12 h. ago Alleged rape of Kolkata student sparks debate over women’s safety in India

The alleged rape of a law student at a Kolkata college – less than a year after a trainee doctor’s rape and murder sparked national outrage – has reignited debate over women’s safety in India and triggered political infighting in West Bengal’s ruling party. The latest case took place on June 25 at South Calcutta Law College, where the student was allegedly lured to stay after hours by Monojit Mishra, a temporary college staff member who is also a former student previously affiliated with the...

Events

12 h. ago Korean eatery’s sexy dance move for women staff ‘like working in a brothel’

A South Korean barbecue restaurant has sparked controversy after posting a video of women staff performing the provocative “Terminal Dance”. Eatery bosses also promised dancing staff a bonus if the clip reached 1 million views. Controversy surrounds Gopchang House in Seoul after asking its women employees to perform a suggestive “dance service” in front of customers by mimicking the viral, so-called Terminal Dance. The restaurant filmed their provocative moves and uploaded the video to social...

Politics

14 h. ago Hong Kong train driver’s antics have passengers laughing as MTR clips go viral

A video clip in which a Hong Kong train driver can be heard imitating a recorded passenger announcement in an MTR carriage has gone viral online, along with two others involving the rail giant’s staff, with internet users applauding the workers’ creative and personal approaches. In one video, the East Rail line driver can be heard mimicking the standard announcement telling passengers to “please step back from the train doors” and then adding, “Du du du du du du duuu”, the warning sound that...

Politics

42 h. ago Hong Kong police arrest man for allegedly stealing HK$7,500 from beach campers

Police have arrested a man who allegedly stole about HK$7,500 (US$955) in cash from a camping tent at a Hong Kong beach before he was hit by a BMW car while trying to flee the scene. The force said that the money was allegedly taken from the handbags of two women who were camping with their friends at Golden Beach in Tuen Mun on Sunday night. The suspect dropped some of the money before he was knocked down by the car near the Gold Coast Yacht and Country Club at about 8pm. The suspect, a...

Events

44 h. ago Reaction to Angel Chong’s Miss Hong Kong bid should spark reflection

Despite having been part of our lives for a long time, beauty pageants have come in for heavy criticism in recent years for objectifying women and reducing them to being judged only on their outward appearance. Despite reforms aimed at improving social perception and what constitutes “beauty”, they remain controversial. So, when Angel Chong Nga-ting, a 24-year-old local district councillor, decided to put herself out there and enter the contest for the title of Miss Hong Kong, some in the...

Politics

44 h. ago Why reaction to Angel Chong’s Miss Hong Kong bid is hypocritical

Despite having been part of our lives for a long time, beauty pageants have come in for heavy criticism in recent years for objectifying women and reducing them to being judged only on their outward appearance. Despite reforms aimed at improving social perception and what constitutes “beauty”, they remain controversial. So, when Angel Chong Nga-ting, a 24-year-old local district councillor, decided to put herself out there and enter the contest for the title of Miss Hong Kong, some in the...

Politics

47 h. ago Haitang: China is cracking down on young women who write gay erotica

Haitang: China is cracking down on young women who write gay erotica  BBC

Politics

61 h. ago Arranged to kill? Newlywed wives accused of murdering husbands stun India

What happens when women become the accused in a society accustomed to viewing them as victims? A recent spate of spousal killings involving newlywed brides in India has upended social assumptions and sparked debate over gender, justice – and the price of compulsion. The latest case – a chilling murder on a honeymoon – has riveted the Indian public. Earlier this month, police in Madhya Pradesh accused 25-year-old Sonam Raghuvanshi of conspiring with her boyfriend to hire assassins and murder her...

Events

3 d. ago Japan Princess Kako goes viral after photo of her asleep on economy flight emerges

Princess Kako of Japan has attracted attention online after a photo of her sleeping on an economy flight to Brazil went viral. The 30-year-old princess is the niece of Emperor Naruhito and a member of Japan’s imperial family. Her younger brother, Prince Hisahito, is next in line to the throne, as Japan still bars women from royal succession. In June, Princess Kako visited Brazil on an 11-day trip, touring eight cities at the invitation of the country’s government. During a domestic flight, she...

Politics

3 d. ago Talks over threats: South Korea tries a new tack to sway its nuclear neighbour

On a day heavy with memory, South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung invoked the language of peace, urging restraint and dialogue even as the nuclear-armed North forges deeper ties with Russia and the Korean peninsula bristles with tension. “The surest way to secure our safety is to build peace – peace so strong that there is no need to fight,” Lee said in a solemn social media post, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the onset of the Korean war. The conflict from 1950–53 left millions dead and...

Events

4 d. ago 2 Chinese men arrested in South Korea for using drone to film naval base

Two Chinese men have been arrested in the South Korean city of Busan for using a drone to illegally film a naval base, including a visiting US aircraft carrier, amid fears of such incidents occurring more regularly and threatening national security. One of the men, in his 40s, was arrested on suspicion of undertaking an action “benefiting an enemy by other methods”, South Korean police said on Thursday. It marked the first time that South Korea has arrested a foreigner on such a charge and...

Events

4 d. ago Chinese navy chief of staff and nuclear scientist expelled from top legislature

The Chinese navy’s chief of staff and a top nuclear scientist have been stripped of their membership of the country’s legislature. Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, and Liu Shipeng, deputy chief engineer at China National Nuclear Corporation, have been expelled from the National People’s Congress (NPC). Li is the latest of a string of PLA generals and a handful of defence industry executives to have implicated in a sweeping crackdown in the military. In...

Events

5 d. ago Hong Kong to hold public hospital executives accountable for medical incidents

The senior management of Hong Kong’s public hospitals will be held accountable for medical incidents, in addition to frontline staff, the Hospital Authority has said, as part of measures to ensure patient safety. The authority said on Thursday that the power to appoint and dismiss staff would be assigned to hospital chief executives and department heads instead of headquarters, streamlining the process for replacing underperforming employees. “This means if a manager identifies an...

Science

5 d. ago Hong Kong loan shark syndicate that hired teen enforcers on chat groups arrested

A loan shark syndicate in Hong Kong recruited young people through chat groups to vandalise debtors’ homes with red paint and paid them up to HK$1,000 (US$127) per job, police have said as they arrested 22 people, including key members of the criminal group and four teenagers, on suspicion of illegal lending and intimidation. In an operation conducted between June 16 and Wednesday, police arrested 19 men and three women, aged between 16 and 62, for 29 cases related to illegal debt collection....

Events

5 d. ago Hong Kong loan shark syndicate that hired teen debt collectors broken up

A loan shark syndicate in Hong Kong recruited young people through chat groups to vandalise debtors’ homes with red paint and paid them up to HK$1,000 (US$127) per job, police have said as they arrested 22 people, including key members of the gang and four teenagers. In an operation conducted between June 16 and Wednesday, police arrested 19 men and three women, aged between 16 and 62, in connection with 29 cases related to illegal debt collection. The cases involved the loan sharks recruiting...

Politics

5 d. ago Police break up Hong Kong loan shark syndicate that hired teen debt collectors

A loan shark syndicate recruited young Hongkongers through chat groups to vandalise debtors’ homes with red paint and paid them up to HK$1,000 (US$127) per job, police said on Thursday after arresting 22 people, including key gang members and four teenagers, on suspicion of illegal lending and intimidation. In an operation conducted between June 16 and Wednesday, police arrested 19 men and three women, aged between 16 and 62, in connection with 29 cases related to illegal debt collection. The...

Events

5 d. ago China hosts Iran defence minister and others on warship, condemns ‘hegemony’

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun has hosted his Iranian counterpart and other senior defence staff on an advanced Chinese warship days after the US bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities, while stating “hegemony” is the biggest source of global chaos. Iranian Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was among defence chiefs received by Dong on the ship on Wednesday alongside the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers meeting in Qingdao, a two-day event that ends on Thursday. Nasirzadeh...

Politics

6 d. ago South Korean student shares harrowing escape from Israel amid missile barrage

A South Korean college student has recounted her harrowing escape from Israel amid a barrage of Iranian missile strikes as a fragile ceasefire between the arch-foes takes hold following a 12-day conflict. The woman, who is studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, chronicled her June 13 evacuation during the aerial clash in a video posted to YouTube last Thursday. She said she was woken up by air raid sirens at 3am, forcing her to rush into a bomb shelter. “I initially thought the...

Events

6 d. ago How the dance of death stars puts a new spin on the way suns are born

Some stars nearing the end of their lives slow their spin in a “retirement solo” that not only shows the end is nigh but also how others are born. Chinese astronomers have used this cosmic dance to look into the Milky Way’s past and find that stars born today spin much faster than those formed billions of years ago. Using data from Europe’s Gaia space telescope and other sky surveys, researchers at the Changchun Observatory in northeastern China studied thousands of stars, each with a mass...

Events

6 d. ago Hong Kong security firm’s coming closure ‘not a warning sign for industry’

The impending closure of one of Hong Kong’s leading security firms does not sound the alarm about a wave of industry shutdowns, trade representatives have said, while staff shortages remain a challenge for businesses. Johnny Ho Kai-man, chairman of the Chamber of Security Industry, told the Post that the closure of CNT Security Company could be described as a “glorious winding up”. Ho said the company was respected in the industry and that it did its due diligence by laying out a road map for...

Events