JAPAN
Police search for attacker
Police were yesterday searching for the attacker who fatally stabbed a junior-high school student and wounded another at a McDonald’s restaurant, local media reported. The teens were in line to order at about 8:30pm on Saturday when the attacker entered the fast-food restaurant in Fukuoka Prefecture’s Kitakyushu and wordlessly stabbed them both, national broadcaster NHK reported. They were rushed to a hospital where the girl later died. The other victim, a boy, survived and told police he did not know the man who had stabbed them, NHK said. It was not clear whether the girl knew the man, who remained at large yesterday. Dozens of police have deployed to find the attacker, described as a man who appears to be in his 40s, Television Nishinippon reported.
IRAN
Singer arrested after concert
Authorities have arrested a female singer who performed a virtual concert on YouTube, a lawyer said. Parastoo Ahmady, 27, was arrested in Sari City on Saturday, lawyer Milad Panahipour said. On Thursday, the judiciary had filed a case regarding Ahmady’s concert performance, in which she performed wearing a long black sleeveless and collarless dress, but no hijab. She was accompanied by four male musicians. Ahmady had posted her concert on YouTube the day before. “I am Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love. This is a right I could not ignore; singing for the land I love passionately,” she said. The online concert has been viewed more than 1.4 million times. Panahipour said that he did not know the charges against Ahmady or her place of detention, adding that two musicians in her band were arrested in Tehran on Saturday. Separately, a court has sentenced Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh to 10 years in prison for working at a US-funded radio outlet, his lawyer, Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, wrote on X on Saturday.
FRANCE
Oldest Miss France crowned
A 34-year-old flight attendant from the French Caribbean island of Martinique on Saturday became the oldest contestant to win the Miss France pageant. Angelique Angarni-Filopon clinched the crown thanks to a rule change that permitted women older than 24 to participate, as well as those who are married or are mothers. “In 2011, a young woman aged 20 finished first runner-up in the Miss Martinique competition. Today, it’s the same young woman aged 34 who stands before you to again represent Martinique, its diaspora as well as all the women who were once told that it was too late,” she said on winning the competition, which was broadcast by TF1.
UNITED STATES
Trump wins ABC News case
ABC News is to pay a US$15 million settlement to resolve a defamation lawsuit brought by president-elect Donald Trump, court documents filed on Saturday showed. The lawsuit stemmed from on-air comments made by top anchor George Stephanopoulos, who said Trump was found “liable for rape” during an interview with US Representative Nancy Mace that aired in March. The settlement require ABC News to donate US$15 million to a fund dedicated to “a presidential foundation and museum” for Trump. The news organization and Stephanopoulos would also issue public apologies saying they “regret statements” made about Trump during the aforementioned interview, and the broadcaster would pay an additional US$1 million in attorney fees. Trump had been found liable for sexual abuse — a different transgression from rape under New York law — in a case filed by writer E. Jean Carroll.
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