CHINA
Censorship to be increased
The country is proposing to ban movie content that it says disturbs social stability and promotes religious fanaticism, the latest attempt by the authoritarian government to tighten control over what people see. According to a draft law posted on the Cabinet’s Web site yesterday, films must not harm national honor and interest, incite ethnic hatred, spread “evil cults” or superstition, or propagate obscenity, gambling, drug abuse, violence or terror. A total of 13 types of banned content are mentioned content are banned in the draft law, but no terms or phrases were defined. The proposal appears to be part of an overall tightening of cultural industries that are fueling more independent viewpoints, particularly social media and hugely popular microblogs, where citizens often vent anger and frustration. Yesterday’s draft law also bans content that harms national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity, discloses state secrets and endangers national security, or jeopardizes social ethics.
THAILAND
‘Red Shirt’ jailed for slur
A court sentenced a “Red Shirt” political activist to 15 years in prison yesterday for insulting the monarchy, the latest in a series of convictions under the kingdom’s lese majeste laws. Daranee Charnchoengsilapakul, a hardcore supporter of ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was accused of defaming the royals during speeches at political rallies in 2008. “The Criminal Court convicted her on three counts as she committed offenses on three different occasions, and sentenced her to five years for each,” her lawyer Prawais Prapannugool said. “She said she will not appeal her sentence because she lost her faith in the judicial system and she is convinced that she will not receive a fair trial,” he added. The activist — better known as “Da Torpedo” because of her hard-hitting speeches — was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2009, but an appeals court ordered a retrial because the hearings were held behind closed doors.
SOUTH KOREA
North Korean guards defect
Six armed North Korean border guards tasked with preventing defections have themselves fled across the frontier into China, sparking a security alert on the Chinese side of the border, a report said. Daily NK, a Seoul-based online newspaper run by North Korean defectors, said in a report posted late on Wednesday that the border patrol agents crossed the Yalu River marking the northwestern border on Nov. 20. Seoul’s intelligence agency is investigating whether the report is correct, its spokesman said. “Eight crossed the river at night, but two of them were shot dead by other [North Korean] border agents and only six managed to run away,” Daily NK quoted a source in the Chinese border city of Dandong as saying.
UNITED STATES
Chinese carrier photoed
A commercial satellite company said on Wednesday it has captured a photograph of China’s first aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea off the Chinese coast. The aircraft carrier has generated intense international interest because of what it might signal about China’s intentions as a military power. China has said the carrier is intended for research and training, which has led to speculation that it plans to build more. DigitalGlobe Inc said one of its satellites photographed the carrier on Dec. 8. A DigitalGlobe analyst found the image on Tuesday while searching through photos.
Agencies
NETHERLANDS
DNA tests prevent cancer
New DNA tests looking for the virus responsible for most cases of cervical cancer make sense for all women aged 30 or over, since they can prevent more cases of cancer than smear tests alone, Dutch researchers said yesterday. Results of a five-year study involving 45,000 women provided the strongest evidence yet in favor of using human papillomavirus (HPV) testing, Chris Meijer and colleagues from the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam reported in The Lancet Oncology. Most cases of infection with the sexually transmitted virus are cleared naturally by the immune system, but persistent infection with certain HPV strains can lead to cervical cancer. In recent years, tests for these “high-risk” strains have been developed by companies, including Roche and Qiagen. The new tests are known to work well in detecting HPV, but the Dutch study is the first to show they are better than Pap smears alone over two screening rounds set five years apart.
UNITED STATES
Facebook launches lifeline
Facebook is providing a new way for US or Canadian members of the leading online social network to summon help for friends who may be thinking of ending their lives. A tool rolled out by Facebook lets people report suicidal comments posted by friends, who will immediately be sent e-mail messages urging them to call a hotline or click on a link to start a chat session with a crisis counselor. A National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will provide free, confidential counseling at any time of day. “We’re proud to expand our partnership with Lifeline and to provide those in crisis with even more options to seek help,” Facebook chief security officer Joe Sullivan said in a release. “The Lifeline’s commitment to suicide prevention has enabled people on Facebook to get fast, meaningful help when they need it most and we look forward to continuing our work with them to help save lives.” Lifeline has partnered with California-based Facebook since 2006, the organization’s project director John Draper said. “Although the Lifeline on average handles 70,000 calls per month, we have heard from our Facebook fans and others that there are many people in crisis who don’t feel comfortable picking up the phone,” he said.
UNITED STATES
‘Time’ picks ‘The Protester’
“The Protester” has been named Time’s Person of the Year. The news magazine cited dissent across the Middle East that has spread to Europe and the US, and said the protesters are reshaping global politics. The selection was announced on Wednesday on NBC’s The Today Show. Time’s Person of the Year is the person or thing that the magazine feels has most influenced the culture and the news during the past year, for good or for ill. Time said it is recognizing protesters because they are “redefining people power” around the world. Last year, Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg got the honor.
CHILE
Men urged to discard ties
The government wants men to take off their ties to help fight global warming, hoping the campaign will save on air conditioning as summer starts in the southern hemisphere. “Let’s all take our ties off this summer to save energy,” Economy Minister Pablo Longueira says in a television spot. In the commercial, he undoes the knot of his pink and white tie, and whips it off with gusto, unbuttoning the top of his shirt and smiling. A tie-less energy minister and other government officials appear in the TV spot.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of