DAKAR: The authorities in Mali have begun a crackdown on hookah smoking after giving a grace period to shisha bars to adjust to a ban.
The country's anti-drug agency says it has carried out dozens of arrests in the capital Bamako and seized water pipes after the six-month moratorium expired.
Bars where small groups of smokers -- primarily young men -- hang out to chat and puff on hookahs have flourished in Bamako in recent years.
But their days became numbered when the junta-dominated government on August 15 announced a surprise ban.
It warned that shisha smokers would be liable to a prison term of one to 10 days and a fine of 300 to 10,000 CFA francs ($0.45 to $15).
The Central Narcotics Office (OCS) in a Facebook posting said there had been "vigorous" raids by its agents in Bamako on Tuesday night, culminating in "about 50 individuals in prison and a large amount of seized material."
It published photos of young men and women being taken away in the back of pickup trucks and a picture of a pile of water pipes.
"The grace period given by the authorities for importers, distributors, sellers and consumers of shisha in Mali is over," the OCS said.
The ban has divided opinion in Mali.
The country is overwhelmingly Muslim, and interpretations of Islam are generally unfavourable to cigarettes and to shisha.
But it is also a secular nation that tolerates alcohol, even if consumption is limited to certain public places and most shops and restaurants do not serve it.
Shishas, or hookahs, typically burn tobacco flavoured with fruit to provide a sweetened taste. The smoke is inhaled in through a long rubber tube, passing through water to cool it down. "Shisha" is also the term sometimes used for the tobacco product.
A working group of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in 2017 about the danger of shisha smoking.
The practice is up to 10 times more harmful than cigarettes but is not targeted by the same awareness campaigns as with tobacco, it said.
Mali junta cracks down on hookahs
https://arab.news/vgv4j
Mali junta cracks down on hookahs
- Shisha smokers would be liable to a maximum of 10 days in prison and a fine of $0.45 to $15
- Mali's anti-drug agency has carried out dozens of arrests in Bamako
Fans bid farewell to Japan’s only pandas
TOKYO: Panda lovers in Tokyo said goodbye on Sunday to a hugely popular pair of the bears that are set to return to China, leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.
Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” program, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972.
Some visitors at Ueno Zoological Gardens were left teary-eyed as they watched Japan’s only two pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao munch on bamboo.
The animals are expected to leave for China on Tuesday following a souring of relations between Asia’s two largest economies.
“I feel like seeing pandas can help create a connection with China too, so in that sense I really would like pandas to come back to Japan again,” said Gen Takahashi, 39, a Tokyo resident who visited the zoo with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.
“Kids love pandas as well, so if we could see them with our own eyes in Japan, I’d definitely want to go.”
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month after Japan’s conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery took turns viewing the four-year-old twins at Ueno zoo while others gathered nearby, many sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to celebrate the moment.
Mayuko Sumida traveled several hours from the central Aichi region in the hope of seeing them despite not winning the lottery.
“Even though it’s so big, its movements are really funny-sometimes it even acts kind of like a person,” she said, adding that she was “totally hooked.”
“Japan’s going to be left with zero pandas. It feels kind of sad,” she said.
Their departure might not be politically motivated, but if pandas return to Japan in the future it would symbolize warming relations, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and expert in East Asian international relations.
“In the future...if there are intentions of improving bilateral ties on both sides, it’s possible that (the return of) pandas will be on the table,” he told AFP.
