China to Ban Video Games Featuring Same-sex Relationships, ‘Effeminate’ Men and Moral Choices

PINK NEWS: China will ban video games featuring same-sex relationships, ‘effeminate’ men and moral choices, according to a leaked memo.

The internal memo from a recent internal training by the state-backed gaming association was revealed by the South China Morning Post, lays out new restrictions for approving video games in China.

According to the publication, the memo said that video games must not be viewed as “pure entertainment”, and should instead convey “a correct set of values”.

Games that feature queer relationships or “effeminate males”, the memo states, should not be approved for release in China.

“If regulators can’t tell the character’s gender immediately, the setting of the characters could be considered problematic and red flags will be raised,” it added.

Games that allow players to make moral choices between good and evil should also not be approved, according to the memo. » | Lily Wakefield | Saturday, October 2, 2021

Sie sind einfach am Knutschen.

Ils s'embrassent juste. / They're just kissing.
Many thanks to El Chulo Dominicano and Pinterest for this nice photo of two clean-cut gays simply kissing.

Paolo & Patrick's Wedding Vows #LoveWins

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U-Boot-Streit: Aussenminister Blinken reist nach Frankreich

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Nachdem sich die Franzosen durch den Aukus-Sicherheitspakt übergangen fühlten, wollen die Vereinigten Staaten Vertrauen wiederaufbauen.

Zunächst soll Antony Blinken nach Paris reisen. Joe Biden und Emmanuel Macron wollen im Oktober bei einem persönlichen Treffen zusammenkommen. | John Altdorfer / X03626
(dpa) Vor dem Hintergrund des heftigen U-Boot-Streits mit Frankreich reist der amerikanische Aussenminister Antony Blinken zu Gesprächen nach Paris. Blinken werde dort von Montag bis Mittwoch mit Spitzenpolitikern zusammentreffen, teilte das Aussenministerium mit.

Die für Europa zuständige Top-Diplomatin Karen Donfried räumte am Freitag in einer Telefonschalte mit Journalisten ein, dass «bessere und offenere Konsultationen zwischen Verbündeten» vor der U-Boot-Krise hilfreich gewesen wären. Sie äusserte Verständnis für die französische Haltung, dass für den Wiederaufbau von Vertrauen nicht nur Worte, sondern auch Taten notwendig seien. » | dpa | Freitag, 1. Oktober 2021

La sœur de Kim Jong-un obtient un poste haut placé dans la hiérarchie

Kim Yo Jong, conseillère très proche de son frère, a été promue membre de la Commission des affaires de l'État. JORGE SILVA / AFP
LE FIGARO : La sœur et conseillère du dirigeant nord-coréen Kim Jong-un a été nommée au sein du plus haut organe de l'exécutif du pays, a annoncé jeudi 29 septembre l'agence de presse officielle KCNA. Kim Yo Jong, conseillère très proche de son frère, a été promue membre de la Commission des affaires de l'État, dans le cadre d'une série de changements approuvés par l'Assemblée populaire suprême, le parlement servant de chambre d'enregistrement de l'exécutif.

Pas moins de neuf membres de la commission ont été démis de leurs fonctions, dont un vice-président, Pak Pong Ju et la diplomate Choe Son Hui, une des rares femmes à occuper un poste élevé dans la hiérarchie de la Corée du Nord, et qui a joué un rôle clé dans les négociations avec les États-Unis. Le journal officiel Rodong Sinmun a publié jeudi des portraits des huit nouveaux membres, Kim Yo Jong sortant du lot en tant que seule femme et de par sa jeunesse. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | jeudi 30 september 2021

In Plain Sight, Boris Johnson Is Rigging the System to Stay in Power

THE GUARDIAN: Weakening the courts, limiting protest, hobbling the elections regulator. If another country did this, what would we call it?

Boris Johnson at the first post-reshuffle cabinet meeting in Downing Street on 17 September. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images
If this wasn’t us, how would we describe it? If this was Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, or Poland, what language might we use? Would an announcer on the BBC World Service declare: “Amid fuel and food shortages, the government has moved to cement its grip on power. It’s taking action against the courts, shrinking their ability to hold the ruling party to account, curbing citizens’ right to protest and imposing new rules that would gag whistleblowers and sharply restrict freedom of the press. It’s also moving against election monitors while changing voting rules, which observers say will hurt beleaguered opposition groups … ”

It doesn’t sound like us. We like to tell ourselves that we live in a mature democracy, our institutions deep rooted. Political competition is brisk, never more so than at this time of year, as one party conference ends and another begins. This is not a one-party state. All it would require is Labour to get its act together – to which end it made a decent start this week – and, with a fair wind, the Conservatives would be out.

It’s a consoling thought, but not a reliable one. Almost unnoticed, perhaps because it’s done with an English rather than a Hungarian accent, our populist, nationalist prime minister is steadily setting out to weaken the institutions that define a liberal democracy: the ones that might act as checks and balances on him. And he’s moving, Orbán style, to make it ever harder for his government to lose power. » | Jonathan Freedland | Friday, October 1, 2021

The façade is that of a clown; beneath that façade, however, appears to hide something rather more sinister. This is troubling indeed. What is my country being turned into? One cannot help but rue the fact that this country has no ‘First Amendment' and a written, American-style constitution. – © Mark

Jan Lisiecki – Chopin: Nocturne in E Minor, Op. posth. 72/1 | Live from Würzburg, 2018

Sep 17, 2021 • “These remarkable pieces invite you to think and feel whatever you want", says Lisiecki, "There’s no ‘right’ response to them, other than the one you’re having.”

WIKIPEDIA: Jan Lisiecki »

A Visit to a Stronghold of Germany's Far-right Party | DW News

Oct 1, 2021 • The far-right Alternative for Germany party remains strong in the east, but has suffered small losses nationwide — and will not be involved in any coalition talks, as it remains a pariah for all other parties.

Germany's eastern state of Saxony bucked the nationwide downward trend: The Alternative for Germany (AfD) emerged as the strongest party there in Sunday's general election, clearly ahead of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In neighboring Thuringia, the AfD also narrowly beat the Social Democrats to become the largest single party.

Why is the AfD so strong in the east? We went to the city of Görlitz to find out.

Democracy Now! Top US News & World Headlines — October 1, 2021

Sogar Professoren werden als Lkw-Fahrer umworben

BENZIN-KRISE IN GROSSBRITANNIEN
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Die britische Benzin-Krise entspannt sich nur langsam. Jetzt schlagen auch andere Branchen Alarm – zum Beispiel die Fleischer. Zu Weihnachten drohe ein Fest ohne Truthahn und Würstchen.

Auch für die Reichen und Berühmten in Großbritannien ist es derzeit nicht so leicht, an Sprit zu kommen. Fußballstar Christiano Ronaldo schickte seinen Fahrer mit der Bentley-Limousine los, um irgendwo Benzin aufzutreiben. Nach fast sieben Stunden Warten an einer Tankstelle kehrte der Fahrer zurück – ohne Sprit, wie die Zeitung The Sun meldete. „Selbst mit all seinem Geld sitzt Ronaldo im gleichen Boot wie wir alle“, flüsterte einer aus seinem Umfeld dem Boulevardblatt zu.

Wie Christiano Ronaldo geht es derzeit Millionen Briten, nur dass sie keinen Bentley zu betanken haben. Man trifft verärgerte und besorgte Nachbarn, die sich fragen, wie sie die Kinder noch zur Schule fahren und danach in die Arbeit kommen sollen. Eine junge Frau erzählt im Zug nach Somerset, dass ihr Kleinwagen in London auf der Straße plötzlich stehen blieb. Jetzt fährt sie mit der Bahn zu ihren Eltern. Ein Viertel aller Taxifahrer, so hieß es, habe die Arbeit zeitweise aufgegeben, weil sie keinen Sprit mehr in den Tank bekamen. Sie hatten nicht das Glück wie Multimillionär Ronaldo, der später doch noch in Manchester auf der Straße gesehen wurde – mit seinem Ursus-SUV von Lamborghini. » | Von Philip Plickert, London | Freitag, Oktober 1, 2021

Germans with no HGV experience asked to drive lorries amid UK fuel crisis: Mass appeal automatically sent to holders of pre-1999 German licences, which entitle holder to drive trucks »

Dimitra’s Dishes: Greek Lemony Chicken Avgolemono Soup | Two Ways

The most popular Greek soup has to be the classic Chicken Avgolemono. It is made with an egg-lemon sauce known as avgolemono, homemade chicken stock, flavorful chunks of chicken, and lots of zesty lemon juice. We think of it as Greek penicillin, especially during the colder months.

Get the recipe here.

A Princess Is Set to Be Wed. But It’s No Fairy Tale.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Princess Mako of Japan will forgo the trappings of royal nuptials when she marries her college boyfriend, a commoner, after a long and arduous engagement.

Princess Mako of Japan is set to marry her fiancé, a commoner named Kei Komuro, on Oct. 26. | Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
TOKYO — Anyone who dreams of being a princess should probably have a chat with Princess Mako of Japan.

On Friday, the agency that manages the affairs of Japan’s royal family announced that the princess, the 29-year-old niece of Emperor Naruhito, would marry her fiancé, a commoner named Kei Komuro, on Oct. 26.

It’s a long time coming. The couple, who first met in college, have been engaged since 2017 — but getting to the chapel has meant running a bruising gauntlet of media scrutiny and savage public commentary on Mr. Komuro’s fitness to be the spouse of an imperial daughter.

The pressure on the couple has been so intense that the princess has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, reported.

No Horse, No Carriage

If you’re expecting pomp and circumstance, prepare to be disappointed. There will be no royal wedding. Instead, Princess Mako intends to renounce her royal heritage and settle into a normal life in New York, where Mr. Komuro, 29, works in a law office after studying at Fordham. » | Ben Dooley | Friday, October 1, 2021

Britain Is Heading Into a Nightmarish Winter

Getty Images
OPINION: GUEST ESSAY
THE NEW YORK TIMES: LONDON — Long lines outside gas stations. Panicked drivers fighting one another as the pumps run dry. Soldiers deployed to distribute fuel across the country. And in the background, the pandemic stretching on, food rotting in fields and families sinking into poverty. This is Britain in 2021.

Not long ago, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson lifted all pandemic restrictions in July, the mood across the country was cautiously optimistic. A successful vaccine rollout had finally restored cherished freedoms to daily life: visiting friends and family in their homes, socializing with strangers, eating in restaurants. Cases of the virus continued to multiply, but the number of hospitalizations and deaths fell markedly. The nightmare, it seemed, was over.

But any sense of normality has been banished in the past few weeks. A dramatic fuel crisis, caused in large part by a lack of truck drivers and which at its peak forced around a third of all gas stations to close, is only the most glaring concern.

A convergence of problems — a global gas shortage, rising energy and food prices, supply-chain issues and the Conservatives’ decision to slash welfare — has cast the country’s future in darkness. Even Mr. Johnson, known for his boosterish optimism and bonhomie, has struggled to make light of the situation.

...

One of the main causes of this predicament is Brexit, or at least the government’s handling of Brexit. Britain’s protracted departure from the bloc, undertaken without any real effort by Mr. Johnson to ensure a smooth transition, led to an exodus of European workers — a process then compounded by the pandemic. As many as 1.3 million overseas nationals left Britain between July 2019 and September 2020. Read the whole essay here » | Samuel Earle | Friday, October 1, 2021

Le Japon choisit le rassurant Fumio Kishida comme premier ministre

Fumio Kishida s’exprime après avoir été annoncé vainqueur de l’élection à la direction du Parti libéral-démocrate (PLD), à Tokyo, mercredi. POOL/REUTERS
LE FIGARO : DÉCRYPTAGE - Le parti majoritaire a investi l’ancien ministre des Affaires étrangères qui donne peu de prise à l’opposition.

Tokyo

«Pour un “nihonbiki”, un amoureux du Japon comme moi, Fumio Kishida, c’est une très bonne nouvelle»: ce lobbyiste américain familier de l’Archipel ne cachait pas son contentement, mercredi soir, à l’annonce du nom du prochain dirigeant de la troisième économie du monde. L’ancien ministre des Affaires étrangères, Fumio Kishida, venait de remporter le scrutin interne au Parti libéral-démocrate (PLD), principale formation de la majorité. Il deviendra subséquemment, en raison du poids du PLD à la Diète, le 100e premier ministre de l’Archipel.

Des quatre candidats qui se sont poliment affrontés pendant douze jours, il a été le plus lisse. Sur le plan économique, il a appelé à mieux partager les fruits de la croissance, rééquilibrer les campagnes au détriment des métropoles, et autres lieux communs. Sur le plan sociétal, il est favorable à «un débat» sur l’évolution du statut ultra-rigide du mari et de la femme dans le couple nippon. Bref il n’a inquiété personne, remettant les réformes aux calendes grecques. Fumio Kishida est, en résumé, une victoire de l’establishment. » | Par Régis Arnaud | mercredi 29 septembre 2021

Réservé aux abonnés

Brexit : les Européens se rendant au Royaume-Uni doivent désormais montrer leur passeport

Le Royaume-Uni exige désormais des citoyens européens de présenter un passeport et non plus une carte d'identité. juliasudnitskaya / stock.adobe.com
LE FIGARO : Jusque-là, les Européens voyageant outre-Manche pouvaient présenter leur carte d'identité seulement à l'entrée du territoire. Le ministère de l'Intérieur britannique estime que ces dernières ne sont pas assez sécurisées.

La carte d'identité ne sera plus utilisable à partir de vendredi pour rentrer au Royaume-Uni, qui exige désormais des citoyens européens ou suisses qu'ils présentent un passeport, une des dernières conséquences en date du Brexit. Dans un communiqué, le ministère de l'Intérieur britannique affirme que ce changement permettra «d'empêcher les bandes criminelles organisées et autres personnes d'abuser du système», car les cartes d'identité constituent selon lui un document «non-sécurisé». » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | jeudi 30 septembre 2021

À LIRE AUSSI :

Brexit : ces Britanniques qui cherchent une autre nationalité : INFOGRAPHIE - Les sujets de Sa Majesté établis sur le Continent, qui sont plus d'un million, se sentent oubliés par leur gouvernement dans les négociations sur le Brexit. Ils cherchent toutes les possibilités pour obtenir une double nationalité, ce qui n'est toutefois pas possible dans tous les pays de l'UE. »

Français de Londres: comment continuer à utiliser votre carte d'identité pour voyager entre l'Angleterre et la France : NOS CONSEILS - À partir du 1er octobre, les ressortissants français qui ne résident pas au Royaume-Uni ne pourront plus se servir de ce document pour s'y rendre, en raison du Brexit. Contrairement aux expatriés. »

Kenya Bans LGBTQ+ Documentary for ‘Promoting Same-sex Marriage’

THE GUARDIAN: ‘Discriminatory’ banning of I Am Samuel, about a gay man’s struggles with his sexuality, criticised by activists and producers

Samuel and Alex in a scene from I Am Samuel. Activists say the ban reflects Kenya’s ‘intolerant and intrusive religious and cultural beliefs’. Photograph: Peter Murimi/Reuters
Activists and film producers have criticised a decision by the Kenya Film Classification Board to ban a documentary that tells the story of a Kenyan man struggling with his sexuality.

They said banning the 52-minute film, I Am Samuel, amounted to “discrimination and persecution” of LGBTQ+ people.

The film – which was shot over five years and took two years to edit – follows the life of a young man tormented by his sexuality while growing up in rural Kenya, who finds acceptance after moving to the capital, Nairobi.

“The ongoing criminalisation of LGBTQ+ persons in Kenya is a sad trend bordering on discrimination and persecution of individuals perceived to have a minority orientation. The move is dictated by very intolerant and intrusive religious and cultural beliefs,” said Kamau Ngugi, the executive director of Defenders Coalition, an umbrella group of rights organisations and activists.

The film classification body said last week that the film “blatantly” violated the country’s laws that penalise all forms of homosexuality or same-sex marriage, and that the storyline was a “clear and deliberate attempt by the producer to promote same-sex marriage as an acceptable way of life”. » | Peter Muiruri in Nairobi | Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Homosexuality: The Countries Where It Is Illegal to Be Gay

BBC: A crackdown on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Cameroon has resulted in the arrest or assault by security forces of dozens of people this year, according to Human Rights Watch.

In the most recent incident, two transgender Cameroonians have been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of "attempted homosexuality".

Where is homosexuality still outlawed?

There are 69 countries that have laws that criminalise homosexuality, and nearly half of these are in Africa.

However, in some countries there have been moves to decriminalise same-sex unions. In February this year, Angola's President Joao Lourenco signed into law a revised penal code to allow same-sex relationships and bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

In June last year, Gabon reversed a law that had criminalised homosexuality and made gay sex punishable with six months in prison and a large fine.

Botswana's High Court also ruled in favour of decriminalising homosexuality in 2019.

Mozambique and the Seychelles have also scrapped anti-homosexuality laws in recent years.

In Trinidad and Tobago, a court in 2018 ruled that laws banning gay sex were unconstitutional.

But there are countries where existing laws outlawing homosexuality have been tightened, including Nigeria and Uganda.

And in others, efforts to get the laws removed have failed.

A court in Singapore dismissed a bid to overturn a law that prohibits gay sex early last year.

In May 2019, the high court in Kenya upheld laws criminalising homosexual acts. Colonial legacy » | Reality Check team, BBC News | Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Russia Proposes ‘Extremist’ Label for LGBT, Feminist, Child-Free Movements

THE MOSCOW TIMES: Russia’s LGBT, radical feminist and child-free groups should be recognized as “extremist,” the chairman of an influential government commission said Wednesday.

“LGBT ideology, radical feminism and child-free movements should be recognized as extremism — an extremist ideology,” the state-run TASS news agency cited Andrei Tsyganov, chairman of a commission for the protection of children at the Roskomnadzor communications regulator, as saying Wednesday.

The proposed ban would help protect Russian children and adolescents from the influence of destructive content on social networks and the internet, Tsyganov said. » | The Moscow Times | Thursday, September 30, 2021

Human Rights Lawyers Call on UK Government to Ban ‘Conversion Therapy’

THE GUARDIAN: Experts say all practices, including prayer, aiming to change sexual orientation or gender identity must be criminalised

Activists have long campaigned for the government to outlaw conversion practices. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock
Leading human rights lawyers and experts have called for swift action to outlaw so-called conversion therapy, which they say is degrading and harmful, and should not be tolerated in a civilised society.

The Forum, chaired by Helena Kennedy QC, says all practices, including prayer, that seek to suppress, “cure” or change sexual orientation or gender identity must be criminalised. There should be no defence that a victim appears to have consented.

“Individuals who seek out conversion practices in the hope of being ‘cured’ are not made aware of the severe psychological harm to which they are exposed, and so cannot give informed consent,” says the Forum’s report, published on Friday.

People who “actively sought out and ‘consented’ to these practices … have since provided evidence of the severe, long-term, negative psychological impact”. » | Harriet Sherwood | Friday, October 1, 2021

Hot!

I give my thanks again to El Chulo Dominicano for this great and expressive photo.