500 liquor shops shut as Indian state goes dry

The pledge was popular with women voters, who blame alcohol for much of the state’s domestic and sexual violence, and for depleting the income of poor families. (AFP)
Updated 19 June 2016
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500 liquor shops shut as Indian state goes dry

NEW DELHI: Five hundred liquor shops were ordered closed from Sunday in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu after its newly re-elected government pledged to ban alcohol to curb violence and other problems.
The Tamil Nadu government issued a statement ordering the closures as part of staggered plans to become the latest state in India to introduce prohibition.
The statement said 500 TASMAN retail vending liquor shops would be closed, referring to the government-run Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation outlets. Operating hours of all others would be reduced.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram and leaders of other political parties promised prohibition during campaigning in last month’s state election.
The pledge was popular with women voters, who blame alcohol for much of the state’s domestic and sexual violence, and for depleting the income of poor families.
Experts have expressed caution, saying drinkers could simply buy grog in neighboring states and bring it back. Others point to a possible rise in the production of illegal and often deadly moonshine.
The neighboring southern state of Kerala, which draws tourists to its tea plantations, lagoons and lakes and sweeping coastline, started banning alcohol sales in most hotels from 2014.
Bihar in the east, one of India’s most populated and impoverished states, introduced prohibition this year in a bid to prevent meagre family incomes being spent on booze.
Western Gujarat introduced prohibition decades ago, while some states in the remote northeast also have bans in place.


China’s Xi makes rare public reference to recent military purges

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China’s Xi makes rare public reference to recent military purges

  • China’s two top-ranking generals caught in disciplinary probes
  • Purge ‌has cut supreme military leadership body to two members
BEIJING: China’s military has grown stronger in the past year in its fight against corruption, President Xi Jinping told the Chinese armed forces on Wednesday, making a rare public reference to the graft probes linked to the country’s top generals.
China’s two highest-ranked generals have been ensnared in disciplinary probes, with He Weidong expelled in October last year and ‌Zhang Youxia ‌placed under investigation in January, marking one of ‌the ⁠most high-profile purges ⁠of the Chinese military in decades.
“The past year has been unusual and extraordinary,” Xi told the military in a virtual address. “The People’s Army has deepened its political education, effectively addressed various risks and challenges, and undergone revolutionary forging in the fight against corruption.”
Military leadership body shrinks to two people
The downfall of Zhang and He, ⁠the two vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission, ‌has cut China’s seven-man supreme military ‌leadership body to just a committee of two people – Xi himself as ‌the chair of CMC and a newly promoted vice ‌chairman Zhang Shengmin.
The seats of CMC’s three remaining members are currently empty. Li Shangfu was expelled in 2024 and Miao Hua in 2025, while Liu Zhenli was placed under investigation for corruption last month. An unknown number ‌of commanders, including the leaders of China’s nuclear deterrence forces, have also been purged.
Zhang Youxia – one of ⁠the few ⁠remaining combat veterans in the People’s Liberation Army – would have been one of the chief decision-makers over whether China would launch an attack on Taiwan, the democratically ruled island claimed by Beijing.
The military’s top leadership is also being purged just as China is stepping up efforts to modernize its armed forces and to project its military power farther afield.
In Xi’s virtual address on Wednesday, he praised the rank and file instead, saying they were “trustworthy.”
“Officers and soldiers across the military, especially those at the grassroots level, had resolutely followed the party’s leadership, loyally fulfilled their duties, focused on overcoming difficulties, and successfully completed all tasks.”