CANADA
Rutte warns against cannabis
During a visit, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Thursday said people should not try cannabis, just one week after the nation legalized the drug. In the Netherlands the possession, consumption and sale of less than 5 grams of cannabis in special “coffee shops” has been allowed since 1976. However, for Rutte, it is better to keep a distance. Asked to comment on the recent legalization, he told the story of a relative whose marijuana over-consumption had serious mental health consequences. “The marijuana that you can buy today is so much stronger [than before], which is bad for the health, especially for the young,” he said. “The best policy on drugs for yourself is no first use. It sounds conservative, but I would urge you: Don’t try at all,” Rutte said in an address to high-school children, accompanied by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “If you do, at least make sure that you don’t move from this stuff to other drugs.” In becoming the first G20 country to legalize the growing, selling and use of cannabis, Ottawa hopes to ensure that “the person that is selling you marijuana at an official place doesn’t also have something else in their other pocket they are willing to sell you up on and further,” Trudeau said.
UNITED NATIONS
Fukushima returns criticized
A human rights expert is urging the Japanese government to stop children and women of reproductive age returning to areas near the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, where radiation levels remain higher than what was considered safe before the 2011 nuclear disaster. Baskut Tuncak, an independent investigator on hazardous substances and wastes, on Thursday told a news conference that the Japanese government’s decision to raise by 20 times what it considered to be an acceptable level of radiation exposure was deeply troubling and could have a potentially grave impact on children’s health.
SOMALIA
Midnight closures enforced
Mogadishu Mayor Abdirahman Omar on Thursday ordered bars, restaurants and hotels along the city’s Lido beachfront to close at midnight after complaints from Islamic leaders. “In response to several complaints from society, notably religious leaders, the administration orders restaurants and hotels along the Lido beach to close after midnight,” Omar said in a statement. “Any restaurant or hotel which is at odds with the Islamic religion and the norms of Somali decency will be permanently closed,” he said, adding that drugs in particular would not be tolerated. The popularity of Lido beach establishments is testament to improved security in recent years in this part of the city.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese