CHINA
Some karaoke songs banned
The government is to establish a blacklist of songs containing “illegal content” that would be banned at karaoke establishments across the country starting on Oct. 1, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said. Such content includes that which endangers national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity, contravenes state religious policies by propagating cults or superstitions, or encourages illegal activities such as gambling and drugs, the ministry said on its Web site on Tuesday. Content providers to karaoke venues would be responsible for auditing the songs, it said, adding that the country has nearly 50,000 entertainment outlets with a basic music library of more than 100,000 songs, making it difficult for venue operators to identify illegal tracks.
INDIA
Elephants enjoy their holiday
After an evening walk, elephants rescued from circuses and temples in the country are to be treated to a feast of their favorite fruits and vegetables as they mark today’s World Elephant Day. A lavish spread of watermelons, bananas, papayas and pumpkins is to be laid out for Asian elephants at a sanctuary run by Wildlife SOS near the banks of the Yamuna River, on the outskirts of the ancient holy city of Mathura. The center observes a week of events surrounding the holiday. “World Elephant Day is there to promote awareness about the plight of elephants in India and around the world, and what they actually go through and why their population is declining,” said Shirina Sawhney of Wildlife SOS, which also runs the country’s only elephant hospital.
GERMANY
Nurse ‘swaps shot for saline’
Authorities in the north of the country on Tuesday appealed to thousands of people to get another shot of a COVID-19 vaccine after a police investigation found that a Red Cross nurse might have injected them with a saline solution. The nurse is suspected of injecting salt solution into people’s arms instead of genuine doses at a vaccination center in Friesland — a rural district near the North Sea coast — in the early spring. “I am totally shocked by this episode,” local councilor Sven Ambrosy posted on Facebook as local authorities issued the call to about 8,600 residents who might have been affected. The motive of the nurse, who was not named, was not clear, but she had aired skeptical views about vaccines in social media posts, police investigators said.
GUINEA
Marburg case monitored
Health authorities are monitoring 155 people who might have come into contact with a confirmed case of Marburg viral infection, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, a WHO official said on Tuesday. The Marburg case, which the WHO said was the first in West Africa, was confirmed in southeastern Gueckedou. Georges Ki-Zerbo, the WHO country head in Guinea, said that Marburg had been circulating in animals, particularly bats, in southern Guinea, as well as in Sierra Leone and Liberia. “There is no known secondary case... The contacts have been traced, and 155 people are under observation for three weeks,” Ki-Zerbo said in an interview. “It is active surveillance. The contacts are kept at home, isolated from other members of the family. They are visited every day to check on potential symptoms.”
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
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