NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
Nonsmokers’ vacation: A marketing company in Tokyo is awarding a novel perk to its non- puffing employees: an extra week’s holiday for nonsmokers. The corporate planning director for Piala, Hirotaka Matsushima, said Thursday that the company began offering the six days of extra vacation to all of its 120 staff members in September. Overall, smoking is still quite prevalent in Japan, with almost 20 percent of over- 20- year- olds saying they smoke. Nearly 40 percent of men in their 30s smoke, though that’s down from more than half in 2001.
War crimes trial: A former member of a Marxist group that seized control of Ethiopia in the 1970s in a bloody purge known as the Red Terror apologized Thursday for the regime’s many crimes but denied personal responsibility. In a dramatic confrontation with survivors in a Dutch courtroom at The Hague, 63- year- old Eshetu Alemu accepted blame for the crimes of the Marxist rulers known as the Dergue nearly 40 years ago but insisted he did not carry out the crimes for which Dutch prosecutors hold him responsible. Alemu, a citizen of the Netherlands, is charged with war crimes including involvement in torturing prisoners to death under the 1974- 1991 Dergue regime. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.
Harassment scandal: British Prime Minister Theresa May promoted her party’s chief whip, Gavin Williamson, to defense secretary on Thursday, following the resignation of Michael Fallon after he became the first casualty of recent claims about sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior by British politicians. Lawmakers have faced a swirling series of allegations since the scandal around movie mogul Harvey Weinstein emboldened victims to speak out. The claims, which range from serious sexual assault to casual sexism, have shone a spotlight on what critics say is a locker- room culture in British politics.
Rape remarks: Egypt’s highest women’s rights body has filed a complaint to the top prosecutor seeking legal action against a lawyer who called for the raping of women who wear ripped jeans. Nada Draz of the state National Council for Women said on Thursday that comments by lawyer Nabih el- Wahsh “explicitly promote rape and sexual harassment.” El- Wahsh said on a TV talk show that harassing or raping women wearing ripped jeans is a “national duty.” Ripped jeans have been at the heart of controversy in recent weeks about their propriety, with some university colleges banning students from wearing them on campus. Egypt is a majority Muslim country of some 95 million that is a mostly patriarchal society where street harassment of women is endemic.
Palestinian protest: Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in protest across the West Bank Thursday, marking a century since the Balfour Declaration, Britain’s promise to Zionists to create a Jewish home in what is now Israel. In Ramallah, some 3,000 protesters marched from the city center to the British Consulate, with many waving black flags and banners with slogans such as “100 years of dispossession.” Smaller demonstrations took place in East Jerusalem and elsewhere. The 1917 declaration served as the basis for the British Mandate of Palestine, which was approved in 1920 by the League of Nations. The following decades saw a spike in the number of Jews immigrating to Palestine as Zionist state institutions took root. With that came increased friction with the Arab population.
Chronicle News Services