JAPAN

Sanrio cancels TV show

Hello Kitty maker Sanrio on Wednesday canceled a collaboration with a Japanese TV spy show after a backlash in China. The announcement by Sanrio’s Chinese subsidiary said that the show VIVANT, produced by Japanese broadcaster TBS and also available on Netflix, centers on Japanese spies and a terrorist organization called Tent. The latest season depicts a fictional Chinese intelligence agency capturing and torturing some of the Japanese spies. Chinese anger over Sanrio’s range of soft toys, including Hello Kitty, dressed as spies from the show has simmered for days on social media and came to a head this week when Chinese state media ramped up the condemnation. “We deeply apologize for the concern this has caused everyone,” Sanrio’s Chinese subsidiary said in a statement. “Regarding this collaboration, we believe it contains expressions that are inconsistent with the corporate philosophy of the Sanrio Group. We have therefore decided to terminate this collaboration along with all subsequent projects and promotional activities.” TBS president Masamine Ryuho said at a news conference that the drama is “entirely fictional and has no intention of disparaging any specific country,” local media reported.

Photo: AFP

NORWAY

Toilet beauty touted

The tourism authority on Wednesday used comments by US President Donald Trump about the country to vaunt the beauty of its toilets. Trump called Norway a “shithouse country” at a rally on Sunday. “We heard some noise about the ‘s+++house country.’ Well, what we can say, we do have some of the most spectacular toilets in the world. With Love, Visit Norway,” the agency said on Facebook. It added pictures of some of the elegant latrines that it boasts with the headline “Meet the world’s most beautiful (s++t h++++s) toilets.” Pictured was one restroom at the bottom of a hill overlooking a fjord. Others were situated next to a river or with breathtaking panoramas.

UNITED STATES

Judge rejects vote suit

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a Department of Justice request to stop California from processing the ballots of up to 20,000 people over allegations they are likely noncitizens. District Judge David Carter said that “eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable. Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger. This court declines to be a party to such process.” Prosecutors for the department said they would appeal the decision. It sued election officials in the state earlier this month, accusing the officials of failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a list of 20,000 people it alleged were likely noncitizens on voter rolls. It had asked the judge to require the state to wait to count those ballots until the voters’ immigration status could be verified. California mails ballots to all 23 million registered voters. Court filings show that more than 500,000 ballots had already been processed by this week. First Assistant Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on social media following the ruling that citizens were being disenfranchised. “Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials,” Essayli wrote. “This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution. Segregating a ballot does not prevent it from being counted later. It is designed to preserve the status quo and prevent the infection of our election with illegal ballots.”