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Russian Ballet Shows in South Korea Cancelled for a Second Time

Svetlana Zakharova as Princess Aurora with The Bolshoi Ballet. (AFP/Getty Images)
Svetlana Zakharova as Princess Aurora with The Bolshoi Ballet. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Russian Ballet Shows in South Korea Cancelled for a Second Time

Svetlana Zakharova as Princess Aurora with The Bolshoi Ballet. (AFP/Getty Images)
Svetlana Zakharova as Princess Aurora with The Bolshoi Ballet. (AFP/Getty Images)

A ballet show in South Korea featuring principal dancers from Russia's Bolshoi Ballet was cancelled a day before opening night, the organizer said on Monday, amid tensions between Seoul and Moscow over Ukraine and North Korea.

The last-minute cancellation came after Seoul performances of a ballet starring Svetlana Zakharova, a Ukrainian-born Russian prima ballerina and a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, were called off in March.

The Russian embassy in South Korea expressed "deep regret" over the latest cancellation.

"We can't help but notice that South Korea is now showing a certain tendency in its approach to cooperation with Russia in the cultural field as well," the embassy said on its social media account.

"We will have no choice but to consider this."

South Korea has joined Western economic sanctions on Russia, suspended transactions with Russian institutions, and regulated the exports of some strategic items, including electronics and semiconductors, in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Seoul and Moscow have also clashed over Seoul's decision to impose sanctions against Russian individuals and entities which it said were carrying military cargo to North Korea or were linked to North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

The performances, due to take place from Tuesday to Thursday, initially featured 12 principal performers from the Bolshoi Ballet at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul.

The program was then modified to reduce the number of Russian performers with changed content.

However, the show's organizer on Monday announced the cancellation on social media, saying the alterations to the show's cast and program were not accepted by the concert hall.

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Varieties

Ozempic Hailed as 'Fountain of Youth' that Slows Aging

The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)
The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)
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Ozempic Hailed as 'Fountain of Youth' that Slows Aging

The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)
The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)

The anti-obesity drug Ozempic could slow down ageing and has “far-reaching benefits” beyond what was imagined, researchers have suggested.

Multiple studies have found semaglutide (available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic) reduced the risk of death in people who were obese or overweight and had cardiovascular disease without diabetes, The Independent reported.

Responding to research published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology, Professor Harlan M Krumholz from the Yale School of Medicine, said: “Semaglutide, perhaps by improving cardiometabolic health, has far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined.”

He added: “These ground-breaking medications are poised to revolutionise cardiovascular care and could dramatically enhance cardiovascular health.”

Multiple reports also quoted Professor Krumholz saying: “Is it a fountain of youth?”

He said: “I would say if you’re improving someone’s cardiometabolic health substantially, then you are putting them in a position to live longer and better.

“It’s not just avoiding heart attacks. These are health promoters. It wouldn’t surprise me that improving people’s health this way actually slows down the ageing process.”

The studies, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Conference 2024 in London, were produced from the Select trial which studied 17,604 people aged 45 or older who were overweight or obese and had established cardiovascular disease but not diabetes.

They received 2.4 mg of semaglutide or a placebo and were tracked for more than three years.

A total of 833 participants died during the study with 5 percent of the deaths were related to cardiovascular causes and 42 per cent from others.

Infection was the most common cause death beyond cardiovascular, but it occurred at a lower rate in the semaglutide group than the placebo group.

People using the weight-loss drug were just as likely to catch Covid-19, but they were less likely to die from it – 2.6 percent dying among those on semaglutide versus 3.1 per cent on the placebo.

Researchers found women experienced fewer major adverse cardiovascular events, but semaglutide “consistently reduced the risk” of adverse cardiovascular outcomes regardless of sex.

Dr Benjamin Scirica, lead author of one of the studies and a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Harvard Medical School, said: “The robust reduction in non-cardiovascular death, and particularly infections deaths, was surprising and perhaps only detectable because of the Covid-19-related surge in non-cardiovascular deaths.

“These findings reinforce that overweight and obesity increases the risk of death due to many etiologies, which can be modified with potent incretin-based therapies like semaglutide.”

Dr Jeremy Samuel Faust, an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, praised the researchers for adapting the study to look at Covid-19 when the pandemic started.

He said the findings that the weight-loss drug to reduce Covid-19 mortality rates were “akin to a vaccine against the indirect effects of a pathogen.”