UNITED STATES
Kennedy reveals suspicion
Independent US presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr believed he might have been attacked by a worm that ate part of his brain and then died inside his head, the media reported on Wednesday. Kennedy, 70, made the claim in a 2012 deposition as part of his divorce from his second wife, according to the New York Times, which said the scion of the storied political clan reported severe memory loss and mental fog. A New York surgeon who reviewed his brain scans told Kennedy his health issues could have been “caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” he reportedly told attorneys. AFP has not independently reviewed the deposition.
UNITED STATES
Apple ad causes backlash
An ad for the new iPad Pro on Wednesday caused an uproar for showing an industrial-sized hydraulic press crushing objects linked to human creativity — such as a record player and trumpet — into a sleek tablet. Social media users immediately criticized the ad, which was posted on X by Apple CEO Tim Cook, as painfully tone-deaf at a time when the creative community is worried about its future with the emergence of generative artificial intelligence. “The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley,” actor Hugh Grant wrote on X. Set to the song All I Ever Need is You by Sonny and Cher, the one-minute ad titled Crush sees the pile of creative artifacts, also including a piano and paint cans, explode under the pressure of Apple’s press. “I’m not sure ‘wanton destruction of all the good and beautiful things in this world’ was really the vibe you were trying for,” X user Judd Baroff wrote.
JAPAN
Rat parts found in bread
More than 100,000 packets of sliced bread have been recalled after parts of a black rat’s body were discovered inside two of them, the manufacturer said on Wednesday. Food recalls are rare in Japan, a country with famously high standards of sanitation, and Pasco Shikishima Corp said it was investigating how the rodent remains had crept into its products. The company said it was so far unaware of anyone falling sick after eating its processed white chojuku bread, long a staple of Japanese breakfast tables. About 104,000 packs of the bread have been recalled in mainland Japan, from Tokyo to the northern Aomori region. “We would like to apologize deeply for causing trouble to our customers and clients,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, Pasco confirmed that parts of a black rat had contaminated the two packs.
VIETNAM
Senior official arrested
Police have arrested a senior official involved in talks with international organizations on labor reforms, state media said yesterday, adding that the action was linked to disclosure of classified information. The detention of Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Legal Affairs Department Director Nguyen Van Binh follows months of arrests of prominent experts and activists, in what some diplomats see as a further crackdown on civil society amid a major reshuffle of top political leaders in the communist-ruled country. Binh, 51, was charged with overseeing reforms to labor law on which he worked closely with the International Labour Organization, the ministry said on its Web site. Binh was detained on charges of intentionally revealing state secrets, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper said.
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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