Our daily pass around the world

🇨🇳 A Chinese zoo denied allegations one of its bears was a human in costume following a viral video that raised questions. "I'm Angela the sun bear – I got a call after work yesterday from the head of the zoo asking if I was being lazy and skipped work today and found a human to take my place," read a Sunday statement from zoo officials, which was inexplicably written from the bear's perspective, as translated by CNN. "Let me reiterate again to everyone that I am a sun bear," the statement continued. "[N]ot a black bear, not a dog – a sun bear!" Which… well, you make the judgment👆.

🇮🇹 The UN’s cultural agency says the city of Venice should be added to its endangered list. In a report published yesterday, UNESCO said Venice, Italy, hasn’t done enough to avoid "irreversible" damage from overdevelopment, high levels of tourism (28 million visitors per year), and rising sea levels due to climate change. But some Venetian officials pushed back on the UN’s claims, pointing to recent preservation-focused initiatives like a ban on cruise ships in Venice’s lagoon, as well as new sea walls to keep out high tides.

🇨🇦🚫 Meta has started blocking access to all news links for Facebook and Instagram users in Canada. The move came in response to Canadian legislation passed by Parliament in June that compels digital platforms with 50+ million users to compensate media outlets for all links to their articles shared on the platform. Google has also committed to blocking all news links in Canada once the law officially takes effect later this year. Meta and Google’s stance reflects their concern about a contagion effect in which other jurisdictions around the world end up mimicking Canada’s approach to news distribution, experts told the WSJ.