VIDEO GAME BAN SOUGHT IN EFFORT TO CURB VIOLENCE

The Iraqi parliament has proposed banning online multiplayer video games, amid fears that they are corrupting young people and promoting violent fantasies.

A draft law seeking to ban the games was submitted over the weekend by the cultural parliamentary committee and a news conference held. The law singles out Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), a popular multiplayer “deathmatch” game.

Islamic clerics have raised concerns about young people becoming absorbed in scenes of glorified violence, considering their country’s history of war, destruction and bloodshed.