World Watch
Adygea, Russia
A special police unit has been set up in southern Russia to ensure security at weddings. The 40-strong detail will patrol the area making sure that wedding motorcades observe the highway code and nobody fires weapons from car windows. The people of Adygea have a reputation for partying hard, and weddings there often involve celebratory gunfire and driving around in noisy convoys.
Norway
Norway’s armed forces will be kitted out in organic cotton underpants and bras in the future, after the logistics division signed contracts with eco-clothing providers. The new eco-friendly underwear is expected to be a boon for local organic clothing manufacturers, which are expecting to provide the armed forces with 50,000 pieces of underwear per year.
Thailand
Schools in Thailand are to end lessons 90 minutes early and let pupils decide how they spend the rest of their day. The new initiative is being trialled in 3500 schools; students will finish classes at 2pm and will be allowed to choose from a host of extra-curricular activities or even go home.
China
A Chinese ice cream company is marking 70 years since the end of World War Two with a special creation depicting the face of Japan’s wartime prime minister, Hideki Tojo. The Shanghai-based Iceason chain wants 10,000 people to scoff the head-shaped snacks as a way of remembering China’s war against Japan.
French Alps, France
Angry farmers in the French Alps held the bosses of a national park hostage overnight in an act of “bossnapping”, demanding that more be done to protect their livestock from wolf attacks. At least 50 farmers were involved in the non-violent action, which came after some 130 wolf attacks against livestock so far this year led to anger that nothing is being done to prevent the slaughter.
United Arab Emirates
The Arabic-language version of children’s television favourite, Sesame Street, is to return to TV screens across the Middle East after a 25-year hiatus. The programme ran from 1978 until the Gulf War interrupted production in 1990. The re-launch has been a long time in coming with negotiations reportedly starting in 2010.
Turkey
Opinion columnists at a Turkish newspaper have submitted blank columns in protest against what they describe as the “pressure” on opposition media outlets. While columnists’ faces appeared on the front page, the spaces beside them were left completely empty. The paper has been openly critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the government.
New York, United States
Thirty cadets were injured when an annual pillow fight at the US Military Academy turned bloody. At least 24 students were reportedly left unconscious after freshmen packed their pillow cases with helmets and body armour before the brawl at West Point. The pillow fight is supposed to build camaraderie after a tough summer of training.
Grapevine
“If you look at those displaced by conflict per day, in 2010 it was 11,000; last year there were 42,000. This means a dramatic increase in need, from shelter to water and sanitation, food, medical assistance, education. The budgets cannot be compared with the growth in need. Our income in 2015 will be around 10% less than in 2014.”
UN High Commissioner for Refugees — Antonio Guterres
The UN’s humanitarian agencies are on the verge of bankruptcy and unable to meet the basic needs of millions of people because of the size of the refugee crisis in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Recent months have seen severe cuts to food rations for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan as well as for Somali and Sudanese refugees in Kenya. Guterres warned that the damage being done by these cuts would be impossible to reverse: “We know that we are not doing enough, we are failing the basic needs of people.”
“We are not assassins and we have a conscience. I have the weight of an innocent man’s death on my conscience … It’s time, I believe, for me to express my profound regret and my apologies.”
A French secret service diver who took part in the operation to sink Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior, 30 years ago has spoken publicly for the first time to apologise for his actions. Kister, who attached a mine to the ship’s hull, said the guilt of the bombing still weighs heavily on his mind. Kister was one of two divers serving with the French intelligence service, who sank the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland in 1985.
“While the relationship between gender identity and sexual orientation is complex, and sometimes overlapping, the two identities are distinct. Significant evidence suggests that transgender persons are often especially visible, and vulnerable, to harassment and persecution due to their often public non-conformance with normative gender roles.”
Jacqueline Nguyen — ninth circuit judge
A US appeals court has granted asylum to an undocumented transgender immigrant under international anti-torture conventions, saying she would almost certainly face more sexual and physical abuse because of her gender identity if returned to her native Mexico. The ruling overturned a Los Angeles-based immigration court decision in 2013 to deport Edin Avendano-Hernandez to Mexico where she had previously been “raped, forced to perform oral sex, beaten severely, and threatened.”
“I think I’d rather have a president who is tough and puts America first than can win a game of Trivial Pursuit. But I don’t think the public gives a flying flip if somebody knows who, today, is a specific leader of a specific region or a religion or anything.”
Palin has announced her support for Republican candidate Donald Trump. Palin also said that if she was asked, she would serve as Trump’s energy department secretary, although she stated it would be a short-term role as she believes America should “get rid of it”. Mr Trump said in July that he would be open to the possibility of Palin serving in his government.
Facts & Figures
Odontophobia - The fear of teeth.
About half an hour - The amount of time every human spent as a single cell.
7.5 million toothpicks can be created from a cord (3.62m3) of wood.
80% of all sexually active adults will contract an STI at some point.
100,000 miles/second - The speed at which a telephone signal travels.
16 to 18 hours - The number of hours cats sleep per day.
Two years - The amount of time the average person spends on the phone in their lifetime.