Taiwan actor arrested for ‘evading conscription’ begins military duty

Taiwanese actor Darren Wang began his conscription service on Thursday, a month after he was arrested for allegedly evading mandatory military duty.

The 33-year-old star began his one-year military service, the Ministry of Interior said, as he joined general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung.

He would first undergo 26 days of training before being assigned a designated service unit, Taipei Times reported.

During his training, Mr Wang would participate in disaster response exercises, entry-level emergency medical technician training, simulated and live-fire shooting drills, team-building activities such as rock climbing, and physical fitness tests, as well as a 3km run and push-ups, the report said.

The actor, who shot to fame for his role in romantic comedy-drama Our Times and Suddenly Seventeen, was arrested on 18 February for allegedly evading military service and forging military documents.

However, he was released on bail for NT$150,000 ($4,583) after questioning.

Taiwan‘s Central News Agency said that police seized “relevant evidence” from his home.

Taiwan has a long-standing system of mandatory military conscription and all men have to undergo compulsory military training for a year.

The law governed under the Act of Military Service System has undergone several reforms in recent years due to geopolitical concerns, declining birth rates, and public sentiment. The duration was raised from four months to one year in 2022 over growing threats from mainland China.

Instead of active-duty military service, some men can opt for alternative service in government agencies, public service roles, or specific industries.

Taiwan considers itself an independent nation and governs itself, but China views it as a breakaway province that will eventually come under Beijing‘s control.

India arrests Russia-linked crypto exchange admin wanted by US

Police in India have arrested a cryptocurrency exchange administrator wanted in the US for alleged money laundering and sanctions violations, the country’s top investigative agency said.

Aleksej Besciokov, a 46-year-old Lithuanian citizen who lives in Russia, was arrested from the southern Indian state of Kerala on Tuesday at Washington’s request, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The US, Germany, and Finland took down the online infrastructure used by the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, the US Justice Department said last week, adding that two administrators of the exchange were charged. Garantex was sanctioned by the US in April 2022.

One of those administrators was Mr Besciokov, who was charged with money laundering and also faced accusations of violating sanctions and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, the Justice Department said last week.

The CBI said India’s foreign ministry issued a provisional arrest warrant at Washington’s request. It was unclear when and why Mr Besciokov arrived in India.

The CBI coordinated with the Kerala police to arrest the “fugitive criminal”, the agency said, adding that Mr Besciokov will now be produced in a lower court in Delhi for extradition proceedings.

Mr Besciokov was arrested from the popular tourist destination of Varkala while on a vacation with his family, the Times of India reported.

“I can confirm Aleksej Besciokov, one of the administrators of Garantex, was arrested in India at the request of the United States,” a US Justice Department spokesperson told CNN.

Garantex has been accused of laundering millions of dollars, including proceeds from ransomware groups such as Black Basta, Play and Conti between 2021 and 2024, according to reports. The exchange has processed at least $96bn (£74bn) in cryptocurrency transactions since April 2019, authorities in the US said.

The Justice Department said the proceeds were used to “facilitate several crimes” such as hacking, ransomware, terrorism and drug trafficking. It accused Mr Besciokov and Russian national Aleksandr Mira Serda of knowing that the criminal proceeds were being laundered through Garantex and taking steps to conceal the facilitation of illegal activities.

Mr Besciokov has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Public servants win £57,000 overtime payout for 5-miunte early start

A Japanese town has been ordered to pay 10.9m yen (£56,581) in overtime to public servants made to start work five minutes early each day.

On 26 February 2021, all 146 government employees in Ginan, in Gifu prefecture on the island of Honshu, were told to clock in at 8.25am, five minutes earlier than the standard start time. The directive, issued by then mayor Hideo Kojima, came into effect on 1 March that year.

Kojima, who took over as mayor in late 2020, was known for having a strict management style. He resigned in 2023 after an investigation found he had committed 99 acts of sexual harassment against employees.

He denied the allegations even though some of the incidents had reportedly been witnessed by other people. “I didn’t do it,” he said in televised comments. “The report lacks neutrality, and I want them to investigate more carefully.”

Kojima would apparently get unduly angry at employees he didn’t like and regularly threatened them with “disciplinary action” and “dismissal”.

After his resignation in 2023, the early clock-in policy was discontinued.

The employees, however, maintained that the additional five minutes per day they had worked all those years should qualify as overtime and lodged a formal complaint with the Japan Fair Trade Commission, seeking compensation for the three-year period during which the policy was enforced.

In November 2024, the commission ruled in favour of the employees and ordered the town to pay them compensation.

On 28 February 2025, a supplementary budget proposal addressing the compensation issue was presented to the town’s assembly.

The payment is yet to be made.

The case has sparked intense debate in the country, not least because Japan has long grappled with the problem of “karoshi” (death from overwork).

“In the company I work for there is a mandatory 10-minute meeting during the noon break every day. I think this is obviously illegal. Should we also talk to the Fair Trade Commission?” one person commented online.

“Some companies want employees to have morning meetings, clean up the office, and even do exercises before starting work, but they are all overtime under the law,” said another.

The Japanese government last year launched a “work-style reform” campaign promoting shorter hours and other flexible arrangements as well as overtime limits and paid annual leave in an effort to encourage citizens to have a better work-life balance.

“By realising a society in which workers can choose from a variety of working styles based on their circumstances, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution and enable each and every worker to have a better outlook for the future,” a government website says about the “hatarakikata kaikaku” campaign, which translates to “innovating how we work”

44 years on, 3 convicted in one of India’s worst caste-based killings

Nearly 44 years after 24 Dalits were brutally killed in a targeted massacre in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, three men have been convicted for their role in the attack.

A district court in Mainpuri found the three accused guilty of multiple offences, including murder, conspiracy, and house trespass to commit an offence punishable by death, said government counsel Rohit Shukla.

The sentencing is scheduled for 18 March, reported the Indian Express. The convictions bring partial closure to the case, with 13 of the accused dying over the years and one still absconding.

The killings took place on 18 November 1981 in Dehuli, a village that was then part of Mainpuri district but now falls under Firozabad. Armed assailants stormed homes, gunning down 24 people, including seven women and two minors, before looting their belongings. The attack was allegedly in retaliation against villagers who had testified against a notorious criminal gang whose members mostly belonged to the so-called upper caste Thakur community.

Those convicted include Ram Sevak, who remains in custody, and Kaptan, who was taken into custody following the verdict. The third accused, Rampal, failed to appear in court, and a non-bailable warrant has been issued for his arrest.

The massacre was one of the most horrific caste-based killings in India’s history. Dehuli at the time had a population of about 900 people. The residents were mostly Dalit, primarily from the Jatav and Rangia communities, historically marginalised groups engaged in trades such as tanning and shoemaking. The attackers, who were led by gang leaders Radheshyam Singh (Radhey) and Santosh Singh (Santosha), and dressed in police uniforms stormed the settlement in broad daylight, revealed an India Today report filed on 15 December 1981.

For four hours, they systematically hunted and executed every Dalit they could find, revealed the report. Victims were shot at point-blank range, their bodies left scattered in homes and alleyways.

According to the report, a mother, who herself died in the massacre, threw her infants onto a hut’s roof to save them, men burrowed into haystack, and a young boy was hidden inside a cupboard by his mother to escape the killing.

The prosecution argued that the massacre was premeditated, Advocate Shukla was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

A year and a half before the killings, a police encounter had led to the arrest of two members of the Radhey-Santosh gang, he told the outlet. Four villagers from Dehuli had acted as witnesses. The attack was meant to silence and terrorise Dalits in the region, ensuring that no one dared challenge the dominance of upper-caste criminals, the prosecution argued. India abolished caste-based discrimination in 1955, but centuries-old biases against lower-caste groups, including Dalits persist.

The fallout of the massacre was significant. Then-chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, came under pressure to resign but insisted that restoring law and order was a greater priority.

“Either we protect the survivors and bring the killers to justice, or we might as well find someone else to run this state,” he told reporters at the time. He vowed to take a hard stance against caste-based violence, but his tenure remained under scrutiny as lawlessness continued.

In the days following the massacre, Dehuli was thrown into mourning. Families gathered in the mortuary at Mainpuri, where six doctors worked for two days to perform post-mortems on the victims. The wounds were gruesome, with some bodies bearing multiple gunshots. The killers had mostly used 12-bore guns, rifles, and locally-made pistols.

Among the victims was a woman named Sarwati, 20, who was holding her infant son Rajesh when the killers arrived. The same bullet that pierced her chest also killed her child. A pregnant woman, Shanti Devi, who died from bullet injuries, was later found to have been carrying twins – a boy and a girl, India Today reported at the time.

Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter says he was forcibly taken to The Hague

Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter said the former president of the Philippines was “forcibly taken” to The Hague after his surprise arrest at the Manila airport, prompting a security clampdown.

Mr Duterte was taken into custody shortly after he landed from Hong Kong as police executed an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

The former president, 79, protested his detention before he was put on a chartered plane to The Hague, Netherlands, where the ICC was investigating him for suspected crimes against humanity during his administration’s anti-drugs campaign, which led to thousands of killings.

“Today, our own government has surrendered a Filipino citizen, a former president at that, to foreign powers,” Mr Duterte’s daughter, incumbent vice president Sara Duterte, said.

“Since he was taken this morning, he has not been brought before any competent judicial authority to assert his rights and to allow him to avail of reliefs provided by law. As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice. This is oppression and persecution.”

She said she would follow her father to The Hague to secure his release.

The arrest of Mr Duterte, a polarising figure in the Philippines, escalated fears about the security situation as Manila braced for protests.

The Philippine National Police issued a high alert for regional offices and national support units in the capital amid concerns about civil unrest, rallies, and mass actions.

Police also secured the Supreme Court premises where lawyers of the former president planned to file a plea for his release from “illegal arrest”.

The presidential legal counsel denied the involvement of the Philippines government in Mr Duterte’s arrest and claimed his legal troubles were caused by laws enforceable by the ICC.

“The current legal problem of former president Rodrigo R Duterte is not caused by Philippine laws,” Juan Ponce Enrile said.

“His lawyers should endeavour to secure a copy of the ICC charges against him so that they will know why he was ordered to be arrested by the ICC.”

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a press conference that Mr Duterte was being flown out of the country. “The plane is en route to the Hague, in the Netherlands, allowing the former president to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs,” he said.

“I am confident the arrest was proper, correct and followed all necessary legal procedures. We did not help the International Criminal Court in any way. The arrest was made in compliance with Interpol.”

Mr Duterte could become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.

Human rights activists and Filipino families whose loved ones were killed during Mr Duterte’s war on drugs hailed his arrest.

Amnesty International claimed that the former leader’s arrest was “a hopeful sign for victims in the Philippines and beyond”.

“It shows that suspected perpetrators of the worst crimes, including government leaders, can and will face justice, wherever they are in the world.”

Randy Delos Santos, uncle of a teenager, Kian Delos Santos, killed by police during an anti-drug operation in August 2017, spoke at a rally on Tuesday.

“This is a big, long-awaited day for justice,” he said. “Now we feel justice is rolling. We hope that top police officials and the hundreds of police officers who were involved in the illegal killings should also be placed in custody and punished.”

Three officers who killed Santos were convicted for murder in 2018. The killing had forced Mr Duterte to temporarily halt his campaign.

It’s alleged that his administration oversaw the execution of nearly 4,000 people during the anti-drug campaign. Most of those killed were poor Filipinos living in urban areas. Human rights groups say the actual number of dead could be much higher.

The war on drugs was the signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial crimebuster nicknamed “the punisher” to power.

His detention follows years of him rebuking and taunting the ICC in profanity-laden speeches since pulling the Philippines from the court’s founding treaty in 2019 as it started looking into allegations of systematic murders of drug dealers on his watch.

Starlink signs satellite internet deal with India’s Airtel and Jio

India’s Bharti Airtel mobile network operator and its rival Reliance Jio have signed deals with tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink to explore bringing satellite internet to the world’s most populous country.

Reliance Jio, owned by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, announced its deal with Starlink on Wednesday – a day after Airtel said it was partnering with the Musk-owned firm.

Both the deals are subject to SpaceX receiving its own authorisations to sell Starlink in India.

Starlink has applied for security clearance with the Indian government after agreeing to its data localisation and security requirements.

If approved by regulators, the Indian companies would provide Starlink devices on their retail outlets and online stores as well as some form of installation support.

Airtel said on Tuesday that it would collaborate with Starlink to use each other’s network infrastructure to enhance coverage.

“Airtel and SpaceX will explore offering Starlink equipment in Airtel’s retail stores, Starlink services via Airtel to business customers, opportunities to connect communities, schools, and health centers, among many others, in even the most rural parts of India,” the company said.

“This collaboration enhances our ability to bring world-class high-speed broadband to even the most remote parts of India, ensuring that every individual, business, and community has reliable internet,” said Gopal Vittal, Airtel’s managing director and vice chair.

Ambani’s Reliance Jio had initially clashed with Starlink over how India should grant spectrum for satellite services.

The Indian company urged for an auction, but the Indian government sided with Mr Musk, who sought for the spectrum to be allocated administratively in line with global trends.

Analysts say a spectrum auction would require much more investment and would likely deter foreign companies.

However, the Indian telecom operators continue to push for spectrum allocation via auctions, with Reliance spending nearly $19bn in airwave auctions.

In a representation to the Indian government, India’s telecom giants argued that satellite service providers should be subject to similar spectrum pricing, regulatory levies, and fees compared to those imposed on terrestrial operators.

India’s telecom regulatory authority is yet to reveal details on the pricing structure for satellite communication spectrum.

Starlink’s new pact with the Indian firms comes days after prime minister Narendra Modi met with Mr Musk in Washington and discussed several topics, including space, mobility, and innovation.

The Musk-owned company currently operates a constellation of over 6,000 low Earth orbit satellites, and experts say as many as 60,000 to 70,000 such internet satellites could be launched over the next five years.

Inmates filmed rushing out of Indonesian jail in mass prison break

At least 52 inmates escaped from an overcrowded prison in the westernmost Aceh province of Indonesia after breaking through the main facility doors.

The inmates escaped from the Kutacane Penitentiary on Monday during the evening meal distribution as inmates queued to receive food to break their fast during Ramadan.

The prison break was captured on camera by the locals with footage showing inmates running amok in the busy streets as stunned residents watched.

Many of them were seen running over the roof of the facility to escape and some of them were chased by the jail officials.

Local vendors and residents in the area witnessed the chaotic escape and many panicked at the sight of a large number of inmates jumping from the main gate. Several people were seen capturing the dramatic moment on their phones.

The inmates broke through three locked security doors and fled through the main prison entrance, while many also escaped from the roof.

The spokesperson of the directorate general of corrections, Rika Aprianti, said on Wednesday that police have launched a search for 28 people while 24 have been captured.

“As of the latest update, 28 inmates are still being pursued,” the statement said.

As the search continues, authorities are calling on the escaped inmates to turn themselves in, warning that any attempts to resist arrest will be met with strict action.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the mass jailbreak.

Aceh regional police commissioner Joko Krisdiyanto said more police have been deployed around the jail to avoid further disturbance as several areas are being combed to find the fugitives.

“We call on the public to immediately report if they spot any of the escapees,” Mr Joko said.

The prison break has been blamed on the overcrowding of the jail where over three times more inmates are being housed, causing chaotic conditions in the facility.

Minister of immigration and corrections, Agus Andrianto, said the Kutacane prison has the capacity of 100 people, but it’s now occupied by 368 inmates.

“We want to know whether food was indeed the trigger, or other problems as a result of the officers’ behaviours,” said Mr Agus.

According to reports, it happened in the evening as inmates had queued up to receive food for breaking their fast. However, as the meals were being handed out many became impatient.

By 6.25pm local time, the inmates forced their way through the iron gate of the jail and dozens of prisoners rushed to the main exit, running into the bustling market.

Prison breaks are, however, not uncommon in Indonesia where many jails are grappling with poor conditions, inadequate security, and the sheer number of inmates exceeding facility capacities.

In 2019, at least 100 inmates escaped from a prison in Sumatra island of Indonesia following rioting and fire at the detention centre. By late morning, authorities had recaptured 115 inmates, but dozens remained at large. The prison, designed to hold approximately 650 inmates, was operating at full capacity at the time of the incident.

In 2018, 113 prisoners escaped from the Lambaro prison in Banda Aceh city. It was after more than 400 inmates broke out at an overcrowded prison in Riau province in the same year.

In 2013, about 240 prisoners fled a prison in Medan in the capital of North Sumatra province during a deadly riot. The unrest began on 11 July when inmates, frustrated by power outages that disrupted water supplies, set fires and rioted. The facility, designed for 1,054 inmates, was housing approximately 2,600 at the time. During the chaos, 240 prisoners escaped, including individuals convicted of terrorism.

Woman faces three years in jail for killing cat that crossed her path

A woman and her friends in the northern Indian city of Moradabad have been charged under the Wildlife Protection Act for allegedly capturing and burning alive a feral cat after it crossed their path.

The incident came to light after Delhi’s Wildlife Crime Control Bureau received a complaint about a video being shared online.

Police identified the suspect by only one name, Priya, and said she lived in Laluwala village in Uttar Pradesh. They said the woman and her friends filmed the act and shared the video on a social media platform.

Priya, who is reportedly in her early 30s, and her friends caught and killed the cat after it crossed their path in Moradabad’s Bhojpur area, police said on Tuesday. There is a widespread superstition in India that a cat passing one’s path brings bad luck.

A group of people can be seen in the video beating the animal, dousing it in petrol, and setting it on fire.

Police said Priya and an unspecified number of other suspected had been charged under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison and a hefty fine for such acts of animal cruelty.

“We traced Priya after verifying the bike’s registration number seen in the video,” Moradabad divisional forest officer Suraj Kumar told The Times of India.

India has reported many cases of animal cruelty that led to police action.

A pregnant wild elephant died in the southern state of Kerala in 2020 after eating a pineapple planted with a firecracker that exploded. The wild animal ran into a nearby river after the blast and stayed there for hours, seemingly seeking relief for its severely injured mouth and tongue in the cool water.

In January this year, a man in Andhra Pradesh state’s Nellore region allegedly set a pet dog and a scooter on fire to settle a dispute over a damaged phone. The dog received severe injuries but survived.

In another incident of animal cruelty from 2023, a young man irritated by a stray dog’s barking in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura Sadar Bazaar poured petrol on the animal and set it on fire.