QUIRKY WORLD ... Chinese whispers turn turkey pardoned in US into Japanese PM

CHINA: President Barack Obama’s pardoning of a turkey named ‘Abe’ for Thanksgiving has led some Chinese commentators to gloat at the Japanese prime minister’s expense.

As part of a peculiar annual tradition at the White House, Obama granted amnesty from the dinner table to two turkeys named ‘Honest’ and ‘Abe’ — from the nickname for president Abraham Lincoln. However, a translation glitch in Chinese media replaced the character for single-syllable ‘Abe’ with the surname of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe (pronounced ‘Ah-bay’).

Several commenters in Chinese social media focused on comparing the prime minister to an animal.