciting hatred against religious individuals and specific groups” at a court in the South Sumatra city of Palembang. A resident reported Mukherjee in March for the video, which had amassed millions of views. In it she uttered a Muslim prayer that translates to “in the name of God,” before consuming crispy pork skin. Pork is forbidden under Islam, Indonesia’s dominant religion. Mukherjee was also fined 250 million rupiah (US$16,262), and her jail term would be extended by three months if it is not paid.
SINGAPORE
Ex-PM’s son charged
Goh Jin Hian (吳仁軒), the son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), was among four people yesterday charged with false trading offenses, Channel News Asia reported. The 54-year-old former CEO of investment holding company New Silkroutes Group Ltd, Goh stands accused of conspiring with three other men linked to the firm for creating a misleading appearance of the price of its securities on 31 trading days between February and August 2018, the report said. Goh is also accused of pushing up the price of the firm’s securities by placing orders and executing trades using his bank investment account. He was handed 39 charges under the Securities and Futures Act, while the three other men each received 31 similar charges.
RUSSIA
Top official woos China
A senior Kremlin official on Tuesday called for closer policy coordination between Moscow and Beijing to counter what he described as Western efforts to contain them, as he hosted China’s top diplomat for security talks. Moscow “seeks progressive development and strengthening of the Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation,” Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅). “Amid the campaign unleashed by the collective West that is aimed at the double containment of Russia and China, it’s particularly important to further deepen Russian-Chinese coordination and interaction on the international arena,” Patrushev said. Putin is set to hold “substantive” talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a trip next month to Beijing, he added. Patrushev reaffirmed Russia’s “invariable” support for Beijing’s policy on issues related to Taiwan, the Xinjiang region and Hong Kong, which he said “are being used by the West to discredit China.”
UNITED STATES
Neuralink to start human trial
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s brain-chip start-up Neuralink on Tuesday said it has received approval from an independent review board to begin recruitment for the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients. Those with paralysis due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis can qualify for the study, it said, but did not reveal how many participants would be enrolled in the trial, which would take about six years to complete. The study would use a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface (implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move), Neuralink said, adding that its initial goal is to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
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
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