UNITED STATES
Pulitzer entry withdrawn
A high-profile podcast on terrorism from the New York Times that had been a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize was withdrawn as a contest entry in the wake of the newspaper saying the claims of a man central to Caliphate could not be verified. In a statement on Tuesday, the board of the Pulitzer Prizes said it “accepted withdrawal of the entry as an appropriate resolution of this matter.” The 2018 podcast series, about a Canadian man who said he had carried out atrocities for the Islamic State in Syria, had been named as a finalist in the international reporting category for last year, which was won by Reuters and The Associated Press. However, the Times last week said that, after the man was arrested in Canada in September for perpetrating a terrorist hoax, it investigated and the man’s story did not hold together. “We volunteered to return the citation and the Pulitzer Prize Board accepted the offer,” the Times said in an e-mail. The paper had previously said it would return a Peabody award it had won for Caliphate, and the Overseas Press Club of America said it was taking back an honor it had bestowed on the podcast. The story’s central reporter, Rukmini Callimachi, would be reassigned off the terrorism beat, the newspaper said.
UNITED STATES
Population growth slows
The population grew by the smallest rate in at least 120 years from last year to this year, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Census Bureau — a trend that demographers say provides a glimpse of the COVID-19 pandemic’s toll. Population growth was already stagnant over the past several years due to immigration restrictions and a dip in fertility, but coronavirus-related deaths exacerbated that lethargic growth trend, said William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brooking Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program. “I think it’s a first glimpse of where we may be heading as far as low population growth,” Frey said. “It’s telling you that this is having an impact on population.” The US population grew by 0.35 percent from July last year to July, an increase of 1.1 million people in a nation whose estimated population in July was more than 329 million residents, according to bureau estimates. An analysis by Frey showed that it is the smallest increase this century and smaller than any in the previous century as well. At the height of the Spanish flu, the growth rate from 1918 to 1919 was 0.49 percent — even with troops abroad during World War I.
UNITED STATES
Louis Vuitton mats draw ire
A Hindu advocate is calling on luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton to pull a yoga mat made partly from cowhide leather, calling it “hugely insensitive.” Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, said in a statement on Tuesday that the mat is “highly inappropriate” to practicing Hindus, who regard cows as sacred symbols of life. “The scenario of yoga — a profound, sacred and ancient discipline introduced and nourished by Hinduism — being performed on a mat made from a killed cow is painful,” Zed said. Paris-based Louis Vuitton did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The company’s yoga mat, made mostly of canvas with leather details and a cowhide carrying strap, retails for US$2,390 online. The company “should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, mocking serious spiritual practices and ridiculing entire communities,” Zed said.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
‘KAMPAI’: It is said that people in Japan began brewing rice about 2,000 years ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol Traditional Japanese knowledge and skills used in the production of sake and shochu distilled spirits were approved on Wednesday for addition to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a committee of the UN cultural body said It is believed people in the archipelago began brewing rice in a simple way about two millennia ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol. By about 1000 AD, the imperial palace had a department to supervise the manufacturing of sake and its use in rituals, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association said. The multi-staged brewing techniques still used today are
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