CHINA
Blogger charged for pun
A popular social media figure has been arrested on charges that he made an insulting pun about Chinese soldiers who froze to death during the Korean War. Luo Changping (羅昌平), who has 2 million followers online, referred to soldiers known as the “Ice Sculpture Company” as the “Sand Sculpture Company,” or “Stupid Company” by replacing one Chinese character in a blog post. Luo’s case was handed to prosecutors in his southern hometown of Sanya last month, state TV reported on Saturday. It gave no indication when he might stand trial. The “Ice Sculpture Company” were soldiers who froze to death during a battle with US-led UN forces at Chosin Reservoir in late 1950 amid temperatures as low as minus-40°C.
SOUTH AFRICA
Murder rate continues to rise
The country’s alarming number of murders and rapes kept increasing at the end of last year, Minister of Police Bheki Cele told a news conference on Friday. From October to December, police registered an average of 74 murders and 122 rapes every day, Cele said. The number of murders jumped 8.9 percent compared with the same period in 2020. The 6,859 killings also marked an increase from the previous three months, when 6,163 people were killed. That earlier figure already represented a worrying rise, which Cele at the time blamed on deadly riots in July that left more than 350 dead. “Murder remains worryingly stubborn,” he said on Friday.
UNITED STATES
Rifle for kids introduced
A gun manufacturer has unveiled a semiautomatic rifle for children modeled on the AR-15, which has been used in a number of deadly mass shootings, sparking condemnation from gun safety groups. WEE1 Tactical is marketing the gun, dubbed the JR-15, as “the first in a line of shooting platforms that will safely help adults introduce children to the shooting sports.” The company’s Web site says that the rifle “also looks, feels, and operates just like mom and dad’s gun.” The JR-15 is only 80cm long, weighs less than 1kg and comes with magazines of five or 10 rounds of .22 caliber bullets, with a price tag of US$389. The AR-15 is the civilian version of a military-style weapon and has been used in multiple mass killings, including in schools. Mass shootings are a recurrent scourge of the country, where the right to own weapons is guaranteed by the Constitution. Attempts to regulate gun sales is often blocked in Congress, where the powerful gun lobby — in particular the National Rifle Association — wields great influence.
UNITED STATES
Turtle released after injury
Just in time for sea turtle mating season in the Florida Keys, a rehabilitated male loggerhead turtle was on Friday released off Pigeon Key. Sheldon, named by his coast guard rescuers, was discovered earlier this month near the Old Seven Mile Bridge. The 105kg reptile was rehabilitated at the Keys-based Turtle Hospital after being found entangled in crab trap line. “It’s mating season in the Florida Keys, it’s important to get this massive male turtle back out to sea so that he can begin mating and help preserve the species,” Turtle Hospital general manager Bette Zirkelbach said. Based on Sheldon’s size and the circumference of his head, Zirkelbach estimated that the turtle is at least 50 years old, well into its prime as a sexually reproductive male. Treatment at the turtle rescue facility included injury care, antibiotics and a diet of mixed seafood.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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