CHINA
Stars’ kids banned on TV
The nation is banning the children of famous entertainers from appearing on popular reality shows, as it continues efforts to try to prevent the manufacture of child stars. The ban by the government’s media regulator also covers appearances by the stars’ children on chat shows and reports about them on entertainment programs, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Reality shows featuring attractive stars and their well-dressed, fashionably coiffed and often somewhat precocious children traveling or performing tasks together have grown extremely popular with Chinese viewers in recent years. However, apparently concerned with the growth of celebrity culture, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television in July last year ordered that producers of the dozens of reality shows on satellite channels cut back on appearances by minors and tamp down parts of the shows seen as attempting to make them stars on their own. Xinhua yesterday cited the administration’s latest order as saying: “Reality shows should pay attention to strengthening protection over minors and endeavor to reduce the participation of minors.”
IRAQ
US official arrives for talks
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has arrived in Baghdad to talk to leaders about the next steps to beef up the forces working to retake the northern city of Mosul. A senior US official said that as the US moves to help the nation, at least a “small number” of additional US forces would likely go to the warzone. Carter has said the US is considering several options, including more airstrikes, cyberattacks and US troops on the ground. Late last month, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford said he and Carter believe the number of US forces in the nation would increase in the coming weeks. Any final decision would be worked out with the government and require US President Barack Obama’s approval.
SYRIA
Rebel groups declare battle
Several key opposition factions yesterday said they were launching an armed response to what they alleged were regime “violations” of a ceasefire agreement in the war-torn nation. “After the increase of violations by regime forces that included targeting displaced people and continuous bombing of residential neighborhoods, we declare the start of the battle in response,” said a statement signed by 10 armed rebel groups. The truce, brokered by Russia and the US, has seen violence dip significantly, but fighting has recently flared in several regions, particularly near second city Aleppo.
TURKEY
Two held over sack attack
Two members of a nationalist youth group were detained after trying to put a sack over the head of a US soldier at an air base, according to media reports. The state-run Anadolu Agency on Sunday reported that two members of the right-wing group, Yalcin Semir Akarsu and Cenk Kizilirmak, were placed under house arrest after the incident that occurred on Saturday at the Incirlik air base in Adana Province. The Dogan news agency said Kizilirmak filmed his friend as he chased the soldier. The nationalist Turkish Youth Union posted footage on Twitter in which the man identified by Dogan as Akarsu is heard saying: “You put a sack over our soldiers’ heads in 2003. You are responsible for that and for the terrorism in our country,” he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing