UK influencer in critical condition in hospital in South Korea

A British influencer named Ashley Surcombe is reportedly in a critical condition in a South Korean hospital after being found unconscious in her apartment with a black eye and severe dehydration.

The 29-year-old from Gloucestershire was reportedly discovered by police on Monday after her worried parents contacted authorities through a friend when she stopped responding to their messages and calls.

Ms Surcombe, according to The Times, has been living in South Korean capital Seoul for the last five years, posting about her time in the country for her 465,000 followers on Instagram.

According to reports, she is currently in the intensive care unit (ICU) after suffering multiple organ failure. Her sister, Kat Surcombe, 33, an aerospace engineer, described the ordeal as “surreal”.

Speaking to The Times, she said: “I keep alternating between breaking down and trying to help my parents. It’s heartbreaking because she’s my little sister, and I just want her back home.”

The family said they last spoke with Ms Surcombe on Saturday, when she told her parents she “wasn’t feeling very well” and seemed “dehydrated and very confused”.

“Initially we were very concerned because she’d recently slipped in her bathroom and hit her head, which is why she got quite a nasty bruise on her eye, but that was a few weeks ago. The way she was behaving, my parents were understandably concerned,” said her sister.

When Ms Surcombe failed to respond to a previously scheduled call on Sunday evening, parents Karen and Nigel, both 64, reached out to friends in Seoul, who in turn contacted the police.

According to her sister and local news reports, the police managed to gain entry into her flat, where they found her unconscious and unresponsive on the bathroom floor.

“She was found unresponsive and unconscious on the floor; she didn’t have any broken bones, but she was severely dehydrated and has major organ failure,” Kat Surcombe told Mail Online.

Paramedics rushed her to the ICU on Monday, where she has reportedly gained consciousness, but remains under observation and undergoing tests after reporting pain in her head, back, and hands.

“[The doctors] said that she was severely dehydrated and she’s got organ damage but we don’t know the extent of the organ damage yet,” she said, adding that their father was already on his way to Seoul.

The family has launched a GoFundMe to help grapple with the escalating medical costs.

Kat Surcombe revealed that Ms Surcombe’s health insurance had recently lapsed, forcing their parents to pay a £3,000 deposit for her treatment upfront.

“They’ve had to put it on a credit card, they don’t have £3,000 pounds just lying around. The potential financial burden is just on another level. My parents are recently retired. If she spends the week in the ICU that’s about £10,000, they don’t have that type of money lying around.”

“My dad has already said they may have to sell their house, obviously the priority is Ashley, but they just don’t know how to cover the medical bills.”

Based on the information provided on the GoFundMe page, ICU care could cost up to £1,500 per day, with additional tests and general hospital stays pushing expenses even higher.

“My parents have recently retired, and as a family, we don’t have an abundance of money to cover these unexpected and overwhelming costs,” Kat Surcombe wrote on the GoFundMe page.

The family is aiming to raise £50,000 for Ms Surcombe’s treatment, and at the time of writing, had raised £6,840.

Miniature dachshund spotted alive 16 months after being lost in wild

When a miniature dachshund went missing in November 2023 on a South Australian island, her distressed owner cried for days while desperately trying to track her down, assuming she had no chance of surviving on her own in the wild.

But 16 months after she disappeared, Valerie has been spotted alive on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, to the surprise of wildlife experts.

Valerie went missing while on holiday with her owners, Georgia Gardner and Josh Fishlock. Though they searched the island for a week with local help, she wasn’t seen again recently.

“We spent probably five days of the rest of our trip looking for her, but without any luck unfortunately,” Mr Fishlock told Nine News’ Today. After futile attempts to find Valeria, they left the island to return to their lives.

But he said that in the months following Valerie’s disappearance, there have been reported sightings of her on the Kangaroo Island.

“She never left my side. She was not a very outside, rough-and-tough dog. To think that she even went one night outside in the rain, oh my gosh. To think that she’s gone a year and a half is incredible,” Ms Gardner was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

The dog, whose precise age was not available, continues to evade capture despite efforts by volunteers and wildlife experts.

The Kangala Wildlife Rescue confirmed her survival through video evidence and set traps with cameras to try to catch her. On their Facebook page, the organisation wrote: “Based on first-hand accounts and video evidence we now know that Valerie is alive. She runs at the first sign of humans or vehicles and despite the best efforts of dedicated Island locals, Valerie has been impossible to catch.”

Mr Fishlock told Nine News: “We were initially a bit sceptical of all the sightings, then only probably three weeks ago, we received a photo from one of the locals and that sparked a lot of hope in us. It’s given us nearly 100 per cent certainty that she’s still alive.”

However, she reportedly becomes skittish when someone tries to approach her and quickly flees again.

Despite being a “princess” and not suited for the wild, Valerie’s remarkable resilience has surprised her rescuers.

Ms Gardner said: “We thought, instead of her surviving out in the wild, maybe someone had kind of adopted her or she was hanging out with some other dogs and getting their food, because she was an absolute little princess.”

“I remember on the first day I was just covered in tears. We barely ate anything,” she told The Adelaide Advertiser. “My whole world just crumbled. When we left the island without her, I cried for days.”

Kangala wrote on their Instagram: “We are using surveillance and various trapping and luring methods in the area she was last seen to try and bring her home. This is a tiny dog in a huge area, and we will need help from the public to report any sightings and a lot of luck.”

Experts are amazed by the dog’s survival, speculating that she may have eaten roadkill, dam water, or possibly received help from locals. Paul McGreevy of the University of Sydney’s veterinary school said that like all dogs, dachshunds were “extremely resourceful”. He said: “Dogs are the greatest opportunists in the animal kingdom: that’s one of their core skills.”

On Kangala’s Facebook page, one user wrote: “Please put down the owner’s unwashed clothing down at sighting locations. Ask people who see her to sit down and not make eye contact. Putting out food with liquid smoke trails with trail cameras will help but the clothes are essential. Her owners need to be there asap.

“They need to walk around but not call out to her as she won’t be able to recognise them at first. Dachshunds tend to hide against surfaces to seek comfort.”

Has the policing of comedy in India gone too far?

On Sunday, dozens of political party workers in the western Indian city of Mumbai forced their way into The Habitat and vandalised the popular venue for music, poetry recitals, and comedy gigs. They shut down a show, forced out the audience, destroyed property, and reportedly manhandled staff.

The reason: comedian Kunal Kamra had recently uploaded a video of his latest standup set performed around a month ago at The Habitat. In it, he made a joke about Eknath Shinde, leader of his faction of the regional Shiv Sena party and deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state, calling him a “traitor”, likely a reference to him splitting his party and allying with Narendra Modi’s BJP in 2022.

Police immediately filed a case, but not against the vandals. The case was filed against Kamra, on a complaint by a Shiv Sena member named Murji Patel.

Patel’s was one of a number of police complaints filed by the party’s members, one of which named even India’s leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi, for his alleged “involvement in pre-planned criminal conspiracy and a systematic paid campaign to malign the reputation, image and goodwill” of the deputy chief minister.

Police only registered a case and arrested the Shiv Sena workers who had vandalised the venue on Monday.

This is only the latest crackdown against comedians in India, seemingly punishing them for the “crime” of telling jokes and engaging in satire, and more importantly, continuing assault on freedom of speech when it doesn’t align with the morality of dominant majoritarian groups.

The incident comes barely a month after two young comedians learned a lesson that many of those that came before them already knew – that their humour may be “edgy” to their fans, but they could only go so far in an environment where jokes are increasingly policed, and outrage dictates consequences.

“Fear of cancellation from the left is why we don’t have comics like Andrew Schultz, Jimmy Carr, Dave Chapelle, Ricky Gervais in the Indian comedy scene,” Samay Raina posted on X in 2022. “Don’t worry, I’m here to change that.”

One could argue the comedian did his best to live up to the challenge.

Carr’s sets are rife with jokes about domestic violence and rape and he once suggested a “positive” of the Holocaust was the murder of thousands of gypsies.

Chappelle and Gervais have spent much creative energy over the last few years making jokes about the trans community, and doubling down when criticised for it.

In the years after winning Comicstaan, a standup competition TV series, in 2017, Raina tried his best to emulate his heroes.

He was called out many times for making jokes about abortion and sexual violence and his YouTube show India’s Got Latent, routinely featured comedians who made misogynistic comments.

Its name, a play on popular reality TV series India’s Got Talent and format a nod to American comedy variety show Kill Tony, India’s Got Latent featured a different set of celebrity judges on every episode with Raina the only constant presence.

While it had its fair share of detractors, India’s Got Latent had a sizable fan following. Its episodes routinely garnered millions of views within hours of being put up online. Raina’s significant brand endorsements, his members-only site to access exclusive content for a monthly fee and regularly sold-out comedy shows cemented his status as a comedian whose brand was as profitable as it is popular.

It was going all so well for Raina – until it wasn’t.

In keeping with the show’s vibe and “crass humour”, podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, a guest judge on an episode released on 8 February, asked a contestant: “Would you rather watch your parents have sex for the rest of your life, or join in once to make it stop?”

The episode went largely unnoticed outside the fan base at first, but then, in the same manner as in Kamra’s case, a clip of the interaction began its journey through the social media infamy cycle, inciting outrage over the question.

First came the internet brickbats. Journalist and lyricist Neelesh Misra echoed most of the reactions when he called out the “perverted creators” of the show for having “zero sense of responsibility” and social media platforms and the audiences that rewarded such content.

Then – in a deviation from the norm of such social media outrage simply fizzling out – police complaints were filed in Mumbai and the northeastern city of Guwahati against India’s Got Latent, Allahbadia, Raina, and everyone else who was on the panel, for allegedly promoting obscenity.

Police and politicians joined in. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said action should be taken against people who violated society’s rules; Mumbai police visited Allahbadia’s house the same week; a federal lawmaker said she would raise the matter in the parliament; and the episode was removed by YouTube on a National Human Rights Commission India member’s request.

Allahbadia apologised twice. He and his family were being harassed and receiving death threats, he reported. But even the courts, while giving him protection from arrest, did so on the condition Allahbadia surrender his passport, and refrain from participating in or airing any show until further orders.

“There is something very dirty in his mind, which has been vomited by him in this programme” Supreme Court judge Surya Kant asked during a hearing of Allahbadia’s case. “Why should the courts favour him?”

Allahbadia’s lawyer, Abhinav Chandrachud, replied that while he was “personally disgusted” by the comments and couldn’t defend them on “moral grounds”, whether it rose “to the level of criminal offense is another question”.

It is a question many are asking.

“Politicians indulge in hate speech that results in violence and death, and they’re never held accountable,” Indian comedian Daniel Fernandes tells The Independent.

“Our infrastructure is crumbling, the air is polluted, people are dying in stampedes, women are being raped and murdered, the poor are getting exponentially marginalised and the number one issue in our country is a silly question that a YouTuber asked on a reality show? Where are our priorities?”

Another comedian, Radhika Vaz, says there is never a clear line that can be drawn when it comes to the freedom of speech.

“I’m a purist when it comes to freedom of expression, and I find it a very difficult line to draw. ‘Oh, so and so is sexist. So he should be muffled. She’s a woman, so she shouldn’t be muffled. But she’s casteist. So now we have to muffle her’ – where do you draw the line?” she tells The Independent.

“Freedom of expression should be sacred. And if we want art and actual justice to flourish, I believe people should not be afraid to say things.”

Jaya Bachchan, member of parliament from the Samajwadi Party, too questioned the growing restrictions on free speech, telling ANI on Monday: “If there’s a restriction on speaking, what will become of you? You are anyway in a bad situation. There are restrictions on you. You would be told to speak only on certain topics and not ask certain questions. Where is freedom of speech?”

While many are dumbfounded that a question, albeit provocative, could end with someone in jail, it is not exactly news to Indian comedians.

In 2015, a police complaint was filed against comedy group AIB, along with Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt, for being part of or attending a comedy roast, which was allegedly “vulgar, obscene, and pornographic”.

This isn’t even Kamra’s first brush with the law. In 2020, he faced contempt charges for tweets criticising the Supreme Court. The charges were authorised by the country’s attorney general who described Kamra’s words as being in “bad taste”. In an affidavit filed before his hearing in 2021, Kamra said: “I do not believe that any high authority, including judges, would find themselves unable to discharge their duties only on account of being the subjects of satire or comedy.”

Responding similarly now as he did back then, Kamra posted a picture of himself holding a copy of the Indian constitution on Monday, with a caption that simply read: “The only way forward.”

He later released a longer statement on social media. “Our right to freedom of speech and expression is not only to be used to fawn over the powerful and rich even though today’s media would have us believe otherwise. Your inability to take a joke at the expense of a powerful public figure does not change the nature of my right. As far as I know, it is not against the law to poke fun at our leaders and the circus that is our political system.”

In 2021, comedian Munawar Faruqui spent 35 days in jail for “hurting religious sentiments”. A court denied him bail despite the fact that a Hindu mob had crashed his show and brought him to a police station even before he had started his set.

In 2024, Fernandes received threats and suffered the cancellation of several shows after a set featured a joke about the Jain community.

In February this year, Anubhav Singh Bassi’s shows in the northern city of Lucknow were cancelled after the state women’s commission asked police in a letter to ensure that “in this proposed programme and similar programmes of standup artists, neither any indecent words nor any undignified comments are made on women”.

In the past few years, as comedy has increasingly come under attack, several prominent comedians have hired lawyers that they regularly run their jokes by, The Times of India reported.

The Habitat, which incidentally hosted both Kamra’s standup show and the India’s Got Latent episode featuring Allahbadia, announced on Monday that they would be closing temporarily as they were “shocked, worried and extremely broken by the recent acts of vandalism targeting us”.

“But recent events have made us rethink about how we get blamed and targeted every time almost like we are the proxy for the performer,” they said.

“We are shutting down till we figure out the best way to provide a platform for free expression without putting ourselves and our property in jeopardy.”

As far as the India’s Got Latent controversy, over 50 people connected with the show – including judges and comedians who appeared in previous episodes – were summoned for questioning and the investigation is still underway.

India’s information and broadcasting ministry has said it’s looking at a new legal framework for “harmful” content on digital platforms due to a growing concern that “freedom of expression is being misused to showcase obscene and violent content on digital platforms”.

The Supreme Court, after its tongue lashing of Allahbadia, asked if the Indian government had any plan to regulate “obscene” content on YouTube and other social media platforms, failing which it would step in.

“But we make it clear that we want something done,” the top court said. “Something has to be done, and we will do it. We are not going to leave it like that.”

Raina, in a statement to Maharashtra police on Monday, reportedly “admitted his mistake” and apologised for the show. “I feel deep regret for what I said. It happened in the flow of the show, and I had no intention of saying it. I realise that what I said was wrong,” local media quoted him telling the police.

Fernandes and Vaz make the point that people like Raina and Allahbadia make the type of content they do because it is popular.

“It is not up to comedians to shape your morals. Every adult has the agency to choose what they want to consume. It’s a simple demand supply equation,” Fernandes says.

“If problematic material has an audience, that means we have a problematic audience. Shall we haul them in for questioning as well? And if anyone is concerned about their children having access to problematic material, do a better job as a parent.”

Vaz says: “At some level, unfortunately, we have to look at what the audience wants. If they want sexist comedy and they’re buying tickets, someone will provide it.”

Asked if he faced repercussions after his 2024 set, Fernandes says: “There was noise for a week and then it stopped. The objective of these mobs is to bully artists into apologising by threatening them and then they go away. Every time there’s outrage in Indian comedy, more people discover our work, ticket sales increase, and everyone laughs their way to the bank.”

Allahbadia and Raina may not be as lucky.

Former chief justice of India NV Ramana said in 2022: “In our criminal justice system, the process is the punishment.”

Lawyer Karuna Nundy, who represented AIB in 2015, echoed Ramana: “The life of a tasteless joke is short, that of a registered FIR is long.”

Allahbadia had requested the court to consolidate the multiple cases filed against him in various states, so he was not forced to travel all over the country every time he was summoned.

While the court said that no further case could be filed against Allahbadia for the same joke, it did not club the existing cases.

It remains to be seen if Raina’s and Allahbadia’s careers suffer, what action police will take against Kamra, and if India’s government chooses to restrict free speech in a country that ranks 159 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index.

As far as the future of Indian comedy is concerned, Vaz’s wish is simple.

“I hope that regardless of the content and context, creative people prevail. Both good and bad art is our culture. And creators should have the freedom to create, the freedom to make mistakes, and the freedom to move on from them,” Vaz tells The Independent.

“Ten years down the line, this young male artist might look back and be embarrassed by some of the things he said. But neither he, nor we, will be able to evolve if the first thing that happens to someone when they make a mistake is that they go to jail.”

Japan’s longest-serving death row inmate wins record compensation

A former professional boxer who spent 46 years on death row after he was framed for murder by police has been awarded a record £1 million.

A Japanese court has awarded Iwao Hakamada more than 200 million yen in compensation, believed to be the highest ever granted in the country for a miscarriage of justice.

However, with Hawamada thought to be the longest-serving death row inmate in the world, it is roughly the equivalent of just 4p for every day he spent in prison.

Now 89 years-old, Hakamada was convicted in 1968 for the murder of his employer, his employer’s wife, and their two children in Shizuoka, central Japan.

The case relied heavily on a confession he later retracted, claiming it was extracted under duress during intense police interrogations. For decades, he maintained his innocence, insisting that the evidence against him had been fabricated.

Mr Hakamada was released from prison in 2014 when a court ordered a retrial based on new evidence suggesting that his conviction may have been based on fabricated accusations.

He was then found not guilty on 26 September last year by the Shizuoka court, which concluded that police and prosecutors collaborated in fabricating and planting evidence against him.

His sister, Hideko Hakamata, who had campaigned relentlessly for his freedom, revealed that his prolonged incarceration has left him struggling to distinguish between reality and delusion.

“Sometimes he smiles happily, but that’s when he’s in his delusion,” she told CNN. “We have not even discussed the trial with Iwao because of his inability to recognise reality.”

Hakamada became the fifth death row inmate to be found not guilty in a retrial in postwar Japan, where prosecutors have a more than 99 per cent conviction rate and retrials are extremely rare.

Following his acquittal, Japan’s Prosecutor-General Naomi Unemoto expressed regret over the prolonged legal battle he faced, saying: “We feel sorry for putting him in a legally unstable situation for an extremely long time.”

The Shizuoka police department also took the rare step of issuing a formal apology, with its chief bowing deeply before Hakamata in acknowledgment of the grave miscarriage of justice.

“We are sorry to have caused you unspeakable mental distress and burden for as long as 58 years from the time of the arrest until the acquittal was finalised,” Shizuoka prefectural police chief Takayoshi Tsuda said, as he stood straight in front of Hakamada and bowed deeply. “We are terribly sorry.”

But Hakamada’s legal representative Hideyo Ogawa said the payout was a mere fraction of what he endured.

“I think the state (government) has made a mistake that cannot be atoned for with 200 million yen,” the lawyer said, according to NHK.

Additional reporting by agencies

United flight diverts after pilot realises they forgot their passport

A flight departing the United States and heading for China had to make a last-minute diversion and land in San Francisco after the pilot realised they did not have their passport on the flight with them.

Flight UA198 with 257 passengers onboard departed from Los Angeles International Airport at 2pm local time on Saturday 22 March on a 13-and-a-half-hour flight to Shanghai.

But after almost two hours in the air, the plane made a giant U-turn and landed in San Francisco, further north from where it departed, just before 5pm.

Tracking data from FlightRadar24 shows the Boeing 787-9 flying out from Los Angeles over the Pacific Ocean before turning around back to California.

After the incident, a United passenger on the flight posted on X: “UA198 diverted to SFO because the pilot forgot his passport?

“Now stuck six plus hours. Completely unacceptable. United, what compensation are you offering for this total mishandling?”

A United Airlines spokesperson replied with “we sincerely apologize for this unexpected travel disruption” and offered the passenger assistance with an agent.

The passenger followed up by saying that “all the passengers deserve compensation,” to which the airline provided a link on how to request it.

Passengers received this message from the airline amid the incident, according to travel website View From The Wing: “Your flight diverted to San Francisco due to an unexpected crew-related issue requiring a new crew.

“Once they arrive, we’ll get you back on your way to Shanghai as soon as possible.

“We sincerely apologize for this disruption and appreciate your patience.”

The passengers received a $15 (£11.57) meal voucher upon arrival in San Francisco, the outlet reported.

Another flight departing San Francisco to Shanghai took off later that evening at 9pm, landing in Shanghai over 12 hours later before 1am local time, tracking data shows.

In a statement to The Independent, a United spokesperson said: “On Saturday, United flight 198 from Los Angeles to Shanghai landed at San Francisco International Airport as the pilot did not have their passport onboard.

“We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.”

This is not the first time a flight has been disrupted due to pilots turning up to the job without their crucial travel document.

In 2019, a flight from Vietnam was delayed by 11 hours after a T’way Air pilot lost his passport.

The flight was due to depart Ho Chi Minh City for Incheon, South Korea but after misplacing his passport, the pilot could not gain access to the airport.

All 160 passengers due to fly had to wait overnight until the airline found a replacement pilot to bring them to their destination.

The airline booked travellers into hotels and provided breakfast, while it also looked into disciplinary action for the pilot for delaying the flight.

For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast

How one of K-pop’s most exciting acts was brought down by their label

Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein, members of K-Pop powerhouse girl group NewJeans, likely believed until three days ago that their Hong Kong performance on Sunday would be one that signified their victory against their record label Ador.

But a Seoul court dashed their hopes on Friday after it ruled against the quintet, granting Ador’s request for an injunction to establish themselves as NewJeans’ management agency and forbidding the group to pursue any kind of independent activity – making music, performing, or signing advertising deals.

NewJeans and Ador have been embroiled in a feud since last year’s ouster of Min Hee Jin, the band’s former creative director and Ador’s former CEO, by Ador’s parent company Hybe.

Matters came to a head after the group held a press conference, unilaterally declared their exclusive contract with Ador invalid, and accused the agency of having “neither the ability nor the will to protect” NewJeans.

Ador denied the band’s allegations of mistreatment and bullying, maintained that they had “not violated the terms of the agreement”, and argued that a “unilateral claim of a breach of trust does not constitute valid grounds for terminating the contract”.

NewJeans were scheduled to perform on Sunday at ComplexCon Hong Kong where they had previously announced they would release a new song under the new name they debuted last month: NJZ.

As fans were to discover, however, the performance that should have felt like a triumph ended up a little more somber.

The mood on the ground resembled a regular festival or concert atmosphere; “Bunnies”, the official name of NewJeans’ fandom, showed up with light sticks and dressed in band merchandise, rushing to buy more from the booth, and writing messages of support on the walls.

A key detail to note: the name on the group’s booth and merchandise said NJZ, not NewJeans.

After the court’s order on Friday, a statement from Ador said the company was “fully committed” to the group and would be “fully present” in Hong Kong to “guarantee the performance is presented under the NewJeans name”.

When the performance began, none of the members performed NewJeans songs or even performed together. Danielle sang TLC’s “No Scrubs”, followed by Minji’s rendition of Upsahl’s “Smile for the Camera” and Haerin’s “Dontcha” by the Internet.

Hyein and Hanni rounded out the covers with their takes on SWV’s “Use Your Heart” and Ghost Town DJs’ “My Boo”.

Finally, they came together in synchronised costumes, with Minji’s tights reading Chapter NJZ. They performed a new song, “Pitstop”, complete with their signature, fluid style of choreography that set the group apart from their K-Pop peers.

And then, the band read out prepared speeches, in Korean and English, to the 11,000-odd sold-out audience. They would be going on hiatus, they said.

“It’s really hard for us to say this but this might be our last performance for a little while. Out of respect for the court’s decision, we’ve decided to pause all our activities for now. It wasn’t an easy decision, but we believe this is something we need to do at this moment,” they told the crowd.

“Honestly, we’ve known from the start that this journey wasn’t going to be easy and even though we accept the court’s ruling and this whole process, we had to speak up to protect the values that we believe in, and that was a choice that we don’t regret at all.

“We surely believe that standing up for our dignity, our rights and everything we deeply care about is something we had to do, and that belief will not change.”

The group added that the decision might be “disappointing or upsetting but it was not an easy decision for us to make either”.

“But right now, though, it feels too hard to keep going at this pace, and as strong as we are trying to stay, it has honestly taken a bit of mental and emotional toll on us. However, this doesn’t mean that we are going to give up. We will keep pushing forward no matter what.”

South Korean media reported that Ador staff went to ComplexCon, but were unable to meet the group. Responding to the hiatus announcement, Ador said it “deeply regrets that, despite the court’s decision, a performance was carried out under a name other than NewJeans, and that an abrupt suspension of activities was announced unilaterally”.

“Ador remains committed to doing its utmost for NewJeans under a valid exclusive contract. We hope to meet the artistes soon to discuss their future.”

As things stand now, it appears NewJeans intends to do nothing until the resolution of the main lawsuit with Ador over the legitimacy of their unilateral contract termination. The first hearing is set for 3 April.

After Friday’s ruling, the group’s statement implied the same. The band said while they respected the court’s decision, they believed it didn’t “fully take into account the complete breakdown of trust” between the group and the agency.

“It is important to note that an injunction is a provisional measure. A separate main lawsuit regarding the validity of the exclusive contract termination is currently underway, with a court hearing scheduled for April 3. Unlike injunction proceedings, the main lawsuit allows us to freely utilise civil procedure tools to collect necessary evidence,” they said.

“As we have stated before, regardless of any financial matters, we can no longer remain with a management that has disrespected our identities and undermined our achievements.”

While fans stand by the group, as their messages on social media show, experts don’t share their optimism.

“Under the Korean judicial system, in cases like this where an agency files an injunction to suspend an artist’s activities, the proceedings are generally very favourable to the artist,” Sangrock Kho, a lawyer at the South Korean Law Firm Pil, told CNN, adding that Friday’s decision suggested NewJeans’ legal case was “either extremely weak or virtually nonexistent”.

“This is because courts are usually extremely reluctant to issue injunctions that could cause irreparable harm to an artist’s career by restricting their freedom of occupation,” the lawyer said.

“Given that, the fact that the court has nevertheless issued this type of injunction suggests that, after reviewing all the claims, evidence, and extensive presentation materials … the court concluded that NewJeans’ argument – that the breakdown in trust was entirely caused by Hybe and Ador – lacks sufficient legal basis.”

Sharks are not silent killers after all, listen to the noise they make

Scientists have recorded New Zealand’s rig sharks making noises in the world’s first documented case of active sound production by any shark species.

Until now, over a thousand fish species are known to produce sounds in several contexts, such as mating and for defence against predators.

While cartilaginous fish like sharks and rays are known to use sound for communicating, tracking prey, and for safely moving underwater, they are not known for producing sounds voluntarily.

A 2022 study showed for the first time that a stingray species produces clicks when approached by a diver.

Now, a new study has found that rig sharks handled by researchers deliberately make short, sharp clicks of relatively high peak frequencies.

The recordings, published in a new study in the journal Royal Society Open Science, hint that the sounds are created by these small sharks forcefully snapping their flattened teeth.

Rig sharks grow to about 150cm (5ft) in length and are endemic to shallow estuaries around New Zealand.

They mainly feed on crabs and other small crustaceans and are preyed upon by larger sharks.

Scientists suspect these small sharks produce these sounds in response to disturbance or distress.

In the study, researchers assessed recordings captured from 10 rig sharks as they were handled underwater in tanks at the Leigh Marine Laboratory in New Zealand.

“During this brief handling time, rigs were opportunistically observed to produce clicking sounds underwater,” scientists observed.

They assessed the number of clicks the sharks produced during every 10-second interval of recording.

On average, the sharks produced 9 clicks every 20 seconds, with most sounds made along with body movements like moving from right to left, researchers observed, hinting that they were likely a “startle response”.

“Roughly 25 per cent of the clicks co-occurred with an explosive sway (vigorous bending of the head and body from side to side), about 70 per cent co-occurred with calm swaying (slow side to side movements), and 5 per cent of clicks occurred in the absence of any obvious body movements,” scientists noted.

“To the best of our knowledge, this study would be the first to show that sharks can produce sounds,” they wrote.

However, researchers call for further studies to confirm the mechanism and determine the sound’s other use and biological significance.

It also remains unclear whether the rigs can sense their own clicks.

“Further behavioural observations are needed to test this hypothesis and verify whether rigs produce clicks under more natural conditions without human interference,” scientists concluded.

Motorcyclist dies after huge sinkhole opens up on road in Seoul

A motorcyclist who fell into a 20m-wide sinkhole in Seoul on Monday died after nearly 18 hours of search and rescue efforts.

The 33-year-old man, identified by his surname Park, was found 50m away from the centre of the collapsed sinkhole in a subway tunnel under construction almost 20m from the surface, fire rescue official Kim Chang-seob said.

Emergency officials said the motorcyclist was found wearing a helmet and motorcycle boots. His Japanese-made motorcycle and mobile phone were also recovered from the sinkhole. Rescuers found him around 11am local time. “He was found without a pulse and unconscious,” the Gangdong-gu Fire Department said during a briefing on Tuesday.

They had to pump out water and dig through dirt, as well as navigate past construction equipment and other debris, to be able to locate the victim. The cause of the collapse of the six-lane road is under investigation.

The incident took place at an intersection near an elementary school in eastern Seoul at 6.29pm, swallowing a motorcycle driver, who is yet to be rescued.

A white Carnival vehicle, which was passing just before the road collapsed, was damaged. The driver, identified as 48-year-old Heo Mo, was injured and taken to a hospital.

Dashboard camera footage showed the car bouncing violently as its rear wheels narrowly cleared the hole, followed by the motorcycle and the rider plunging into the chasm.

Police and firefighters believe that a broken water main pipe may have led to the pit on the road.

Rescue operations were concluded by 12.36pm local time.

During an overnight search operation, rescuers found a mobile phone at around 1.37am which is believed to have belonged to the missing biker. His motorcycle was recovered about two hours later, approximately 30m underground, reported Korea JoongAng Daily.

Authorities resumed the search this morning around 7am using heavy equipment, reported Yonhap News Agency.

The sinkhole, estimated to be 18m wide, 20m long and 30m deep, is expected to collapse further. Water is still leaving from the broken pipe, though the flow has weakened. Earlier, Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon called for safety measures to be put in place, as he noted that the sinkhole on the six-lane road is getting bigger.

“Please do your best to ensure there are no casualties from the land subsidence and to secure the area during the rescue operations,” he noted.

On Monday, the Gangdong-gu Office also issued a safety information text, advising commuters to “check the traffic information in advance and use the detour road”, adding that there is “full traffic control in both directions between the crossroads” from the Gildong Ecological Park to the Daemyeong Elementary School entrance.

A resident who operates a gas station nearby first saw a slight collapse of the manhole next to the road around 10am and complained about it to the district authorities at around 10.30am.

While the emergency repair was carried around 1.30pm and 2pm, additional repair was done at 3pm, reported the Chosun Biz, citing district officials.

The sinkhole formed about one to one and a half hours after the repairs were completed, he told the outlet.

“There were precursor signs since the end of February. The gas station floor had started to crack and sink,” he said, adding, “I filed a complaint with the Seoul City government and a safety inspection was conducted a week ago”.

According to a report submitted to the Seoul’s city government, nearly 223 sinkholes have occurred in the city in the last decade, reported BBC.