ITALY
Tigers maul tamer to death
Four tigers have mauled to death their tamer in the country’s south, fueling calls for a ban on the use of animals in circuses as lawmakers debate the issue. The 61-year-old tamer, Ettore Weber, was attacked by the tigers on Thursday during a training session in Triggiano, a small town in the Puglia region, police said. All the circus’ eight tigers were impounded by police, triggering protests from animal welfare associations. The Anti-Vivisection League called for the tigers involved in the attack not to be killed, and urged the government to speed up legislation to ban circus animals. “Tigers must be saved ... and placed in an environment suitable for their natural needs,” the league said in a statement.
POLAND
Holocaust survivor dies
Eva Mozes Kor, a survivor of Auschwitz and the death camp’s infamous doctor Josef Mengele, has passed away during a trip to the Holocaust site, sources said. The Romanian-born Kor, who founded the Candles Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana, and devoted her life to Holocaust awareness, was 85. Kor passed away on Thursday in Krakow during an annual trip organized by the museum that included a visit to Auschwitz, the museum said. “Forgive your worst enemies,” Kor said in a video recording of her last visit to the Auschwitz Museum posted on its official Facebook page. “The moment I forgave the Nazis, I felt free from Auschwitz and from all the tragedy that had occurred to me,” she added.
CHINA
City bans ‘Beijing bikinis’
A city is cracking down on the practice of men rolling up their shirts and baring their bellies as temperatures soar in parts of the country. The “Beijing bikini,” as it is sometimes known by expats, has been banned in Jinan. The authorities have released a notice banning the “uncivilized behavior,” saying it was “seriously affecting the image of the city.” Violators could face punishment, especially in densely populated areas such as parks, public squares, buses, scenic spots and business areas. Jinan authorities have also posted a long list of other banned behaviors, such as taking off shoes to air out feet, spitting, littering and line-jumping.
THAILAND
Actress faces jail over clams
A South Korean actress faces up to five years in jail for catching endangered giant clams in a reality TV stunt, an official said yesterday, despite the show’s extensive apology. Lee Yeol-eum was filmed diving for giant clams at a marine park for Sunday last week’s episode of Law of the Jungle — a popular South Korean reality show. After prizing two giant clams from the coral-laid seabed, Lee pumped them in the air yelling: “I caught it!” The mollusks are listed as an endangered species and protected under law.
UNITED STATES
Unruly passenger billed
A South Korean man whose behavior on a Hawaiian Airlines flight to South Korea forced it to return to Honolulu has been ordered to pay the carrier more than US$172,000. Kyong Chol-kim was on Wednesday sentenced to six months in jail for interfering with flight attendants and crew members on the flight in February. The 48-year-old drank a bottle of whiskey before the flight and later bothered a child seated next to him, prosecutors said. He lunged at a flight attendant after the employee confronted him about his behavior, they 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