Japan expands sanctions aimed at North Korea Tokyo, December 15 (AFP): Japan said today it had added 19 more entities to its list of organisations and individuals targeted by asset-freeze sanctions on North Korea. The sanctions list now comprises 103 entities and 108 individuals in total, including seven Chinese entities, five Chinese individuals, one Singaporean entity and two Namibian entities, it said. They include organisations involved in financial services, coal and minerals trading, transportation and sending North Korean labourers abroad, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Japan has already imposed strict sanctions on North Korea, including a blanket ban on trade and port calls. Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said: “North Korea launched an ICBM ballistic missile that landed in our exclusive economic zone and continues to repeat provocative commentaries. “In light of this, as we host a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council on December 15, we have decided on the asset freeze in order to further increase pressure” on the reclusive state. Chinese university bans Christmas celebrations Beijing, December 15 (IANS): A Chinese university has reportedly banned Christmas celebrations on its campus to protect its students from the influence of western culture about which many, it thinks, are “blindly excited”. The varsity in Shenyang in China’s northeast province Liaoning has issued a notice to its students, asking them not to organise any Western religious festivals, such as Christmas, on the campus. The diktat by the Communist Youth League of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, the youth division of the Communist Party of China, said the move is intended to help the younger generation “build cultural confidence”. According to the Global Times, the notice issued on Monday said that the students’ union, student associations and youth league branches will be banned from holding any activities centred on Western religious holidays. The League reasoned that some youth are “blindly excited about western holidays”, especially Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and there is a need to “resist the corrosion by Western religious culture”. This is not the first time in China that an educational institute has forbidden Christmas celebrations. There is a prevalent view in China that western or, for that matter, any foreign culture may corrode the ancient Chinese culture. Prince Harry & Markle to marry on May 19 LONDON, December 15 (Reuters): Britain’s Prince Harry and his American fiancée, Meghan Markle, will marry on Saturday May 19, Kensington Palace said. Queen Elizabeth’s grandson, fifth-in-line to the throne, and Markle, announced their engagement last month with the marriage to take place in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. “His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales and Ms. Meghan Markle will marry on 19th May 2018,” Kensington Palace said in a statement. The couple have chosen to marry in Windsor, west of London, because it is “a special place for them”. Harry’s 91-year-old grandmother, Elizabeth, will attend the ceremony. Markle, 36, who attended a Catholic school as a child but identifies as a Protestant, will be baptised and confirmed into the Church of England before the wedding. She intends to become a British citizen, though she will retain her US citizenship while she goes through the process.
