— Prashant Kumar Shahi, Education Minister in the Indian state of Bihar, asking (rhetorically, hopefully), what is to be done with hundreds of students caught cheating on their school-leaving exams
Denmark | Russia's nuclear warning
THE GIST. Russia has threatened to aim nuclear missiles at Danish warships, if Denmark follows through with its plan to join NATO's 'shield' missile defense system.
THE SHIELD. NATO's missile defence system is designed to prevent missile attacks by strategically positioning 'interceptors' around Europe i.e. warships and bases that can shoot missiles out of the sky. Russia thinks the "American-led" system is basically a power-play by Western countries, and warned of the "Cold war coming back again."
REACTION. Denmark's foreign minister is sick of Russia's whining, saying "Russia knows full well that NATO's missile defence is not aimed at them", and that it is "to protect us against rogue states [and] terrorist organisations". The Danes also accused Russian fighter jets of encroaching on their airspace.
THE REGION. Things are getting tense in the Baltic region, which the Russian ambassador to Denmark, Mikhail Vanin called, "one of the most unpredictable in the world", and includes former Soviet states like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The countries all have large Russian populations, and might be worried about being cast in the sequel to last year's Crimea episode.
Singapore | First PM dies
THE GIST. Singapore's first Prime Minsiter, Lee Kuan Yew, has died at the age of 91. People called him the 'founding father' of Singapore, and he led its government for more than 30 years.
THE GOOD. Under Lee's watch, Singapore grew from a poor British colony to one of the richest (per capita) countries in the world. The country enjoys enjoys low unemployment, and the crime rate fell dramatically over Lee's long time in charge.
THE LESS GOOD. Lee wasn't exactly a fan of civil liberties. Singapore ranks 150th out of 174 countries for 'press freedom' and uses 'caning' as an official punishment for stuff like graffiti. Long hair was illegal for men in the 70s, and chewing gum is still against the law. And while his 'People's Action Party' has been extremely popular for decades, he was never afraid to crack down on political opponents, once saying "We have to lock people up, without trial, whether they are communists, whether they are language chauvanists, whether they are religious extremists."
Small-talk
Popular culture. A new poll has been released, comparing the popularity of Barack Obama to fictional US presidents. Perhaps a sign of just how frustrated Americans are with the inefficiency and ineffectiveness in Washington, Obama's approval (46 per cent) trails that of the habitual liar and actual murderer Frank Underwood, from House of Cards (54 per cent).
Trashy. The Serbian government has urged its citizens to stop throwing away hand grenades in the rubbish, and instead turn them in to authorities as part of a new amnesty to get rid of old weapons from the Balkan wars. An anonymous government spokesman said it's "concerning" that people don't seem to know which of the Three R's apply to lethal explosives.
No fun. IKEA has banned customers in the Netherlands from playing hide-and-seek in its stores. Spokeswoman Martina Smedberg said, "We need to make sure people are safe in our stores, and that's hard to do if we don't know where they are." Other reports suggest that the suspected mischief-makers might just be lost shoppers who are squatting in the bedding section, having long ago given up on ever finding their way out of that giant Swedish rat maze.
The word
Myopic Adj. Lacking discernment or long-range perspective in planning: Colorado Police have arrested a 12-year-old girl, after she attempted to murder her mother in retaliation for confiscating her iPhone. The girl's somewhat myopic plan was to poison her mother with bleach, and then apparently play Candy Crush unencumbered until the next phone bill was due.
