VIETNAM
Religious freedom restricted
A UN official yesterday said Vietnamese security agents monitored his visit to assess religious freedom in the country and that people he wanted to meet were harassed. Heiner Bielefeldt told journalists that he found serious violations of religious freedom in the country, while noting some improvements. The UN special rapporteur said his whereabouts during the 11-day, fact-finding mission were closely monitored by undeclared “security and police agents,” and that his planned visits to some provinces were interrupted because people he wanted to meet were under heavy surveillance, intimidated and harassed. Bielefeldt cited as an improvement that space for religious practices has increased in recent years.
AUSTRALIA
Sniffer dog sparks toilet run
Budget airline Jetstar apologized on Wednesday after a crew member told passengers on a flight from the Gold Coast tourist strip, including some returning from the popular indie music festival Splendour in the Grass, to flush away “anything you shouldn’t have.” The warning from the flight attendant that sniffer dogs and quarantine officers were on standby in Sydney prompted a rush to the plane’s toilets, News Ltd reported. Jetstar said it had discussed the matter with the crew member involved, who made the announcement over the plane’s PA system. It said the flight attendant had taken a routine announcement about Australia’s strict quarantine regulations, which prevent some plant and fruit materials being transported between states, too far.
JAPAN
Smoking rate hits new low
The nation’s smoking rate has dropped below 20 percent for the first time, according to a new survey, as a recent rise in cigarette prices helped to further discourage the habit. The proportion of adult smokers stood at 19.7 percent as of May, down 1.2 percentage points from a year earlier and the lowest rate since the survey started in 1965. The number of smokers in Japan stands at about 20.6 million, according to the study published on Wednesday, which is conducted by cigarette monopoly Japan Tobacco. About 30.3 percent of adult men and 9.8 percent of adult women were smokers, it said. The overall figures put Japan roughly on par with the US, where the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 18.1 percent of the adult population smokes.
AUSTRALIA
Ninja Turtle poster offends
Paramount Pictures yesterday apologized after publishing a poster of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film that showed the characters jumping from a burning building, with its Australian release date — Sept. 11 — printed at the bottom. The US movie studio deleted images of the poster, which it had placed on Australian Twitter and Facebook accounts this week, after it was slammed by netizens. The World Trade Center Twin Towers collapsed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York.
PAKISTAN
Twenty-one bathers drown
At least 21 bathers have drowned in rough seas off Karachi, officials said yesterday, after defying a ban on swimming during the monsoon season. The bathers were among thousands who had taken to the beaches to celebrate the Eid holiday, which began on Tuesday and continues until today. Despite the deaths, hundreds of families including women and children continued to arrive at the Clifton Beach yesterday, as some clashed with police, demanding to be allowed to swim.
UNITED KINGDOM
Hacking journalists charged
British police have charged two former senior journalists at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid with conspiring to hack phones. Former features editor Jules Stenson and ex-deputy editor Neil Wallis are accused of conspiring to illegally listen to voice mails between 2003 and 2007. Their editor was Andy Coulson, who was convicted last month of hacking. Coulson, who also served as British Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications chief, is serving an 18-month sentence.
GUATEMALA
Massacred Mayans reburied
The remains of 31 Ixil Mayans who were killed 32 years ago during the height of civil war have been laid to rest in the western highlands. Dozens of neighbors accompanied the small wooden boxes containing the remains of the victims in a procession on Wednesday to a cemetery in the village of Xecax. Forensic experts first exhumed the bodies four years ago and since have identified eight of the victims through DNA tests. The bodies of those identified were returned to their relatives’ homes in the village for a traditional memorial service before the burial. The 23 others were honored during a wake held on Tuesday night at the offices of a victims’ rights group in the nearby town of Santa Maria Nebaj.
IRELAND
‘Spider-Man’ fight goes viral
Dublin’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has become a social media phenomenon after being caught on video fighting a man who allegedly tried to steal his money. The nearly three-minute confrontation spread quickly from a witness’ Facebook page to Irish newspapers and soon topped the nation’s YouTube page. The man who shot the video, Robert Bolster, says the altercation started beside Dublin’s main pedestrian shopping district after the man tried to steal Spider-Man’s cash proceeds from a day’s work posing for photos. Police arrested both men, who were released pending further inquiries.
GERMANY
Crop circles draw thousands
Thousands of people are trekking to a Bavarian farmer’s field to check out a mysterious set of crop circles. The ornate design was discovered by a balloonist last week and news of the find quickly spread online. Farmer Christoph Huttner, who owns the wheat field near Weilheim, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, but said on Tuesday that he did not create the circle himself. He suggests students on summer vacation may have cut the 75m-diameter image. The DPA news agency says thousands of visitors have come to sing, dance and even swing pendulums in the giant image.
GERMANY
Rape tweets spark furor
Scientist Richard Dawkins said he suffered a “tsunami of hate” after he tried to make a point by describing some instances of rape as worse than others on Tuesday, provoking angry responses. “Date rape is bad. Stranger rape at knifepoint is worse. If you think that’s an endorsement of date rape, go away and learn how to think,” the biologist tweeted. “Mild pedophilia is bad. Violent pedophilia is worse. If you think that’s an endorsement of mild pedophilia, go away and learn how to think.” The examples were intended to demonstrate the point that saying “X is bad. Y is worse” is not an “endorsement of X.” The postings were widely criticized. “If you want to make a point about logical fallacy, why use rape as an example? For survivors, this is not an academic game,” feminist writer Laurie Penny wrote.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other