World news in brief
Machu Picchu opened – for one tourist
Peru has opened its best-known tourist site, Machu Picchu, for the first time in seven months, but for just one visitor. The 15th-century Inca site, which has been closed because of the coronavirus, was specially opened for Jesse Takayama, a Japanese tourist who has been stranded in Peru ever since the pandemic struck. “The first person on Earth who went to Machu Picchu since the lockdown is meeeeeee,” posted Mr Takayama on his Instagram account. “This is truly amazing! Thank you,” he said in a video he recorded on top of the mountain. Peru’s minister of culture, Alejandro Neyra, said: “He had come to Peru with the dream of being able to enter.” He added that Mr Takayama visited the Inca site with Machu Picchu’s “head of the park”.
‘Veggie burger’ name ban upsets campaigners
Environmental groups across Europe have hit out at an EU proposal to ban plant-based products from using terms such as “veggie burger”, saying it contradicts the bloc’s objective to encourage sustainability. The
organisations’ grievance concerns two amendments proposed by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, which would restrict the naming of meat and dairy alternatives to avoid consumer confusion. Under the measures, plant-based products would be banned from being advertised using words such as “burger”, “sausage”, “yoghurt style” and “cheese alternative”. Critics say this will favour the meat and dairy industries and will unfairly affect the growing plant-based food sector, which provides more sustainable products.
Hindu-Muslim jewellery ad pulled after online backlash
Cyber-bullying has yet again forced a major Indian brand to withdraw an advert featuring a story of communal harmony among Hindus and Muslims. Jeweller Tanishq met with an online backlash for running an advert showcasing an inter-faith marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man. The commercial featured a Muslim family celebrating the baby shower of their Hindu daughter-in-law but has now been withdrawn, a spokesperson for the company told The Independent. The YouTube description of the commercial read: “She is married into a family that loves her like their own child. Only for her, they go out of their way to celebrate an occasion that they usually don’t. A beautiful confluence of two different religions, traditions and cultures.“Critics, however, accused the company of promoting “love jihad”, a conspiracy theory coined by Hindu right-wing fringe groups who believe Muslim men try to woo Hindu women and marry them in order to convert them to Islam.
Police seize souped-up e-scooter
Norwegian police have seized an electric scooter tuned to travel at 36mph – nearly three times the speed limit. The e-scooter was impounded by officers in Oslo during a road safety policing operation in the capital. E-scooters in Norway have a speed limit of 20kph (12.4mph). The motorised scooter was seized on Monday in the centre of Oslo in a joint operation between police and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, during which two of the electronic vehicles were stopped for speeding. E-scooters being trialled in the UK have a maximum speed of 12.5mph. Proposals for a wider rollout of the scheme suggest sticking to the 12.5mph limit, which the government says is the same speed limit applied in France, Germany and Denmark. However, it is also consulting on whether raising the limit to 15.5mph would be more appropriate.