Japan karate expert who broke haunted house ghost’s jaw loses lawsuit
A karate expert in Japan who broke a haunted house worker’s jaw with a kick in 2011 has lost his lawsuit against an amusement park.
The man, who admitted to drinking before entering the haunted house at Toei Kyoto Studio Park in Kyoto in 2011 while travelling with his colleagues, had argued that the park should have warned visitors that humans acted as ghosts and it should have protected its staff better.
The karate expert was startled when a park worker, dressed as a ghost, stepped forward to frighten him. The man, who has not been named, kicked the “ghost” in the face and later said it was a reflex.
The worker filed a lawsuit seeking compensation.
A settlement was reached in 2015 when the karate expert agreed to pay 10 million yen (£52,534) in damages.
He later filed his own lawsuit against the theme park’s managing company, arguing that they were responsible for the incident as well and should cover a portion of the damages he had agreed to pay.
He said the park was negligent for not training staff in how to prevent an attack from a visitor and that he shouldn’t have been allowed into the attraction given that he had been drinking, the website SoraNews24 reported.
But the Osaka High Court last month ruled his kick was an overreaction, dismissing his claim that the park was partly responsible for the incident.
The court said the man’s kick that broke the worker’s jaw “went beyond the scope of a reflexive action taken out of sheer fear”.
The “ghosts” were the main attraction of the park and they never physically attacked anybody, the court said. So, there was no need for any customer to use physical violence.
“While it is true that the aim of the staff portraying the ghosts is to surprise customers, this is done with the understood principle that the haunted house is something that can be safely enjoyed,” the court said.
“Unlike within the story of a movie or TV show, the ‘ghosts’ are not actually attacking the customers, so there is no need for them to physically fight back.”
The court said “it is difficult to find any justifiable motive or logical rationale” for the karate expert’s actions.
Man charged with using camera hidden in walking stick to film women
A man in Australia has been charged with 110 offences for allegedly filming girls and women with a camera hidden inside his walking stick.
The Queensland man, 56, inappropriately photographed and filmed scores of girls and women between November 2023 and January 2024, police.
The man’s alleged behaviour came to light after a 12-year-old girl’s family contacted police complaining that he had filmed her on an escalator at Mt Ommaney Centre in Brisbane in January.
The man, who has not been named, filmed the girl “using a small camera attached to the end of a walking stick”, police said in a statement.
He was arrested on 11 January and police seized the camera fitted at the end of the walking stick.
Police later searched a home in Jamboree Heights in the city’s southwest and found videos and photos of girls and women on an electronic storage device.
They conducted an examination of all seized devices, CCTV footage and other evidence which led to additional charges against the man. He had initially been charged with five offences.
The child protection and investigation unit also charged him with a number of offences.
In all, he has been charged with 110 charges, including 106 counts of inappropriate observations or recording in breach of privacy, a count each of indecent treatment of a child under 16, and two counts of stalking.
“Investigations remain ongoing with detectives appealing for anyone with information or anyone who may have witnessed suspicious activity at a shopping centre in Mount Ommaney between November 2023 and January 2024 to contact them,” police said.
The man appeared in court on 28 February and was remanded in custody. He is due to appear again on Friday.
North Korean soldier defects to South through militarised border
A North Korean soldier reportedly defected to South Korea on Tuesday by crossing the heavily militarised border on the Korean peninsula’s east coast.
South Korean guards, who had been monitoring his movements, took him into custody in Goseong county, the Yonhap news agency reported.
The South Korean military has also confirmed that they are questioning the individual, believed to be a North Korean staff sergeant, to understand his motives for defecting.
The South Korean military spotted the soldier north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) along the eastern border and carried out an operation to assist his entry into South Korea, the agency noted, citing the military.
The DMZ is a strip of land spanning the Korean Peninsula, acting as a buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. Serving as a de facto border, the DMZ roughly splits the Korean Peninsula in half. The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) runs through the centre of the DMZ, marking the front line as it stood when the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953.
Defections across the border are rare and risky, with most North Korean escapees typically fleeing through China or other third countries.
Tuesday’s defection comes just over a month after it was reported that a North Korean diplomat stationed in Cuba defected to South Korea along with his family in November last year.
In a brief statement, the National Intelligence Service confirmed to a South Korean newspaper’s report that Ri Il Kyu, 52, North Korean counsellor of political affairs in Cuba, defected last year.
As a counsellor, Mr Ri was tasked with blocking rival South Korea and old ally Cuba from forging diplomatic ties, Chosun Ilbo reported.
Mr Ri’s defection is the latest in a series of defections from North Korea. Human rights groups and successful defectors report that those caught attempting to flee the country face harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution.
Earlier this month, it was reported that a North Korean resident defected to South Korea after crossing the heavily guarded western maritime border.
According to a report by Yonhap, two North Koreans initially attempted to cross the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea, the de facto inter-Korean sea boundary off the west coast, but only one successfully reached a South Korean border island on foot during low tide.
In June this year, South Korea’s military reported that between 20 and 30 North Korean soldiers crossed the border, but retreated after South Korean forces fired warning shots.
More recently, South Korea appointed a former North Korean diplomat as a vice minister, making him the country’s highest-ranking defector. President Yoon Suk Yeol named Tae Yongho as the secretary general of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, which advises the president on policies for peaceful Korean unification.
Mr Tae, 62, previously served as North Korea’s deputy envoy to the UK before defecting in 2016. He fled to avoid subjecting his children to “miserable lives” in North Korea. Mr Tae expressed his disillusionment with leader Kim Jong-un’s alleged executions of officials and pursuit of nuclear weapons. In response, Pyongyang condemned him as “human scum” and accused him of embezzlement and other crimes.
Last year, 196 North Korean defectors came to Seoul, down from nearly 2,700 a decade ago, according to data from the South Korean government.
The relations between the two neighbours have also recently deteriorated due to the “balloon wars”. North and South have been sporadically flying balloons filled with propaganda material across their shared border since the Korean war in the early 1950s. They have also used radio broadcasts, loudspeakers and leaflets to influence each other’s citizens, promoting their ideologies and social systems and encouraging soldiers to defect.
The latest exchange began in May this year when North Korea floated 200 balloons filled with trash in a tit-for-tat response to activists in the South, sending balloons carrying propaganda material about their democratic society and memory devices with K-pop music videos.
Ex-cricketer Michael Slater denied bail on domestic abuse charges
Former Australian cricketer Michael Slater has been refused bail for a second time this year and will stay in prison over multiple domestic violence charges.
Slater, 54, has been charged with 25 offences, including assault, strangulation, unlawful stalking, and burglary relating to several incidents between December 2023 and 12 April this year.
The former batsman and television commentator was refused bail in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday, following the denial of a magistrates’ court bail application in April.
“The allegation is that it caused restriction to her breathing and bruising to her neck,” Justice Paul Freeburn said, according to 9News.
Slater sent a woman he allegedly stalked more than 100 messages a day, including abusive texts, the court was told.
He was taken into custody after his bail application was refused and his matter was listed for a committal hearing on 31 May.
Slater’s lawyer Greg McQuire in his submission said there was a “very real danger” that his client would have spent “too much time in custody by time the matter is disposed of”.
“All of his offending is associated with his alcohol use,” Mr McGuire said, adding that Slater would be sent to a rehabilitation facility in Sydney upon his release.
However, Justice Freeburn rejected the bail application over “concerns the offending is alleged to have occurred over some months”.
“It’s not only the seriousness of the offences that is of concern but also the number and persistence of the offending,” he added.
“I am satisfied there is an unacceptable risk of further offending.”
Slater, a former opening batsman, collapsed in court in April when his bail application was denied. He was helped to his feet by prison officers and led away to custody, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
He played 74 tests from 1993-2001 and became a successful cricket commentator before being axed by the Seven Network in 2021. He has been charged with multiple domestic violence offences in recent years and reportedly struggled with mental health issues.
Slater was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order by a Sydney court in late-2022 after pleading guilty to charges including common assault.
His case will be heard again on 20 September.
Imran Khan running for chancellor of Oxford University from prison
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan is running for chancellor of Oxford University from prison, his close aide Zulfikar Bukhari has confirmed.
Mr Khan is lodged in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi while he contests a series of legal challenges, mostly involving corruption charges, all of which his supporters denounce as being politically motivated.
He has been acquitted or granted bail in many of the most serious cases.
The prime minister was cleared of exposing state secrets for disclosing a diplomatic cable at a 2022 political rally, and he and his wife were acquitted of unlawful marriage charges in July.
The former star cricketer, 72, was prime minister from 2018 to 2022 before being ousted in a no-confidence motion. He alleged that his ouster was orchestrated by Pakistan’s powerful army at the behest of the US. The army and the US denied the allegation.
Mr Khan and his Tehreek-e-Insaaf party were barred from contesting the national election in February which was alleged to have been rigged. Candidates aligned with the party, forced to contest independently, still won most seats in the parliament but not enough to form the government.
“As per Imran Khan’s instructions, his application form to Oxford University chancellor election 2024 has been submitted,” Mr Bukhari said on X. “We look forward to everyone’s support for a historic campaign.”
The chancellor is elected by members of a convocation which includes university alumni. A candidate must be nominated by two members of the convocation. The chancellor’s role, largely ceremonial, generally goes to individuals who have made significant contributions to public life, academia and their field of specialisation.
Mr Khan, an Oxford alumni, served as chancellor of the University of Bradford for eight years. He led Pakistan to triumph in the 1992 cricket World Cup.
Mr Khan is running alongside Elish Angiolini, former lord advocate of Scotland and principal of St Hugh’s College, and Margaret Casely-Hayford, former chair of Shakespeare’s Globe, reported the Guardian. The nominations close on Sunday and voting is expected to be held on 28 October.
Chris Patten, who has served in the position for more than 20 years, announced his retirement in February.
Mr Patten previously served as a cabinet minister, Conservative Party chairman, the last British governor of Hong Kong, European commissioner, and BBC chairman. He was also involved in the Northern Ireland peace process.
Burger King loses 13-year suit against India restaurant with same name
American fast food chain Burger King has lost a 13-year legal battle against an Indian restaurant with the same name.
An Indian court dismissed a suit filed by Burger King Corporation alleging trademark infringement by Burger King in Pune city, in the western state of Maharashtra, noting that the restaurant had been in operation since 1992, years before the multinational company started doing business in the country.
Burger King Corporation was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King and rechristened Burger King in 1959. It entered the Indian market in November 2014, opening its first outlet in the capital Delhi, and arrived in Pune the next year.
The company said they sent a cease and desist notice in 2009 after finding out that Anahita Irani and Shapoor Irani, a Parsi couple in Pune, were using the name Burger King for their restaurant.
The Iranis responded that the corporation could not claim any common law rights since there were no Burger King restaurants operating in India at the time.
Burger King Corporation filed a lawsuit in 2011 claiming that the Pune restaurant’s name was a violation of its trademark. It also sought damages.
The Iranis argued that they had used the name since 1992, over a decade before the American chain arrived in India. Their logos were different and that prevented anyone from confusing the Pune restaurant for the global chain.
“The defendants use a crown between the words Burger King to depict the word Burger King, whereas it appears that plaintiffs have never used it. Thus, as far as visual deception is concerned, there’s none,” they contended.
As the case dragged on, however, the Iranis changed the name of their restaurant to Burger.
They also made a counter claim against the fast food giant, seeking Rs 2m (£18,377) in damages on the grounds that the lawsuit had hurt their business. The claim was denied by the court as they had provided “no supporting evidence to prove the actual damages caused”.
As for the suit brought by Burger King Corporation, the court said the company had “miserably failed” to prove trademark infringement. Therefore it was not entitled to any damages and the Pune restaurant was free to use the name.
“Thus, in the absence of cogent evidence, I find that the plaintiff is not entitled for damages, rendition of accounts and the relief of perpetual injunction,” district judge Sunil Vedpathak, who heard the case, said.
Indian Air hostess assaulted by intruder in London hotel room
An Air India hostess was assaulted by an intruder at her hotel near Heathrow airport in London last week, reports said.
Her colleagues in the adjacent room heard her cries for help and nabbed the intruder, The Indian Express reported. The incident allegedly took place at the Radisson Red hotel on Thursday night.
“The crew member was sleeping when an intruder attacked her in her room around 1.30am. Startled, she woke up and screamed for help. He attacked her with a clothes hanger and dragged her on the floor when she tried to escape towards the door,” an unnamed source was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
“The intruder was arrested.”
The Independent has reached out to Radisson Hotel Group for comment.
Air India confirmed the incident.
“We are deeply anguished by an unlawful incident of intrusion at a hotel, operated by a major international chain, that affected one of our crew members,” the airline said. “We are providing all possible support to our colleague and their broader team, including professional counselling.”
The airline said they were “working with the local police to pursue the matter to the fullest extent of the law, and with the hotel management to ensure such incidents are not repeated”.
“We request that the privacy of those involved is respected,” it said.
The air hostess suffered bruises and was taken to hospital, reports said. She returned to India shortly after.
“She was badly bruised and the intruder tried to escape,” unnamed airline sources told the Times of India. “The police were called in and she was taken to a hospital.”
The incident caused concern in India.
“What makes it even more galling is that the cabin crew had been repeatedly complaining about the lack of security in the hotel in London, inadequate lighting and the dark spaces in the London hotel,” Manish Tewari, member of parliament from the opposition Congress party, said, describing the incident as “disturbing”.
Father of murdered Kolkata doctor says ‘she went to serve people’
Doctors in India continue to protest and demand tougher legislation to protect healthcare workers following the rape and murder of a junior doctor in the eastern state of West Bengal.
The protests erupted earlier this month after the trainee, 31, was found dead at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on 9 August. Her partially naked body with visible marks of abuse was discovered in one of the seminar halls in the emergency building of the hospital by her colleagues. The autopsy report confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted and smothered to death.
A civil volunteer named Sanjay Roy, associated with the state police, was arrested and the case was taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation, a federal agency, amid calls for a transparent inquiry.
But the victim’s father claimed that more than one person was involved.
“The place where I sent my daughter to make a living and serve the people not protect her,” he told NDTV. “It’s very sad.”
“It is impossible that only one suspect is involved. There are more suspects at large.”
The murder has sparked a strike by doctors, disrupting non-emergency hospital services across the country.
They have demanded a transparent investigation into the murder, resignation of hospital officials, adequate security for all medical staff, and speedy ratification of a law for the protection of healthcare workers.
Hundreds and thousands of people, mostly women, have also marched in West Bengal, seeking a reckoning with violence against women.
The government has urged doctors to return to duty while it sets up a committee to recommend protection measures for healthcare professionals.
“Our cease-work and sit-in will continue till our demands are met,” said Dr Aniket Mahata, spokesperson for protesting junior doctors at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
In the national capital Delhi, protesting doctors carrying “Justice delayed is justice denied” placards were stopped by police as they tried to set up free outpatient services outside the federal health ministry.
Nearly a million doctors reportedly took part in the strike on Saturday.
The Indian Medical Association, the country’s largest union of doctors and medical workers, called on the public to support its “struggle for justice”.
It described the junior doctor’s murder a “crime of barbaric scale due to the lack of safe spaces for women”.
“The strike is in response to a tragedy that has never happened in the history of the medical profession in India. It’s not that we want to do it but the situation demands we set an example that doctors can also take to the streets,” Aviral Mathur, president of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association, told The Independent.
In solidarity with the protesting doctors, thousands of supporters of West Bengal’s two biggest football clubs marched in Kolkata on Sunday evening with chants of “We want justice”. Unprecedented scenes unfolded as supporters of two rival teams protested together despite the derby match being called off due to possible violence at the stadium.
The Kolkata police have restricted gatherings of more than five persons around the RG Kar hospital following vandalism in the emergency ward, which housed the crime scene.
Peaceful midnight protests at the hospital last week were marred by a mob of men who broke through police barricades, entered the campus and went on a rampage.
Police have said the crime scene on the third floor was untouched and that 37 people involved in the vandalism were arrested.
They have also arrested a second-year college student for allegedly sharing a “provocative social media post” against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The student has been accused of inciting hatred and encouraging people to assassinate the chief minister through her Instagram stories.
Ms Banerjee’s administration on Saturday advised medical colleges and hospitals in the state to avoid allotting night duties to women doctors “as far as possible”.
Alapan Bandyopadhyay, principal adviser to the chief minister, said a new initiative called night companion will be implemented for the safety of women doctors.
There will be separate toilets and restrooms for women doctors along with “safe zones” that will remain under blanket surveillance, he added. “Shifts will be arranged in such a manner that in case of night duties the women doctors can function in pairs.”
Sandip Ghosh, former principal of the medical college and hospital, was interrogated by the CBI for the fourth consecutive day on Monday.
He resigned last week following public outrage over his remark that “it was irresponsible of the girl to go to the seminar hall alone at night”.
India’s Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder case and will hear it on Tuesday.