16 h. ago Trump foe Letitia James pleads not guilty to mortgage fraud charges

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a long-time critic of US President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty in federal court on Friday to charges related to allegedly lying on mortgage documents. James, a Democrat who last year secured a US$450 million civil fraud judgment against Trump, is one of three perceived enemies that the Republican president’s administration has brought criminal charges against in the past month, along with former FBI director James Comey and former national security...

Politics

21 h. ago Crypto tycoon Zhao Changpeng to make big comeback after Trump pardon: analysts

Freshly pardoned by US President Donald Trump, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng is expected to return at the helm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of daily turnover, according to analysts. The Chinese-born Canadian entrepreneur, widely known as CZ, received a pardon after he pleaded guilty to breaking US anti-money-laundering laws and went to prison for four months, part of a US$4.3 billion settlement with the US government to resolve a years-long investigation into...

Politics

3 d. ago California man Sun Yaoning to plead guilty to acting as Chinese agent

A California man has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government in Southern California while working as a campaign adviser for a local politician. Sun Yaoning, also known as Mike Sun, is expected to appear in court in Los Angeles on Monday to enter his plea under a deal with federal prosecutors, according to a copy of the agreement available in online court records. It was signed by Sun, his lawyer and a prosecutor earlier this month. If the plea is accepted...

Politics

9 d. ago USC PhD student Weng Sizhe charged with multiple rapes and drugging women

A University of Southern California graduate student who police say is a serial sexual predator has been charged with drugging and raping multiple women as investigators look for additional victims, Los Angeles authorities said. Weng Sizhe, a 30-year-old Chinese national also known as Steven Weng, was arrested on August 28, though the district attorney and police just released statements about the case on Wednesday. Weng has pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts including forcible rape and...

Events

9 d. ago USC PhD student Weng Sizhe charged with drugging and raping multiple women

A University of Southern California graduate student who police have said was a serial sexual predator has been charged with drugging and raping multiple women as investigators look for additional victims, Los Angeles authorities said. Weng Sizhe, a 30-year-old Chinese national also known as Steven Weng, was arrested August 28, though the district attorney and police just released statements about the case on Wednesday. Weng has pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts including forcible rape...

Events

9 d. ago Man gets six months for Hong Kong bomb hoax aimed at framing girlfriend’s ex

A man has been sentenced to six months in prison after he placed bomb hoax threats targeting Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Stadium in an attempt to plant blame on his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend for the criminal act. At West Kowloon Court on Wednesday, Zhang Kejia, 35, pleaded guilty to making three bomb hoax threats on May 13 this year, and to perverting the course of public justice while in custody at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre in June. Acting Principal Magistrate Andy Cheng Lim-chi sentenced Zhang to...

Events

9 d. ago Man gets 6 months for Hong Kong bomb hoax aimed at framing girlfriend’s ex

A man has been sentenced to six months in prison after he placed bomb hoax threats targeting Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Stadium in an attempt to plant blame on his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend for the criminal act. At West Kowloon Court on Wednesday, Zhang Kejia, 35, pleaded guilty to making three bomb hoax threats on May 13 this year, and to perverting the course of public justice while in custody at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre in June. Acting Principal Magistrate Andy Cheng Lim-chi sentenced Zhang to...

Events

1 week ago Hong Kong man jailed over attempted killing of father in murder

A Hong Kong warehouse worker has been sentenced to four years in prison for attempting to kill his 90-year-old father in a failed murder-suicide bid two years ago. The High Court on Wednesday ruled that the sentence given to Au Chi-ming was appropriate, balancing society’s condemnation of such crimes, the need to deter similar acts and the “tragic” circumstances of the case. The 53-year-old defendant pleaded guilty last month to trying to kill his bedridden father as part of his attempt to take...

Events

1 week ago Hong Kong court suspends jail term for Belarusian model who assaulted 2 officers

A Belarusian model fighting against his deportation from Hong Kong has been handed a suspended jail sentence for the drunken assault of two police officers following a domestic dispute. Eastern Court on Tuesday sentenced Aliaksandr Buka to six weeks’ imprisonment, but suspended the term for 18 months after the 25-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a police officer. The court heard police officers were dispatched to a high-rise residential flat in the Mid-Levels on the evening of...

Events

1 week ago Singapore jails woman who stabbed husband to death in ‘rash’ scuffle

A woman who stabbed her husband in a scuffle at a void deck in Singapore, causing his death, was sentenced to a total of 31 months’ jail on Tuesday. Baniyah Shap, a 52-year-old Singaporean, was given the sentence for a variety of offences. She pleaded guilty to seven charges, three of which relate to the stabbing: a rash act causing death, possessing a foldable knife and perverting the course of justice by washing the knife after the stabbing and hiding it. The other four charges are unrelated...

Events

1 week ago Paedophile singer Ian Watkins killed in UK’s ‘Monster Mansion’ jail attack

Ian Watkins, the former frontman of the British rock band Lostprophets, was killed on Saturday in a prison attack in England, where he was serving a 29-year sentence for multiple sex crimes against children. Watkins, 48, pleaded guilty in November 2013 to 13 child sex offences – including making or possessing child pornographic images, sexually assaulting at least one child under 13 and attempting to rape a baby. He was sentenced the following month for what the judge called “new depths of...

Events

2 w. ago Hong Kong medical student pleads guilty to filming 2 male schoolmates in shower

A Hong Kong medical student has pleaded guilty to covertly filming two male schoolmates while they showered at their university dormitory last year. Chung Chun-yu, 23, on Thursday admitted to two counts of voyeurism for his actions at the University of Hong Kong’s Madam S H Ho Residence for Medical Students on southern Hong Kong Island. The dormitory on Sassoon Road, which is within a 10-minute walk from Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam, accommodates mostly students in the bachelor of medicine...

Culture

2 w. ago Hong Kong medical student pleads guilty to filming schoolmates in campus showers

A Hong Kong medical student has pleaded guilty to covertly filming two male schoolmates while they showered at their university dormitory last year. Chung Chun-yu, 23, on Thursday admitted to two counts of voyeurism for his actions at the University of Hong Kong’s Madam S H Ho Residence for Medical Students on southern Hong Kong Island. The dormitory on Sassoon Road, which is within a 10-minute walk from Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam, accommodates mostly students in the bachelor of medicine...

Culture

3 w. ago Australian drug boss to be retried after lawyer’s police informant past exposed

A court in Melbourne ruled on Friday that one of Australia’s most famous drug kingpins must face a retrial after his defence lawyer was revealed to have been a police informant. Tony Mokbel - one of the key figures in Melbourne’s years-long gangland war – was handed a 30-year prison sentence in 2012 after pleading guilty to masterminding an elaborate drug syndicate. Violence linked to his group, known as “The Company”, claimed dozens of lives and was later immortalised in the hugely popular...

Events

3 w. ago Hong Kong’s ‘Mr Ho’ admits spraying insecticide on woman during street argument

An elderly Hong Kong man, known on the internet as “Mr Ho” after a whirlwind romance with a much younger mainland Chinese woman, has admitted spraying insecticide on a pedestrian who taunted him about controversies arising from his marriage. Tuen Mun Court on Tuesday also heard that Ho Huen, 77, had separated from his wife and was now living in a home for the elderly, with most of his savings taken away by his children from his first marriage. The retiree pleaded guilty on Tuesday to assault...

Politics

3 w. ago Chinese woman admits US$7.4 billion bitcoin fraud at UK court

A 47-year-old Chinese woman on Monday told a UK court that she played a leading role in a multibillion-pound fraudulent bitcoin scheme. Businesswoman Qian Zhimin, alias Zhang Yadi, pleaded guilty at London’s Southwark Crown Court following what is believed to be the single largest cryptocurrency seizure in the world, now worth about £5.5 billion (US$7.4 billion). Qian admitted one count of possessing criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property. Judge Sally-Ann Hales...

Economics

4 w. ago US financier charged with sexually abusing women in New York ‘dungeon’

A retired US financier has been arrested on charges that he lured dozens of women, including former Playboy models, to be sexually and physically assaulted during encounters in his Central Park penthouse in a soundproofed room described in court papers as “The Dungeon”. Howard Rubin, 70, was arrested on Friday at his rental home in Fairfield, Connecticut, authorities said. He pleaded not guilty at a federal court in Brooklyn. His former personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, was also arrested at...

Events

4 w. ago Hong Kong mother sentenced to psychiatric treatment for killing 1

A Hong Kong woman has been sentenced to one year of compulsory psychiatric treatment at a correctional facility for killing her one-year-old daughter in a murder-suicide attempt three years ago. The High Court on Friday ordered that Liu Ka-ki undergo continuous treatment at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre in Tuen Mun after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. The defendant admitted killing her daughter, Lo Yuet-ning, by poisoning and suffocating her at a...

Events

4 w. ago Hong Kong woman sentenced to psychiatric treatment for killing 1

A Hong Kong woman has been sentenced to one year of compulsory psychiatric treatment at a correctional facility for killing her one-year-old daughter in a murder-suicide attempt three years ago. The High Court on Friday ordered that Liu Ka-ki undergo continuous treatment at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre in Tuen Mun after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. The defendant admitted killing her daughter, Lo Yuet-ning, by poisoning and suffocating her at a...

Events

last month Hong Kong health inspector gets community service for stealing food samples

A Hong Kong health inspector has been sentenced to 120 hours of community service for stealing food samples bought with public money for radiation testing, with French veal stew and Arborio rice among the items seized from his home. West Kowloon Court on Thursday agreed not to jail Lau Shing-hin after the 36-year-old defendant pleaded guilty and testified against four others on trial, even though they were eventually acquitted. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) prosecuted five...

Events