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Venice Cuts Size of Tourist Parties, Bans Loudspeakers

Stewards check QR codes outside the main train station in Venice earlier this month, during a pilot scheme aimed at limiting tourist numbers. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP
Stewards check QR codes outside the main train station in Venice earlier this month, during a pilot scheme aimed at limiting tourist numbers. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP
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Venice Cuts Size of Tourist Parties, Bans Loudspeakers

Stewards check QR codes outside the main train station in Venice earlier this month, during a pilot scheme aimed at limiting tourist numbers. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP
Stewards check QR codes outside the main train station in Venice earlier this month, during a pilot scheme aimed at limiting tourist numbers. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP

Venice will limit the size of tourist parties to 25 people from Thursday in the latest attempt to reduce the impact of crowds on the lagoon city.

Local authorities will also ban the use of loudspeakers by tourist guides in measures aimed at “protecting the peace of residents” and ensuring pedestrians can move around more freely.

There will be fines ranging from €25-500 (£21-£422) for those who do not comply with the measures, which were originally planned to take effect from June but held over until the start of August, The Guardian reported.

The restrictions cover the city center and also the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello.

In April, Venice became the first city in the world to introduce a payment system for visitors in an experiment aimed at dissuading daytrippers from arriving during peak periods.

 

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North-South Korea Olympic Podium Selfie Goes Viral 

Paris 2024 Olympics - Table Tennis - Mixed Doubles Victory Ceremony - South Paris Arena 4, Paris, France - July 30, 2024. Bronze medalist Jong-hoon Lim of South Korea takes selfie with Yu-bin Shin of South Korea and gold medalists Chuqin Wang of China and Yingsha Sun of China with silver medalists Jong Sik Ri of North Korea and Kum Yong Kim of North Korea on the podium with their medals after winning. (Reuters) 
Paris 2024 Olympics - Table Tennis - Mixed Doubles Victory Ceremony - South Paris Arena 4, Paris, France - July 30, 2024. Bronze medalist Jong-hoon Lim of South Korea takes selfie with Yu-bin Shin of South Korea and gold medalists Chuqin Wang of China and Yingsha Sun of China with silver medalists Jong Sik Ri of North Korea and Kum Yong Kim of North Korea on the podium with their medals after winning. (Reuters) 
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North-South Korea Olympic Podium Selfie Goes Viral 

Paris 2024 Olympics - Table Tennis - Mixed Doubles Victory Ceremony - South Paris Arena 4, Paris, France - July 30, 2024. Bronze medalist Jong-hoon Lim of South Korea takes selfie with Yu-bin Shin of South Korea and gold medalists Chuqin Wang of China and Yingsha Sun of China with silver medalists Jong Sik Ri of North Korea and Kum Yong Kim of North Korea on the podium with their medals after winning. (Reuters) 
Paris 2024 Olympics - Table Tennis - Mixed Doubles Victory Ceremony - South Paris Arena 4, Paris, France - July 30, 2024. Bronze medalist Jong-hoon Lim of South Korea takes selfie with Yu-bin Shin of South Korea and gold medalists Chuqin Wang of China and Yingsha Sun of China with silver medalists Jong Sik Ri of North Korea and Kum Yong Kim of North Korea on the podium with their medals after winning. (Reuters) 

Images of Olympic table tennis players from North Korea and South Korea taking a selfie together on the medal podium in Paris went viral in South Korea Wednesday, hailed as a rare show of cross-border unity.

Nuclear-armed North Korea declared the South its principal enemy earlier this year and tensions between the two countries are at one of their highest points in years.

But after South Korea won bronze and North Korea silver in the mixed doubles behind China, South Korea's Lim Jong-hoon took a group photo after the medal ceremony.

North Korea's Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong, the South's Shin Yu-bin and the victorious Chinese team Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha all beamed into Lim's phone, a South Korean-made Samsung.

"A selfie with both Koreas' national flags and a Samsung phone," said the widely read daily JongAng Ilbo.

It was the first time North Korea had been on an Olympic podium since 2016, as they did not send athletes to the Tokyo Olympics because of the Covid pandemic.

"I congratulated them when they were introduced as Silver medalists," Lim told Korean media after the award ceremony.

South Korean broadcasters have repeatedly run videos of the selfie, with many commentators reflecting on the significance of a rare moment of unity.

"This is the true spirit of the Olympics," one commentator said.