AUSTRALIA
Rapper Yung Filly charged
A British YouTuber and rapper known as Yung Filly has been charged with raping and choking a woman in a hotel room following a performance. The 29-year-old, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, on Thursday was freed on bail after a court appearance in Perth on several charges, with police alleging his crimes were committed on Sept. 28. Barrientos was arrested in Brisbane on Tuesday, a police statement said. The Colombia-born entertainer was accused of assaulting a woman in her 20s in a hotel room after he had performed in a Perth nightclub. He is charged with four counts of rape, three counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of impeding the woman’s normal breathing or circulation by applying pressure to her neck, police said.
Photo: AP
NEW ZEALAND
Minister defends captain
Minister for Defence Judith Collins on Thursday said that online remarks by “vile ... misogynistic ... armchair admirals” about the captain of a navy ship that ran aground, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa were false. “Seriously, it’s 2024,” Collins told reporters. “What the hell’s going on here?” After days of comments on social media directed at the sex of Commander Yvonne Gray, Collins urged the public to “be better.” Female members of the military had also faced verbal abuse in the street in New Zealand since the ship — one of nine in the country’s navy — was lost on Sunday, Collins said. All 75 people on board evacuated to safety after the vessel ran aground on the reef it was surveying off Upolu, Samoa’s most populous island. The cause of the incident is not known. “The one thing that we already know did not cause it is the gender of the ship’s captain, a woman with 30 years’ naval experience who on the night made the call to get her people to safety,” Collins said. One of the posters was a truck driver from Melbourne, Australia, she added. “I think that he should keep his comments to people who drive trucks rather than people who drive ships,” Collins said.
Photo: AP
UNITED STATES
Ethel Kennedy dies
Ethel Kennedy, the wife of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who raised their 11 children after he was assassinated, and remained dedicated to social causes and the family’s legacy for decades thereafter, died on Thursday, her family said. She was 96. “It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother,” Joe Kennedy III wrote on X. “She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week. Along with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren and 24 great-great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly,” the family statement said. President Joe Biden called her “an American icon — a matriarch of optimism and moral courage, an emblem of resilience and service.” The Kennedy matriarch, mother to Kathleen, Joseph II, Robert Jr, David, Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher, Max, Douglas and Rory, was one of the last remaining members of a family generation that included former president John F. Kennedy. She was by Robert F. Kennedy’s side when he was fatally shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, just after winning California’s Democratic presidential primary. Her brother-in-law John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas, Texas, less than five years earlier.
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
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