Beefy balancing acts in Tokyo, extraterrestrial tech hunters within the US and bubbles offering Poles a breath of fresh air in polluted Warsaw… Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from round the world.
- Olympic offence –
So the Games begin — except for one among South Korea’s largest television networks, it wasn’t the foremost gracious of starts.
Covering the downsized opening ceremony attended by a couple of dozen masked athletes and delegations, broadcaster MBC jazzed things up for viewers reception with captions and illustrative images for every nation.
But while pizzas flashed up for Italy and salmon for Norway, when the Ukraine delegation proudly came out MBC showed images of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
As for Haiti: an image of a riot. El Salvador |Salvador|Central American country|Central American nation”> El Salvador , intriguingly, was identified by a promotional bitcoin poster.
In the captions, the network described the Marshall Islands as “a former nuclear test site for the United States” and Haiti as a rustic “with an unstable political situation thanks to the assassination of its president”.
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Beefy balancing acts in Tokyo, extraterrestrial tech hunters within the US and bubbles offering Poles a breath of fresh air in polluted Warsaw… Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from round the world.
a group of individuals asking for the camera: Ukraine’s Olympic team begin at the opening ceremony of the Games, attended to by just a couple of dozen masked athletes and delegations© Ben STANSALL Ukraine’s Olympic team begin at the opening ceremony of the Games, attended to by just a couple of dozen masked athletes and delegations
Close encounters: A team within the US is looking for evidence of alien technological civilizations© Frederic J. BROWN Close encounters: A team within the US is looking for evidence of alien technological civilizations
- Olympic offence –
So the Games begin — except for one among South Korea’s largest television networks, it wasn’t the foremost gracious of starts.
Covering the downsized opening ceremony attended by a couple of dozen masked athletes and delegations, broadcaster MBC jazzed things up for viewers reception with captions and illustrative images for every nation.
a person holding a sign: Try it with one leg: China’s Li Fabin is famed for standing on one leg when the load is above his head© Vincenzo PINTO Try it with one leg: China’s Li Fabin is famed for standing on one leg when the load is above his head
But while pizzas flashed up for Italy and salmon for Norway, when the Ukraine delegation proudly came out MBC showed images of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
As for Haiti: an image of a riot. El Salvador, intriguingly, was identified by a promotional bitcoin poster.
a man with a racket: Special treat: For 30 seconds athletes on stage can remove their masks© Jack GUEZ Special treat: For 30 seconds athletes on stage can remove their masks
In the captions, the network described the Marshall Islands as “a former nuclear test site for the United States” and Haiti as a rustic “with an unstable political situation thanks to the assassination of its president”.
a man talking into a microphone: Sweet success: Dean Boxall (R) Australian coach to gold-winning swimmer Ariarne Titmus (L) delighted fans together with his |along with his”> together with his spectacular celebration not keep with the pandemic Games© Jonathan NACKSTRAND Sweet success: Dean Boxall (R) Australian coach to gold-winning swimmer Ariarne Titmus (L) delighted fans with his spectacular celebration not keep with the pandemic Games
Not exactly whipping up the Olympic spirit.
“They used whatever popped up first on Google,” said one user online after the pictures and captions triggered outrage.
“This may be a serious diplomatic discourtesy,” another added.
MBC issued an apology afterwards for a few “inappropriate” choices.
- the reality is out there –
A boost in the week to alien hunting with an announcement from the Galileo Project, a world team of scientists led by a top Harvard astronomer.
They unveiled their new initiative to look for evidence of technology built by extraterrestrial civilisations, which has thus far received $1.75 million from private donors.
