CHINA
Top official visits Russia
Li Zhanshu (栗戰書), chairman of the Chinese National People’s Congress Standing Committee, is to attend the seventh Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok this week, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday, becoming the most senior Chinese official to visit Russia since it invaded Ukraine. Li is to pay official visits to Russia, Mongolia, Nepal and South Korea from Wednesday to Sept. 17, Xinhua reported. He would attend the four-day forum, set to begin today, during his stay in Russia, it said.
FRANCE
Ukrainian takes photo prize
Ukrainian photojournalist Evgeniy Maloletka on Saturday won the Visa d’Or, one the profession’s most prestigious prizes, for his work during the devastating Russian siege of Mariupol. Maloletka, visibly moved, dedicated his prize to Ukrainians at a ceremony in the southern city of Perpignan. The 35-year-old journalist, who works for The Associated Press, was one of the first journalists to enter Mariupol on Feb. 23, an hour before the first Russian bombs fell. He was also one of the last to leave, finally quitting the city on March 15, by which time it had been almost entirely destroyed by Russian shelling. Those 20 days he spent there were like one long, unending day, “becoming worse and worse,” he said. His pictures showed the full horrors of the conflict there: children killed during the siege, heavily pregnant women lying among the ruins of bombed-out buildings and hastily improvised common graves.
UNITED STATES
Obama receives Emmy
Hollywood newcomer former US president Barack Obama was awarded an Emmy for narrating his Netflix documentary series Our Great National Parks, the Television Academy announced on Saturday. Obama had already won a pair of Grammy Awards — for audio versions of his memoirs The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father — so he now only needs an Oscar and a Tony to complete the estimable EGOT. According to an Entertainment Weekly tracker, only 17 people have won have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony, including Mel Brooks, Whoopie Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn and — most recently — Jennifer Hudson. One other president had already been awarded an Emmy: Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, although his was an honorary award.
UNITED STATES
Nirvana wins naked baby suit
Nirvana has won the dismissal of a lawsuit by a man who claimed his depiction as a naked four-month-old baby on the cover of the band’s seminal 1991 album Nevermind was child pornography. In a decision in Los Angeles on Friday, District Judge Fernando Olguin said Spencer Elden waited too long to claim Nirvana sexually exploited him, having sued more than 10 years after learning about the cover. Other defendants included Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, late lead singer Kurt Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, several record labels and photographer Kirk Weddle. The lawsuit stemmed from Nirvana’s use of a photograph taken by Weddle in 1991 at the Pasadena Aquatic Center in California, which depicted Elden swimming naked toward a dollar bill pierced with a fish hook. Elden was interviewed in 2003 at age 12 by Rolling Stone magazine about the photo, saying he was “probably gonna get some money from it,” and recreated the image as an adult in 2016 with Nevermind tattooed on his chest.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
Pakistani police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account. In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces. “The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson said. Investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor,” the police report said. The man was subsequently arrested. The girl’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” said police in
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
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