NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Pay equity: Some of the BBC’s most prominent female journalists are demanding that the British broadcaster fix its wide gender pay gap immediately rather than in several years as management has proposed. Clare Balding, Victoria Derbyshire and others wrote an open letter Sunday to the BBC’s top manager saying that plans to resolve the company’s gender pay gap by 2020 must be accelerated. Documents made public last week showed that male BBC TV and radio personalities make substantially more than their female counterparts. The salary disparity came to light after the publicly funded BBC was forced to publish the salary ranges.
2 Paratroopers injured: Twelve U.S. paratroopers have been hospitalized after they sustained minor injuries during a nighttime parachute jump in Romania. Brent William, a spokesman for the Atlantic Resolve military exercises, said the accident occurred Saturday at the Campia Turzii air base in northwest Romania. He said 500 troops jumped from C-130 Hercules planes during “a very rigorous exercise, which carries a certain level of risk.” The Cluj Military Hospital said 11 soldiers were discharged Sunday. One soldier suffered a bruised spine and will remain hospitalized for further treatment.
3 Mexico corruption: Prosecutors say an exgovernor of the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz has been ordered to stand trial. The attorney general’s office said a judge ruled that Javier Duarte be tried on charges of organized crime and money laundering. Duarte fled to Guatemala after resigning as governor of Veracruz, one of Mexico’s most populous states, amid mounting allegations of corruption. He was extradited to Mexico last week. Prosecutors allege that Duarte embezzled millions. He and his lawyers have called the charges baseless and politically motivated.
4 Construction deaths: A crane collapsed on a construction site of a major infrastructure company in southern China, killing seven people and injuring two others, authorities said Sunday. The collapse occurred late Saturday at the site for the southern headquarters of the state-owned China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. in the city of Guangzhou. Investigators were looking into how the collapse happened. Although there has been improvement in recent years, work safety remains a major concern in China, where regulations are often ignored. 5 Russian envoy: The Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, a prominent figure in the controversy over Russia’s possible involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, has ended his assignment in Washington. The Russian Embassy in Washington announced on Twitter that Kislyak’s tenure ended Saturday. Kislyak’s successor has not been announced, although it is widely expected to be Anatoly Antonov, a deputy foreign minister seen as a hardliner regarding the United States. President Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned after lying about contacts with Kislyak.
6 Wildfires: A forest fire that has spread to southern Croatia from neighboring Montenegro caused 34 explosions Sunday, probably from mines left over from the region’s war in the 1990s, authorities said. The area near the walled city of Dubrovnik was a front line during the conflict that erupted after Croatia declared independence in 1991. Both Croatia and Montenegro have been battling wildfires along the Adriatic coast amid extremely high temperatures.