World Affairs Overview
Hiroshima marks anniversary of atomic bombing
JAPAN: A bell tolled to mark a moment of silence while people
joined hands in prayer as tens of thousands marked the anniversary of
the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Monday. Ageing survivors, relatives,
government officials and foreign delegates attended an annual ceremony
at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park commemorating the US bombing of the
city nearly seven decades ago, as a rising tide of anti-nuclear
sentiment swells in post-Fukushima Japan. “On this day, in this city,
let me proclaim again: there must never be another nuclear attack --
never,” said Angela Kane, UN high representative for disarmament
affairs, reading a message from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
AFP
Australian police chief attacks violent video games
AUSTRALIA: One of Australia's top police officers on Monday
criticised violent video games that glorify rape and murder, after a
spate of high-profile knifings by young people.
Andrew Scipione, the police commissioner for the state of New South
Wales, said the violence adolescents were exposed to via films and
console games only needed to affect a small minority of disturbed
people.
“How can it not affect you if you're a young adolescent growing up in
an era where to be violent is almost praiseworthy, where you engage in
virtual crime on a daily basis,” he told Sydney's Daily Telegraph. “You
get rewarded for killing people, raping women, stealing money from
prostitutes, driving cars crashing and killing people.” The police
commissioner said he was concerned that brutal games may encourage some
people to re-enact the screen violence.
“That's not going to affect the vast majority but it's only got to
affect one or two and what have you got?” he said. “You've got some
potentially really disturbed young person out there who's got access to
weapons like knives or is good with the fist, can go out there and
almost live that life now in the streets of modern Australia.”
Scipione's comments came after three teenagers were stabbed in separate
attacks in western Sydney in one week last month, which followed a
22-year-old apprentice chef being fatally knifed on July 8.
AFP
China braces for record third typhoon in a week
CHINA: China braced on Monday for a record third typhoon in a
week after two powerful storms smashed into its eastern coast over the
weekend leaving at least 14 people dead and large areas under water.
Over 1.24 million people were evacuated from areas in seven provinces
and five people were missing after Typhoons Saola and Damrey drenched
the coastline from Friday, state press said in initial damage reports.
“We are still dealing with the impact of Typhoons Saola and Damrey and
now Typhoon Haikui is heading towards us,” Minister of Water Resources
Chen Lei said in a statement.
“Within seven days our nation may be hit successively by three
typhoons, the first time such circumstances have arisen since records
have been taken.”
AFP |
