9 h. ago Viral bullying clips, mass murder threat sound alarm in Japan over school violence

Recent viral clips in Japan of bullying, including one which later led to a mass murder revenge threat, have sparked concerns in the country about school violence. The latest case centres on an email message sent to the board of education in Oita city, in Kyushu, at 11pm on January 11 warning of an imminent attack. “On Thursday, January 15, I will intrude into the junior high school where the bullying video spread, together with several accomplices, and carry out a mass killing of students and...

Events

9 h. ago How Chinese ritual uses unboiled egg balancing on mirror or knife to detect spirit possession

Traditional Chinese folk superstition sees some families seek help from “egg-standing exorcists” who try to balance raw eggs on mirrors or kitchen knives to detect spirit possession. If the egg manages to stand upright, legend has it that a wandering spirit has taken over the person’s body. Traditionally, a superstition known as Cai Zhuang Ke, which is often referred to as “spirit possession”, is used to determine whether a sudden illness or extreme lethargy is caused by a wandering spirit or...

Politics

10 h. ago Impulse control: Malaysia’s social media ban targets teen minds

Eric Wong is only 20, but his life online is so consuming that he struggles to draw a line between his digital presence and the physical world. A member of Malaysia’s Gen Z – those aged 13 to 29 this year – Wong belongs to the first generation of true digital natives, raised on a steady stream of social media, online gaming and endless internet connectivity. “If there’s time in between classes, me and my friends will gather in the cafeteria or the nearby mamak (food stall) to play PUBG or Mobile...

Events

24 h. ago Murder suspect who fled to mainland China handed over to Hong Kong police

A murder suspect who fled across the border late last month after allegedly killing his girlfriend in a public housing flat has been handed over to Hong Kong police following his capture by mainland Chinese law enforcers. The Hong Kong identity card holder, 28, was wanted in the city in connection with the murder of a woman, 35, whose body was hidden in the storage compartment of a bed in his Ngau Tau Kok flat. He was arrested by Hong Kong police on Friday and is expected to be charged with...

Events

35 h. ago Man found guilty of involuntary manslaughter of San Francisco Thai grandfather

A man has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of an older Thai man whose 2021 killing in San Francisco helped spark a national movement against anti-Asian-American violence. A jury did not find Antoine Watson, 24, guilty of murder when it returned a verdict on Thursday for the January 2021 attack on Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84. Jurors found Watson guilty on the lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault. The office of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins...

Politics

44 h. ago UK teen who praised Southport murderer jailed for possessing al

A British teenager who praised the killer of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event and said he planned to bomb British rock band Oasis’ reunion concert was sentenced to detention on Friday for possession of an al-Qaeda manual. McKenzie Morgan, 18, was arrested at his home in Wales after sending messages on the social media platform Snapchat in which he praised Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three girls and stabbed 10 others in July 2024, prosecutor Corinne Bramwell...

Events

48 h. ago Malaysia’s Umno chief denies he ‘sidelined’ Najib to secure his own legal freedom

The president of Malaysia’s Umno has denied abandoning disgraced ex-prime minister Najib Razak to save himself, as fissures emerge in the former ruling party over the mixed legal fortunes of two of its top leaders. Umno grass-roots members have urged President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to quit Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government in protest after the High Court blocked Najib’s bid to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest last month. It also handed the one-time party figurehead a...

Politics

51 h. ago China warns of ‘honey trap’ risks in defence sector after official jailed for espionage

Chinese state security authorities recently warned of “honey trap” risks in the defence and technology sectors, citing a case in which a public official was blackmailed into surrendering state secrets following a trip abroad. A social media account affiliated with the National Administration of State Secrets Protection published an article on Wednesday stating that personnel in the military industry were becoming targets of honey traps by foreign intelligence agencies and provided details of a...

Events

51 h. ago China warns of ‘honey trap’ risks after defence official jailed for espionage

China warns of ‘honey trap’ risks after defence official jailed for espionage  South China Morning Post

Events

53 h. ago Hong Kong’s Chris Tang defends police’s ‘difficult decision’ to shoot knife

Hong Kong’s security chief has defended police’s “difficult decision” to shoot a man who brandished a knife and took a woman hostage in a shopping centre, praising their bravery and decisiveness in saving lives. After police fatally shot the 34-year-old man on Thursday, Security Secretary Chris Tang Ping-keung revealed the suspect was mentally unstable at the time, possibly influenced by drugs, with suspected substances found in his possession. “It is obvious that [the suspect] was acting insane...

Events

59 h. ago Brazil judge orders ‘immediate’ transfer of Bolsonaro to a better

A Brazilian judge on Thursday ordered the immediate transfer of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro to a prison with “more favourable” conditions. The 70-year-old former leader will move to a special detention unit with a kitchen, private outdoor area and a double bed at a prison complex in the capital Brasilia, according to a ruling seen by Agence France-Presse. Brazil’s Supreme Court convicted Bolsonaro last year of plotting a coup to cling to power following his narrow 2022 re-election...

Events

59 h. ago Carney praises Xi’s leadership, references ‘new world order’ in Beijing remarks

Carney praises Xi’s leadership, references ‘new world order’ in Beijing remarks  Juno News

Politics

66 h. ago Trump administration wins appeal to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a freed pro

A federal appeal panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist. A three-judge panel of the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeal in Philadelphia instructed the lower court to dismiss Khalil’s habeas petition, a court filing that secured his release. The panel ruled that the federal district court in New Jersey did not have jurisdiction over...

Politics

3 d. ago Jailed Chinese AI chatbot developers appeal in landmark pornography case

In a landmark case in China, two AI chatbot developers have appealed against their convictions on pornography charges over software that generated sexual content for paid users. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court began on Wednesday hearing the appeal by the two defendants against an earlier decision by a lower court to sentence one of the developers to four years and the other to 1½ years in prison for “creating pornographic material for profit”. The hearing has been adjourned,...

Events

3 d. ago Trump praises Venezuela’s ‘terrific’ interim president after call

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had held a “long call” with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, the first known contact between the two leaders since the ousting of Nicolas Maduro. “We just had a great conversation today, and she’s a terrific person,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He later said on social media that he and Rodriguez had discussed “many topics”, including oil, minerals, trade and national security. “We are making tremendous progress,” Trump...

Politics

3 d. ago Malaysian gets 12 years’ jail in Singapore for Caucasian ‘sugar daddy’ sextortion scam

A Singapore court has sentenced a 38-year-old Malaysian man to 12 years in prison and 15 strokes of the cane for posing online as a wealthy Caucasian “sugar daddy” and coercing women into sex while extorting money with threats to release explicit material. The man, Rajwant Singh Gill Narajan Singh, was convicted of two counts of cheating and one count each of extortion and attempted extortion involving two victims, identified in court documents as PW1 and PW2. “By his horrific and perverse...

Events

4 d. ago Hong Kong man who claimed to be reincarnated Thai king gets life for axe murder

A Hong Kong man who claimed to be the reincarnation of a late Thai king has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the gruesome murder of an elderly man four years ago. The High Court on Wednesday sentenced 35-year-old Mang Yat-lam to mandatory life in prison after a seven-member jury unanimously rejected his claim that he had been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the random attack. Mang, who was unemployed, told the court he did not know his victim, 70-year-old Cheung...

Events

4 d. ago China entrepreneur promises football team players a car each, retracts offer after landmark win

An entrepreneur in China has come under fire for promising to gift a car to every member of a city’s football team if they won an important competition, then reneging on her promise when they did. While many people criticised the woman, the local football association said it would not push the woman to fulfil her promise, saying they understood her financial predicament. The response was viewed 22 million times on one mainland social media platform alone. It also attracted praise from the state...

Sport

4 d. ago China teen makes fraudulent returns on cosmetics platform, profiting US$570,000 from resale

A Chinese teenager has been sentenced to six years in prison after he exploited a loophole in an online shopping platform’s refund policy to make thousands of fraudulent claims. The 17-year-old made 11,900 bogus refund applications without returning the goods and made four million yuan (US$570,000) from doing so. It was recently reported that a court in Shanghai issued a verdict in his case in July 2025. In March 2024, a cosmetics shopping platform reported to the police that it had become a...

Economics

4 d. ago China teen makes bogus returns on cosmetics platform, profiting US$570,000 from resale

China teen makes bogus returns on cosmetics platform, profiting US$570,000 from resale  South China Morning Post

Economics