A focused recap of international news stories by Newsendip: Too many sheep in Australia, Thailand tries to boost tourism, inclusive writing in German media, and more.
- Too many sheep in Australia
- New Zealand to cancel a smokefree generation
- Thai night clubs to boost tourism
- Singapore’s artificial Long Island project
- The multiple names of McDonald’s in Kazakhstan
- Inclusive writing in German media
- Norway and the revelations of international illegal adoptions
- No last-minute Christmas shopping in Poland
- The fears of massive government downsizes after Argentina’s presidential election
What do you do when you can’t even give your sheep away?
With over 78 million sheep in Australia, the largest sheep flock since 2007, the price of mutton has significantly decreased, leading to a fall in profitability for Australian farms and a potential massive cull of animals. But even the meat processing facilities are not able to process the high volume of sheep fast enough. For the agricultural advocacy group WAFarmers, farmers would much rather give the animals away than cull them, but there haven’t been many takers for the free sheep.
New Zealand to roll back “generational” smoking ban
New Zealand had large-scale plans to enforce a tobacco ban in 2024 that would reduce smoking by 95%. Young people would have been banned from buying tobacco products entirely, effectively creating a smoke-free generation. But the new Prime Minister of New Zealand said he wants to repeal the law, arguing that an untaxed black market would emerge among other “unintended consequences.”
Thailand hopes its nightclubs bring back tourists
The Thai government has approved a law to extend the opening hours of nightclubs and entertainment venues as part of a wider government strategy to boost tourism. The tourism industry, a key driver of the country’s economy, has grown more slowly than its neighboring countries in recent years and has not recovered its pre-pandemic levels, struggling with a deteriorated image around safety. Thailand has also lifted visa requirements for Chinese citizens, a key source of tourists for the country.
Singapore’s artificial “Long Island”
The Singaporean government has announced that it is considering building new artificial islands off its east coast in order to protect low-lying areas from rising sea levels. Singapore could reclaim 800 hectares of land, the size of 1,142 football fields. Rising sea levels could cost 75 billion dollars to the city over the next 100 years as one-third of Singapore lies less than five meters above sea level. Among the first critics of the images of the project are people who fear it will be too narrow to support wind-based activities, such as windsurfing, kitesurfing and sailing.
Three names for McDonald’s in a year in Kazakhstan
McDonald’s invested the Kazakhstan market in 2016 and operated 16 restaurants with a licensee. But in January, the restaurants ceased to open as the local operator struggled to source its beef from Russia, while local meat would fail to meet the McDonald’s standards. It promptly reopened, though without the McDonald’s branding, with the sign “We are open”. They serve the same kind of food as in McDonald’s restaurants, kept the same suppliers but now have their third name of the year and are called “I’m”.
German daily Tagesspiegel stops using inclusive writing in print
Der Tagesspiegel had been using inclusive writing for almost two years. However it would be responsible for an increase in complaints and subscription cancellations in print. The topic has been generating debates for many years in Germany. Last June, the mayor of Berlin created controversy after he said he would not use inclusive language during his term, arguing that German should not be more difficult than it is.
Norway considers suspending adoptions of foreign children
To the distress of Norwegian families in the process of adopting, Norway is considering suspending the adoption of foreign children. It follows a series of recent revelations of illicit adoptions that the government was aware of but took no action to rectify. In the late 1980s, 13 Ecuadorian children were abducted from their families by a lawyer for Norwegian families. Other cases of abducting or false adoption contracts were revealed by media involving South Korea, Colombia, the Philippines, Taiwan and other countries.
No shopping on Christmas Eve in Poland
A trade ban forbids most shops to open on Sundays in Poland, which for a moment led retailers to offer post office services to circumvent the ban. A highly-debated law in this country of many fervent Catholics introduced in 2018 allowed stores to open the two Sundays before Christmas for shopping. But the Parliament has just decided to amend it for when Christmas Eve takes place on a Sunday, like this year.
Preventive strikes in Argentina
Last Monday, the Argentinian State Workers’ Association (ATE) announced a three-day strike that would interrupt export and import activity in protest of the upcoming government layoffs. Argentina’s president-elect, Javier Milei, considers the government “the cause of the impoverishment of Argentinians” and plans to significantly reduce its size. State ministries will be decreased from eighteen to eight, leaving public workers in these without employment. All the people hired in political roles in 2023, all cabinet heads from all ministries as well as their services like security and chauffeurs would be discharged. According to ATE, the transitional government is building a database of government workers to lay off, putting 64,000 out of 350,000 state workers at risk of being fired.
