Factory poisons kids

Forty-seven primary school children in southern Fujian province were confirmed to have excessive levels of lead in their blood, allegedly caused by a smelting factory, Xinhua reported. The children who attend Qili Primary School in Qili village, Youxi county, were diagnosed as having lead levels in their blood.

False medical ads

China has moved to combat rampant false medical advertising in newspapers, which account for over half of some publications’ ad revenues, state press reported.  The central government introduced a ban for a wide range of medical treatment advertising, including for cancer, venereal diseases, abortions, AIDS, psoriasis, epilepsy and hepatitis.

Suicide numbers fall

The number of people who killed themselves in the January-June period this year in Japan dropped 1,254 from a year ago to 14,828, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s population statistics . The annual total could fall below 30,000 for the first time since 2002, the ministries of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

Monkey smuggler caught

A Japanese man has been arrested in Bangkok on suspicion of trying to smuggle nine rare monkeys  to Japan. Thai police identified the suspect as Takashi Yokohari, 36, a resident of Saitama Prefecture. Yokohari allegedly tried to board a flight to Narita airport from Suvarnabhumi airport with nine slow loris in five suitcases, police said

Miniskirts now legal in South Korea

South Korea’s “fashion police”, who prowled the streets in the 1970s measuring the length of women’s skirts, will soon officially be consigned to oblivion.
Showing too much skin in public places will no longer be classed as indecent exposure and will be deleted from the Minor Offense Act, the National Police Agency has said. The provision has not been enforced for years.