|
 Suicide concerns
Health workers in Japan are worried the economic shock caused by the
coronavirus pandemic will see a return to the 14 dark years from
1998 when more than 30,000 people killed themselves annually.
National suicides fell 20% year-on-year in April, the first month of
Japan's soft lockdown, but experts said that was likely due to an
internationally recognised phenomenon in which suicides decrease
during crises, only to rise afterwards.
"We need to take steps now, before the deaths begin," said Hisao
Sato, head of an NGO that provides counselling and economic advice
in Akita, a northern prefecture long known for Japan's worst suicide
rate.
Fighting misinformation
It's not just U.S. President Donald Trump's tweets that are being
fact-checked.
Twitter has also flagged a tweet written in March by Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian that suggested the U.S. military
brought the novel coronavirus to China, posting a blue exclamation
mark under it with a comment urging readers to check the facts about
COVID-19.
Clicking on the link directed readers to a page with the headline,
"WHO says evidence suggests COVID-19 originated in animals and was
not produced in a lab".
Closed climbing season
Nepal's Sherpa guides, famed for being the backbone of mountain
expeditions in the Himalayas, have also found their livelihood hit
by the coronavirus outbreak.
[to top of second column] |
Many have returned to their villages, hiking officials say, as climbing and
trekking activities have been suspended since March, and some are looking ahead
with hope to the less popular autumn climbing season, which lasts from September
to November.
Friday is the anniversary of the day Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa, and New Zealander
Sir Edmund Hillary became the first people to climb the 8,850-metre
(29,035-foot) high Mount Everest in 1953.
Honouring migrant workers
A five-member band based in Shenzhen's industrial Henggang area is making it
their mission to document the life and culture of migrant labour as lower-end
manufacturers are being pushed out of the city due to economic pressures
exacerbated by the coronavirus.
Zhong-D-Yin's songs tell of the lives of workers in crowded dormitories,
loneliness, romance and risking injuries. The band is preparing for its first
post-virus performance next month.
"We want to memorialise those lost, so that people in the future know their
lives matter," said bass player Huang Xiaona, who is also a social worker.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
