UNITED KINGDOM
Porn rules implemented
Britain on Wednesday said it would become the first country in the world to introduce age-verification to access online pornography. The new law, which comes into force on July 15, requires commercial providers of Internet pornography to check on users’ ages to ensure that they are 18 or older. “Adult content is currently far too easy for children to access online,” Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries Margot James said in a statement, hailing the mandatory scheme as “a world-first.” Web sites that fail to implement the verification technology could have payment services withdrawn or be blocked for British users, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said. Research conducted as part of that outreach found that 88 percent of parents with children aged seven to 17 supported new controls, the department said, adding that the range of checks to be carried out by providers would be “rigorous” and go beyond users entering their date of birth or ticking a box.
PORTUGAL
Bus accident kills tourists
Twenty-nine German tourists were killed when their bus spun off the road and tumbled down a slope before crashing into a house on the island of Madeira. Drone footage of the aftermath of the accident showed the badly mangled wreckage of the bus resting precariously on its side against a building on a hillside, the vehicle’s roof partially crushed and front window smashed. Rescue workers attended to injured passengers among the undergrowth where the bus came to rest, some of them bearing bloodied head bandages and bloodstained clothes, others appearing to be more seriously hurt.
TURKEY
Ancient urine reveals past
Studying the traces of urine of sheep and goats is giving archeologists a glimpse into the domestication of the animals in a village 10,000 years ago. The innovative approach has provided new understanding of the transition from hunting and gathering to farming and herding by residents at the site called Asikli Hoyuk. The study by an international team of archeologists and geologists was published on in the journal Science Advances. The researchers studied salts from urine that was trapped in layers of sediment beneath the village to determine how much was produced by sheep or goats. The villagers appeared to have only had a few animals during the first hundred years of settlement at the dawn of the Neolithic era, but between 10,400 and 9,700 years ago, the amount of urine increased by a factor of 10 to 1,000. Eventually, there were more sheep and goats than people.
ARGENTINA
Dinosaur remains found
A site containing the 220-million-year-old fossilized remains of nearly a dozen dinosaurs has been discovered in western Argentina, researchers said on Wednesday. “There are almost 10 different individuals, it’s a mass of bones, there’s practically no sediment,” said Ricardo Martinez, a paleontologist from the University of San Juan. “It’s very impressive.” The fossils are about 220 million years old, belonging to “an era of which we know little,” Martinez said. “This discovery is doubly important because there are at least seven or eight individuals of dicynodonts, the ancestors of mammals, the size of an ox,” he said. He said there were also remains of archosaurs, reptiles that could be the ancestors of great crocodiles “that we do not know about yet.” The find was discovered in September last year in San Juan Province.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
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