Christoph Waltz, left, and Jamie Foxx star in Columbia Pictures' "Django Unchained."
China Re-Chains Django – The American film Django Unchained was pulled from theaters in China on Thursday, its opening day, after China Film Group, the film’s government-controlled importer, issued instructions to stop showing it, according to the Wall Street Journal. Employees at Beijing theaters said the film, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, which tells a bloody revenge story set in America’s pre-Civil War South, had been pulled because of unspecified technical problems, the New York Times reports. The move comes after the film was edited to conform with the wishes of Chinese censors.
Brazil Labor Equality – Brazil’s constitutional amendment granting domestic servants an eight-hour workday, overtime pay, and other rights available to the rest of the workforce could cost maids and nannies their jobs, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The country’s middle- and upper-class families are concerned that the law, which was approved just after Easter, could increase the cost of employing a maid or nanny, after almost doubling since 2006. Although the new law could backfire for maids and end the Brazilian middle class’s reliance on servants, domestic servants said the benefits are overdue.
Mexico City Shakes Salt – According to the Guardian, local authorities in Mexico’s capital have removed salt shakers from the tables of city’s eateries in an attempt to lower people’s average salt intake, which is double the recommended level by the World Health Organization (WHO). The Less Salt, More Health campaign has the backing of Mexico City’s restaurant owners association and sets out to encourage diners to stop and think about their salt intake by making them ask for it. Approximately 31% of Mexicans have high blood pressure, and consume on average about 11g of salt per day, the Guardian notes. Rampant diabetes represents the most acute problem, currently killing about 70,000 Mexicans a year.
Cyprus Bailout – The hole in Cyprus’s finances is much deeper than previously thought, as the nation needs to find an extra €6 billion ($7.84 billion) — much of which will come from savers’ accounts — to fund its own bailout, reports the Guardian. Cypriot politicians have already come under pressure domestically after agreeing to impose losses on savers at two struggling banks in order to satisfy its eurozone partners’ demands that it contributes to the bailout. A leaked draft of the country’s rescue plan shows that the bailout will now cost €23 billion ($30 billion), €10 billion ($13 billion) of which will come from Cypriot savers and taxpayers. A financial analyst told the Guardian that the rising cost of the bailout echoed the pattern in other bailed-out states, where other so-called financial “black holes” may yet exist.
Papua New Guinea Witchcraft – The prime minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill, has pledged to repeal the country’s sorcery laws, following a series of killings of people accused of witchcraft, reports the New York Times. Papua New Guinea has faced international pressure to end an apparent growing trend of vigilante violence related to alleged witchcraft. The most recent such case involved an elderly former school teacher who was decapitated after being accused of using black magic to kill a colleague. The 1971 Sorcery Act criminalizes witchcraft, and recognizes it as a defense in murder cases. PM O’Neill said a new act would be put before parliament in an effort to end the violence, which he described as “barbaric.”
Cameron’s Germany Visit — British Prime Minister David Cameron is in Germany on Friday, where he will discuss the reform of the European Union with Chancellor Angela Merkel, reports the Guardian. The two leaders will discuss “all aspects” of European reform. Cameron plans to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the E.U. and will stage a referendum on Britain’s continuing membership. Earlier this week, he said support among British voters for E.U. membership was “wafer-thin,” writes the Guardian. Cameron was dealt a blow when Merkel and French President François Hollande rejected a U.K. exercise to investigate the impact of E.U. laws on Britain and the rest of Europe.