Lol I remember it being “SmokeFree 2020” when I was a teenager, guess that didn’t quite work out!
Also, I gotta wonder if banning vape alternatives such as nicotine pouches a few years back might have slightly impacted the availability/accessibility of vapes. Still reckon that was a bloody drongo move.
You can find vapes inspired by video games, they come in bright colours and flavours like bubble gum and candy floss," she said.
For long-term adult smokers, it’s seen as a less harmful alternative but the flipside to that is the exponential rise and accessibility of vaping to teenagers and at times younger children.
Marni Wilton said many vape shops had popped up recently around her Auckland suburb close to her sons’ local schools.
Ms Wilton said the new government regulations fail to address the problem: “This absolutely doesn’t go far enough to help our children.”
Ben Youdan, who has worked in tobacco control and campaigning for nearly 20 years both in the UK and New Zealand, said banning vaping only drives it to the black market rather than get young kids off it.
Mr Youdan is now director of Ash NZ, a lobby group campaigning for a smoke free New Zealand.
Iranian MPs have voted to review a controversial hijab law behind closed doors - meaning it is likely there will be no public debate on the matter.
It was drafted in response to months of mass protests triggered by the death in custody of a woman who was accused of not wearing her hijab correctly.
MPs called on Article 85 of Iran’s constitution to progress the legislation, which allows a parliamentary committee to review bills without public debate.
However MP Gholamreza Nouri-Qezeljeh warned that the move came with “dangers”, especially since a large portion of the bill focuses on “criminalising and punishing” hijab-related violations.
Her death sparked months of mass protests in Iran, which saw the morality police unit temporarily pause their controversial street patrols to enforce the dress code.
In August 2021, politicians voted in favour of using it to review a draconian internet bill - a decision that was met by fierce criticism from human rights groups.
Miss Universe Organisation (MUO) has cut ties with its Indonesian franchise after several contestants alleged sexual abuse days before the pageant’s crowning ceremony in Jakarta.
MUO also said it was also cancelling this year’s pageant in Malaysia which is run by the same company, PT Capella Swastika Karya.
It said it was evaluating its policies and procedures to avoid similar occurrences and said there were no measurement or body dimensions requirements to join its pageants worldwide.
“In light of what we have learned took place at Miss Universe Indonesia, it has become clear that this franchise has not lived up to our brand standards, ethics, or expectations,” MUO posted on Saturday night.
Miss Universe, which is now on its 73rd edition, is popular in South-east Asia, especially in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, where winners go on to become celebrities and social media influencers.
Indonesia’s Ms Fabienne Nicole Groeneveld who who won the contest to represent her country in the 2023 Miss Universe finals in November will compete with the organisation’s support, MUO said.
The annual Perseid meteor shower has lit up skies across the world to the delight of those hoping to catch a glimpse of a shooting star.
As the debris hits the Earth’s atmosphere it burns up, resulting in the bright flashes known as shooting stars, which can be seen with the naked eye.
Heavy cloud over much of the UK meant many stargazers were disappointed, although some sightings were possible over Yorkshire, north-east England and parts of southern Scotland.
Looking ahead to the chances of spotting a shooting star over the coming days, BBC weather forecaster Billy Payne said many should be able to get a glimpse despite less than perfect conditions.
“I spent three hours looking out over the River Wye and although the cloud rolled in and out throughout, I saw quite a few meteors and the camera captured even more - they have all been combined to produce this photo.”
If you are reading this page and can’t see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at [email protected].
Looks like is time to move to Europe then, I mean the whole call and write to your senators and representatives only works if they care about their people instead of corporate contributions, the whole vote for someone who cares only works if you have an alternative.
yeah this is what I’m thinking. The fact that US corps want to pull out of the UK just makes me respect the UK more… not that they don’t have their own problems, EU countries seem to be doing better in general
The issue here is that the UK isn’t doing something good in this one circumstance. You can’t create a man in the middle encryption scheme and hope your the only man in the middle. It fundamentally breaks the baseline security and privacy of the solution.
I think the commenter meant the saying we have in the US which is call and write your representatives/senators. They were indicating doing whatever the UK version of that appears to be falling on deaf ears as the article states the politicians do not appear to be taking the advise of educated advisors so they are also likely going to ignore the public.
75% of the current Tory MPs are about to lose their seats in the next election so they don’t give a fuck. The strategy they seem to be adopting to save their jobs is to swing further to the authoritarian right to try and convince boomers to vote for them.
They won’t win by taking the sensible approach to policies like this, so that only leaves incentives to do as much harm as they can in the next year or so in hopes of getting the fascist votes out.
Do as much damage as they can so they can blame it on “the left” and people actually believe them. I’ve been fighting this battle for years in Sweden. Doesn’t seem to matter to people when they’re shown black on white that what they are complaining about is a direct result of policy made by the party they’re hoping is gonna fix it. What matters to them is that they now “identify” as right leaning. Doesn’t help that emphatic and cognitive ability plummets once people turn 60, yet they can vote for another 30-40 years.
Aimed at protecting children, it lays down strict rules around policing social media content, with high financial penalties and prison time for individual tech execs if the firms fail to comply.
One clause that has proved particularly controversial is a proposal that encrypted messages, which includes those sent on WhatsApp, can be read and handed over to law enforcement by the platforms they are sent on, if there is deemed to be a national security or child protection risk.
The NSPCC children’s charity has described encrypted messaging apps as the “front line” of where child abuse images are shared, but it is also seen as an essential security tool for activists, journalists and politicians.
Microsoft reacted furiously when the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) chose to block its acquisition of the video game giant Activision Blizzard.
Also, we shouldn’t confuse “pro-innovation” with “pro-Big Tech” warns Professor Neil Lawrence, a Cambridge University academic who has previously acted as an advisor to the CMA.
Professor Alan Woodward is a cyber-security expert at Surrey University whose has worked various posts at GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency.
Reading this made me wonder if anyone working the holocaust trains had any moments of reflection as they carted people to slaughter. Maybe some of them could feign ignorance, unlike the “Texas Division of Emergency Management” Officials
Utterly disgusting that people are going along with this farce.
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