JAPAN
Reprimand sparks furor
A city official has been reprimanded and fined for repeatedly leaving his desk during work hours — but only for about three minutes to buy lunch. The official, who works at the waterworks bureau in Kobe, began his designated lunch break early 26 times over the space of seven months, a city spokesman said. “The lunch break is from noon to 1pm. He left his desk before the break,” the spokesman said yesterday. The official, 64, had half a day’s pay docked as punishment and the bosses called a news conference to apologize. “It’s deeply regrettable that this misconduct took place. We’re sorry,” a bureau official told reporters, bowing deeply. The worker had contravened a public service law stating that officials have to concentrate on their jobs, the bureau said. The news sparked a heated debate on social media, with many defending the official. “It’s sheer madness. It’s crazy. What about leaving your desk to smoke?” one Twitter user wrote. “Is this a bad joke? Does this mean we cannot even go to the bathroom?” another wrote.
UNITED KINGDOM
Fears over beer shortage
No beer at this time of year? A trade group says there is a shortage of carbon dioxide in northern Europe, sparking fears that drinks might lack fizz just as thirsty soccer fans fill pubs for the FIFA World Cup finals. British Soft Drinks Association director-general Gavin Partington said the shortage is due to the closure of several production sites for various reasons, including seasonal maintenance, but industry publication Gasworld said the situation is worse this year because normal maintenance has coincided with technical issues at chemical plants that also produce carbon dioxide. The shortage comes just as the World Cup is getting underway in Russia. The British Beer and Pub Association predicts England fans will drink an extra 14 million pints during the group stages of the tournament.
UNITED KINGDOM
Excretions as accessories
Struggling to make your fashion more personal? No sweat. A London fashion student can help you decorate your attire with crystal accessories formed from your bodily excretions. Royal College of Art graduate Alice Potts showcased her quirky design methods with a pair of ballet shoes adorned with crystals formed from sweat and a fake fur featuring urine-crystals at the college’s annual fashion show. Potts, who has also experimented with blood, believes the odorless, but stomach-turning materials donated to her by fellow students have environmental and health benefits beyond the limitations of traditional plastic or cotton. “Instead of using plastic accessories to maybe embellish garments ... we can start like growing onto our garments these new materials and more natural materials,” she said.
UNITED STATES
Far-right rally planned
The organizer of a far-right rally last year in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly is planning to hold a rally near the White House in Washington on the first anniversary of the event, federal officials said on Wednesday. Jason Kessler filed an application last month and it has been approved to hold what he described as a “white civil rights rally” on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said. Kessler organized the Aug. 12 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville that drew international attention when a suspected white nationalist crashed his car into counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring others.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
Scientists yesterday announced a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that might provide insight into the brains of other organisms and even people. The research detailed more than 50 million connections between more than 139,000 neurons — brain nerve cells — in the insect, a species whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster and is often used in neurobiological studies. The research sought to decipher how brains are wired and the signals underlying healthy brain functions. It could also pave the way for mapping the brains of other species. “You might
PROTESTS: A crowd near Congress waved placards that read: ‘How can we have freedom without education?’ and: ‘No peace for the government’ Argentine President Javier Milei has made good on threats to veto proposed increases to university funding, with the measure made official early yesterday after a day of major student-led protests. Thousands of people joined the demonstration on Wednesday in defense of the country’s public university system — the second large-scale protest in six months on the issue. The law, which would have guaranteed funding for universities, was criticized by Milei, a self-professed “anarcho-capitalist” who came to power vowing to take a figurative chainsaw to public spending to tame chronically high inflation and eliminate the deficit. A huge crowd packed a square outside Congress
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