2 . LONDON—England will join the growing list of places that don’t allow smoking in public buildings, taxis and other places that includes even Buckingham Palace with a strong law.

Pubs, clubs and restaurants will all be smoke-free places. Taxi drivers have been warned that they could be fined(罚款) 50 pounds, or about $100, if they are caught lighting up inside work taxis.

Experts say the bans have become unchangeable because of increasing health costs and public worry over second-hand smoke. Some of the strictest smoking bans are in some of the United States’ states, such as New York and Florida, which include bars and restaurants as smoke-free places.

Spain, Italy, Iran, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Uruguay and New Zealand have made laws to limit smoking. France banned smoking in many public places in February and cafes and restaurants will become non-smoking places next year. Finland will introduce a ban, too.

Bans are spreading among countries, and the World Health Organization supports them, but it said that by 2030 there will be “at least another two billion smokers in the world” and an expected decrease in male smokers “will be offset(抵消) by an increase in female smoking rates, especially in developing countries.”

In advance of the English ban, anti-smoking ads have coated bus stops and the government prepares to pay some money to help people give up smoking. The rest of Britain—Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—already have smoking bans ready.

3 . Germany’s top court has ruled that parts of the country’s 2019 climate (气候) action law must be changed because they don’t do a good job of protecting young people. The result is a big victory for the nine young people who started the law suing (诉讼).

The court suing stresses an important part of the climate change: The change will impact greatly on young people far more than the adults. That’s because the effects of earth warming will become more serious over time. As young people become adults, they’ll be left to deal with many problems that today’s adults have ignored. The government’s failure to plan carefully was putting their future lives in danger.

In 2019, Germany passed a new law, promising that the country would be carbon neutral (碳中和) by 2050. The law made a detailed plan of action until 2030. But the law didn’t have any specific rules or plans for climate actions that would be taken between 2031 and 2050.

Last Thursday, the judges of Germany’s highest court agreed with the young people. They said that not taking climate action made the basic rights of young people to a good future in danger.

The young people had challenged the government’s law in four specific areas. The judges didn’t agree with all of the challenges. But having the court support even a part of their case is seen as a big victory. Neubauer is one of the young people who sued. She works with the climate action group Fridays For Future. Ms. Neubauer said, “Climate protection is our basic right. This is a huge win for the climate movement. It changes a lot.”

The court has given the German government until the end of 2022 to fix the law. The climate law will now need to have a much more detailed plan for the actions that will be taken after 2030 to cut Germany’s pollution, allowing it to become carbon neutral by 2050. Germany’s government has said that it will quickly begin working to make the needed changes.

4 . Children experiencing frequent family violence in Guangdong Province will be regarded as victims, according to a local draft against family violence. The draft will be handed in for consideration and agreement by the People’s Congress.

“It will help to improve people’s understanding of family violence and provide a better family environment for the development of children’s mental health.” said Chen Yongkang, deputy director of the social construction committee of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress, “More detailed and exact measures against family violence will be made in the near future to better protect children’s health. Although they are not victims of physical hurt, children will be living under huge psychological shadows for quite a long time.”

The Guangdong Women’s Federation said the province recorded 14,172 cases of family violence between 2016 and 2018. Nearly 30 percent of China’s 270 million families have family violence problems, which cause 100,000 families to fall apart every year. About 90 percent of family violence victims are women.

“Family violence not only causes broken marriages, but also brings great harm to the development of children’s mental health,” Chen said. “The new draft will also help offenders realize they are doing something harmful to children. It will also make governments and social organizations pay more attention to the problem.”

According to the draft, mental violence will also be seen as an aspect of family violence. “Family violence is not all about physical hurt. Mental violence, including frequent shouting, does harm to family members, especially children,” Chen said.

The White House on Tuesday announced new actions,     1    (include) additional funding and a cross-agency initiative, to curb the alarming rise in violence and discrimination     2    Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FBI will also publish a new interactive page     3    documents hate crimes against the AAPI community and begin holding training events     4    (educate) agents on recognizing and reporting anti-Asian bias.

The Department of Health and Human Services is providing nearly $50 million from the American Rescue Plan     5    ( assist ) AAPI survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

The COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force,     6    ( found) in January, has also established a subcommittee on Structural Drivers of Health Inequity and Xenophobia, the White House said. This subcommittee will be     7    (specifical) focused on combating the surge in anti-Asian bias during the coronavirus pandemic.

The White House has faced pressure to take more concrete     8    (measure) to fight the rampant anti-Asian violence,     9    (especial) in the wake of the shootings in Atlanta on March 16 that left six Asian American women     10    two others dead.

8 . The local government killed more than 34,000 stray dogs (流浪狗) several months ago because those officials were afraid that the dogs would spread rabies (狂犬病).

This caused a debate across the country. Some people said that it was very cruel to kill dogs. There might be a better way to prevent the disease.

In the future, killing stray dogs might be seen as a crime. The Chinese government published a draft of animal rights law. It says that a person who kills a stray dog without good reason will be put in prison.

The draft also says that animal abuse and abandoning animals will be considered crimes under the criminal law.

The government published the draft so that the public could read it and discuss their thoughts. People share different opinions. Some think the law is good. They say other countries like Britain and Japan have similar laws. They say we will do better at protecting animals if there is one. But others say it’s not necessary to fight animal abuse with a new law. Criticisms and fines can do the job.

Some people also say that the draft doesn’t deal with the biggest issues facing the country’s development. The country should make progress to give all people equal rights, they say, before turning attention to animals.

Another part of the draft is causing discussion. It says that people should not force animals to do something dangerous, like jumping through a ring of fire. But many people enjoy watching this kind of performance at the circus, especially kids. They say that if the animal does it properly, it will not get hurt.