30 2GM Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
Wo r l d
New Zealand bans
conversion therapy
New Zealand Parliament has
passed a law banning conversion
therapy intended to forcibly
change a person’s sexual
orientation, gender identity or
expression. Practices include talk
therapy, hypnosis, electric shocks
and fasting. There were 112 votes
in favour and eight against.
Performing conversion practices
on under-18s or someone with
impaired decision-making
capacity will be punished with up
to three years in jail, while
practices that cause serious harm
will be punished with up to five
years. The government received
nearly 107,000 public submissions
on the law, the highest number
ever received. (Reuters)Baldwin sued over
shooting death on set
United States The family of a
cinematographer killed by Alec
Baldwin have sued him, alleging
that cost-cutting and reckless
behaviour led to her death.
Halyna Hutchins, 42, was shot
while working on Rust in
October. Baldwin, 63, has said he
was told the weapon was safe.
The claim is being brought by
Hutchins’s husband, Matthew,
with whom she had a son, nine.China mocks claims of
panda politics from US
China State media has rejected
claims by the US congresswoman
Nancy Mace that the government
exploits giant pandas to improve
its image. She has proposed a law
to stop American-born cubs being
exported to China for “window
dressing”. The Global Times said
that “distorting pandas’ cute
image shows the anti-China
American politicians have run out
of ideas to attack China”.Police chief quits over
truckers’ blockades
Canada The police chief in
Ottawa resigned after criticism of
his handling of the lorry protests
that have paralysed the capital for
more than two weeks. Peter
Sloly’s failure to stop drivers
forming blockades in protest
against Covid rules has angered
residents. Justin Trudeau, the
prime minister, has invoked
emergency powers to ban protests
and tow away lorries. (AP)Worker, 10, trapped in
bin lorry for 8 hours
Sudan A boy aged ten was taken
to hospital after spending eight
hours trapped in the rubbish lorry
with which he was working. It is
believed Majed Mubarak Ibrahim
was pulled into the lorry, run by
the Khartoum State Cleaning
Corporation, as he threw in
rubbish. Videos show a welder
and a digger trying to free the boy
from the hatch, where witnesses
could see his trapped hand.Indian conman wed 14
women over 43 years
India A bigamist who married 14
women in 43 years has told police
in the eastern state of Odisha it
was “dead easy” to convince them
he was a genuine suitor. Ramesh
Chandra Swain, 65, posed as a
health official who had to travel
to check medical facilities. He
asked the women for money or
assets before vanishing. His latest
wife reported him after reading
his texts from other wives.A Malaysian minister who offered
“tips” to husbands, including to beat
their wives “gently” to discipline them
for “unruly” behaviour, has outraged
women’s rights groups.
Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff, the deputy
minister for women and family, was
accused of normalising domestic
violence with a two-minute video post-
ed on Instagram called “Mother’s Tips”.
She advises that husbands first speak to
“undisciplined and stubborn wives”
and, if they are not compliant, to sleep
apart from them.
She adds: “However, if the wife still
refuses to take the advice, or change her
behaviour after the sleeping separation,
then the husbands can try the physical
touch approach, by striking her gently,
to show his strictness and how much he
wants her to change.”
She also counsels wives on how to
win over their husbands. “Speak to your
husbands when they are calm, finished
eating, have prayed and are relaxed,”
she suggests. “When we want to speak,
ask for permission first.”
A group of women’s rights organisa-
Camelcade Officers from India’s Border Security Force parading in the annual Desert Festival in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Other events include moustache-flaunting
Israel’s prime minister has made the
first visit by a leader of his country to
Bahrain, cementing an alliance with
Gulf states against Iran.
The proclamations of friendship em-
phasised trade and “people-to-people”
ties, but Naftali Bennett’s visit coincid-
Israeli PM urges Bahrain to join alliance against Iran
ed with what could be the final steps in
talks to restore the nuclear deal
between the United States, European
allies and Iran.
Israeli diplomats put in an unprece-
dented appearance at the talks in Vien-
na yesterday to set out their concerns.
President Biden has promised to rejoin
the deal President Trump abandoned.
Bennett met King Hamad bin Isa al-
Khalifa and Salman bin Hamad al-
Khalifa, the crown prince and primeminister. Bahrain is hugely significant
for its closeness to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh
has not recognised Israel, but strongly
influences Bahrain’s foreign policy. It is
assumed the visit had the approval of
Saudi Arabia’s day-to-day ruler, Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab
Emirates established diplomatic rela-
tions in September 2020 as part of the
Abraham Accords, brokered by the
Trump administration. Bahrain’s royalfamily, which like those of other Gulf
states is Sunni Muslim, is particularly
nervous about the influence of Tehran
over its majority Shia population.
Bennett said: “My goal is to form a
ring of alliances between Israel and
other countries in the region and fill it
with substance. It’s in Israel and the
other countries’ interest.”
Off the record, senior Israeli officials
said the main aim was “reinforcing the
quiet regional alliance against Iran”.Bahrain
Anshel Pfeffer Manama
Richard Spencer
Middle East Correspondent
HIMANSHU SHARMA/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGESGive unruly wives a gentle
beating, minister tells men
tions, the Joint Action Group for Gen-
der Equality, demanded her resigna-
tion. “The deputy minister must step
down for normalising domestic
violence and perpetuating ideas as well
as behaviours that are opposed to gen-
der equality,” it said.
The organisation said that during
Malaysia’s lockdown in 2020 and 2021
there were 9,015 police reports of
domestic violence, and that this was
probably an underestimate.
It added: “There is often a stigma and
fear attached to reporting violence and
this is made worse by statements such
as those of Siti Zailah.
“As a minister who is meant to uphold
gender equality and the rights of
women to protection and
safety, this is abhorrent,
denies women the right
to equality, their right
to dignity and to be
free from degrading
treatment. It is grossly
mistaken and a dem-
onstration of failed
leadership.”Malaysia is one of the world’s most
populous Muslim countries. Although
it also has a significant Buddhist and
Hindu population, it became more
strictly Islamic from the late 1970s on-
wards, following the Islamic revolution
in Iran.
Many believe the country’s culturally
diverse population of Chinese, Indians
and Malays are the key to stopping it
becoming too extremist, but there are
fears among social moderates that
strict Islam is increasing its foothold in
the country.
Siti Zailah is an MP for the conserva-
tive Malaysian Islamic Party and her
words were a partial summary of Qu-
ranic verses that describe men as
the “caretakers of women”
with a duty to advise and
discipline them.
She has caused con-
troversy before with
her campaign for alco-
hol to be banned on
Malaysian Airlines,
the national carrier,
and for its female flight
attendants to wear uni-
forms that are sharia
compliant.Malaysia
Richard Lloyd Parry Asia Editor
Nuclear test
site hit by
earthquakes
North Korea
Richard Lloyd Parry
North Korea’s underground nuclear
test area has been hit by several small
earthquakes, adding to fears that deto-
nations have altered the geology and
raised the risk of radiation leaks.
South Korean seismologists have re-
corded at least four earthquakes in the
past five days near the Punggye-ri test
site in the north of North Korea. The
scientists said they were natural
tremors and not caused by explosions.
They ranged in magnitude from 2.3
to 3.1, according to the Korea Meteoro-
logical Administration. None is large
enough to cause significant damage;
however, the fact that they are occur-
ring at all, in an area not prone to
quakes, raises troubling questions.
Between 2006 and 2017 North Korea
conducted six nuclear tests at Punggye-
ri. For several years there have been
warnings of radiation leaks from
Mount Mantap, above the test tunnels,
and rumours of children born with de-
fects. Chinese and South Korean ex-
perts warned in 2015 that tests could
cause the collapse of Mantap and the
leak of radiation into the atmosphere.Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff
passed on “mother’s tips”and
nt,
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