Taiwanese man who killed ‘bully’ flatmate sentenced to 8 years in jail
A High Court in Taiwan on Tuesday sentenced a man to eight years in prison for stabbing his “bully” flatmate to death.
The 26-year-old defendant surnamed Yang was accused of brutally stabbing his 52-year-old flatmate surnamed Wang in their rented apartment in Sanchong District, New Taipei City.
Yang, who had allegedly been enduring the bullying and physical attacks from his flatmate, stabbed the elder man on 10 October 2023 following a scuffle between them.
The altercation broke out when the defendant, who worked at a karaoke bar, failed to thank his flatmate for opening the door for him.
Wang reportedly asked Yang why he did not say “thank you”, to which the defendant responded: “I’m sorry, thank you!” But Wang, unsatisfied with the response, chased after Yang and punched him, reported Taiwan news channel TVBS.
Yang suffered a bruise on his left cheek and retaliated by stabbing Wang three times in the chest and once in the abdomen with a 20-cm-long military knife.
Wang was found in a pool of blood and subsequently rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, China Times reported.
Upon realising his actions, Yang stood by the body, awaiting the arrival of the police. In custody, Yang claimed he was assaulted by the other person because he didn’t say thank you, which led him to retaliate.
He reportedly told police that he deeply regretted his behaviour.
The New Taipei District Court’s National Judges Division had initially sentenced Yang to eight years in prison for murder, which the prosecution appealed arguing that Yang had failed to reach a settlement with the victim’s family and that the sentence was too light.
However, the Taiwan High Court on Tuesday held that the appeal was groundless, upholding the initial sentencing.
Tattoo artist arrested after woman’s Hindu deity ink sparks backlash
A tattoo artist in India’s eastern city of Bhubaneswar has been arrested after a woman had a local deity’s likeness inked on her thigh.
The tattoo sparked outrage from Hindu groups and devotees.
A case was filed against the tattoo parlour owner in the wake of the protests for allegedly outraging religious sentiments.
The parlour owner, Rocky Ranjan Bisoi, 33, told police that one of his artists, Ashwini Kumar Pradhan, 25, had tattooed the Italian woman’s thigh at her request.
Mr Bisoi had posted a picture of the woman and her tattoo as his WhatsApp status. The image went viral on social media, sparking outrage and prompting him to delete the post.
Subrat Kumar Mohanty, self-described social activist, filed a police complaint against Mr Bisoi after finding a photo of a “foreign woman on the social media account of Rocky Tattooz where Lord Jagannath’s tattoo was seen on her thigh, an objectionable placement”.
Jagannath is the presiding deity of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, one of the most revered Hindu shrines and pilgrimage centres in India.
“The tattoo has hurt our religious sentiments,” Mr Mohanty said in his complaint, “and we demand a public apology at Puri.”
The woman, reportedly an Italian NGO worker in Odisha’s Kandhamal region, apologised saying she was a devotee and did not intend disrespect.
A local police official, Biswa Ranjan Senapati, told The Times of india that police would “definitely question her and issue her a warning since she seems to be unaware of our religious sentiments”.
“During the investigation, we found that the foreign lady had visited the tattoo shop on March 1. Under the instruction of the tattoo shop owner Rocky Ranjan Bisoi, Aswini Kumar Pradhan drew the tattoo on the thigh of the woman,” he was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.
In his complaint, Mr Mohanty argued that the parlour owner should have prevented the foreigner from getting the deity’s image tattooed on “an unsuitable body location”.
Mr Bisoi even took a photo of the foreigner with the tattoo and posted it on social media, he added.
Amid the outrage, Mr Bisoi and the foreign woman issued separate video apologies on social media. “I sincerely apologise as the tattoo was inked in our studio. I also seek forgiveness on behalf of the artist who created it. The woman, an Italian national, visited our shop on Saturday, expressing her deep devotion to Lord Jagannath and requesting the tattoo,” he said. “She specifically asked for it to be placed on her thigh as she works in an NGO where tattoos in visible areas of the body are not permitted.”
The woman promised to remove the tattoo once it had healed. She said in a video message on her social media: “I did not want to be disrespectful. I’m a true devotee of Lord Jagannath. I go to the temple every day. I made a mistake and for this, I’m very sorry.”
“I just asked the artist to ink the tattoo in a hidden place. I didn’t want to create any situation. I’m very sorry for this. As soon as the tattoo area heals, I will have it removed. Forgive me for my mistake.”
The parlour owner claimed the woman decided to have the tattoo on her thigh despite him advising against it.
The name and age of the woman was not publicly disclosed.
There have been several incidents over the years of foreigners being accused of hurting the religious sentiments, intentionally or unintentionally, of the local people in Asian nations.
In 2023, a Russian man was deported from Indonesia after a viral photo showed him stripping atop Bali’s sacred Mount Agung. Despite apologising, he was reportedly banned from returning to the country for at least six months.
Vietnam considers relaxing its long-standing two-child policy
Vietnam is relaxing its two-child policy to tackle the sharp decline in birth rate amid concerns for the ageing population.
The health ministry is reportedly considering allowing couples to decide the number and timing of their children after the country’s birth rate plunged into one of the lowest in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam’s birth rate hit a record low in 2024 with the total fertility rate dropping to just 1.91 children per woman, according to the government data. Experts claim the birth rate was below the level needed to keep the population stable to avoid potential labour shortages and socio-economic challenges due to the ageing population.
The country has also been struggling with disparities in birth rates, with some areas reporting lower numbers than others. Ho Chi Minh City recorded the lowest rate in Vietnam at 1.39 children per woman, whereas the northern Ha Giang province had the highest numbers at 2.69.
Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, the deputy health minister, emphasised that the government must act fast to prevent a population decline. “We need to encourage larger families by reducing penalties for having more than two children and offering financial support,” she said, according to Vietnamnet Global.
Vietnam’s birth rate remained stable from 1999 to 2022 at around 2.1, but declined in 2023 and the subsequent year. The birth rate is projected to continue declining, which would mark the end of its golden population period by 2039, according to reports.
The two-child policy was initially imposed in the 1960s to manage the baby boom in the poor and rural population. The rule was scrapped in 2003, before being reimposed in 2008.
Vietnam is among several Asian countries to have reported a steady decline in birth rate due to rising cost of living, economic uncertainty and a cultural shift towards prioritising quality of life.
In countries like South Korea, which has one of the lowest birth rates in Asia, women have cited the heavy emotional and physical burden of raising a child mostly by themselves, financial crisis and lost career opportunities as reasons to set a trend of not giving birth.
Japan last year recorded its lowest number of births in 125 years, falling ninth straight year despite the government’s efforts to reverse the decline. Japan recorded 720,988 births in 2024, five per cent down from the previous year, the health ministry announced in February.
Similarly, China witnessed a record 20 per cent plunge in marriages last year, marking the steepest decline ever recorded despite government initiatives to encourage couples to marry and have children.
China hits back at Trump with fresh tariffs on agricultural goods
China has vowed to fight to the “bitter end” in a trade war with the US, announcing up to 15 per cent tariffs on American imports.
Beijing had threatened to impose countermeasures and reiterated its firm opposition after Trump announced additional 10 per cent levies on Chinese imports. The levies imposed on US products will be implemented from 10 March, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said on Tuesday, shortly after Trump’s tariffs took effect.
China will impose a 15 per cent tariff on imported chicken, wheat, corn and cotton, while a 10 per cent tariff will be imposed on sorghum, soybean, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables and dairy products, according to a statement from the government. China accounted for 17 per cent of American agricultural exports in 2023, according to the US department of agriculture.
Click here for the latest on Trump and his trade war
Beijing’s foreign ministry said the country has never succumbed to bullying or coercion, and that “trying to exert extreme pressure on China is a miscalculation and a mistake”.
“If the United States… persists in waging a tariff war, a trade war, or any other kind of war, the Chinese side will fight them to the bitter end,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday.
China also placed 25 American firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds, but refrained from punishing any household names. China appears to have targeted at least 10 firms for selling arms to the self-governed island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.
Beijing also suspended imports of American lumber effective immediately.
A spokesperson for the Chinese ministry of commerce earlier in the day had accused the US of disregarding facts and international trade rules, calling it a typical example of “unilateralism and bullying”.
The additional 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports will raise the total levies on select Chinese goods to 45 per cent, according to The Washington Post.
In a statement published on its website, the ministry urged Washington to “respect the rights and interests of other countries” and “immediately withdraw the groundless and self-defeating unilateral tariff measures”.
The ministry hoped “that the US will view and handle trade issues in an objective and rational manner and return to the correct path of resolving differences through good faith dialogue at the earliest possible time”.
Charles Wang, the founder of Dragon Pacific Capital Management, warned that the trade war will worsen things for the US, which was already facing challenges on multiple fronts.
“For China, we have reduced trade dependency with the US from 23 per cent to around 13 per cent, so the direct impact is limited. In addition, China’s economy is recovering, and the parliamentary meeting will provide more signals for supporting the economy,” he added.
Charu Channa, Chief investment strategist at Saxo, said that while the moves from China may not be particularly bold, there is a reason to believe that it wants to be on the negotiating table with Trump rather than sitting back and absorbing the blows.
Last month, Trump claimed that “drugs are still pouring into our country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels”. He also claimed that a “large percentage” of these deadly substances were made in China.
China has accused the White House of “blackmail” over its tariff hike, saying it had some of the world’s toughest anti-drug policies. “The US is shifting blame and doubling down on its mistakes by once again imposing tariffs on Chinese exports to the US under the pretext of the fentanyl issue,” it said.
On Tuesday, stock markets slumped and bond yields slid in Asia as investors braced for an imminent escalation in a global trade war with the new American tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico.
Trump said 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico would go into effect on Tuesday, prompting Canada to vow retaliation. Both the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso tumbled, although China’s yuan bounced off its lowest level since 13 February in offshore trading.
Asian equities tracked the biggest losses on Wall Street this year from overnight, with the S&P 500 sliding 1.8 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropping 2.6 per cent.
Crude oil wallowed near 12-week lows and bitcoin languished around $86,000 after erasing the surge to the cusp of $95,000 that started the week.
Tech stocks suffered particular selling pressure, pushing Japan’s Nikkei down 2.2 per cent and Taiwan’s benchmark index down 1.3 per cent.
“It’s a very powerful weapon that politicians haven’t used because they were either dishonest, stupid or paid off in some other form,” Trump said Monday at the White House. “And now we’re using them.”
Taliban arrest Afghan activist who campaigned for education of girls
Taliban officials have arrested an Afghan educator who has been campaigning for the education rights of girls in the country, his family members have confirmed.
Wazir Khan, 25, was arrested from his residence in the Kabul area on 24 February, his family has said. The arrest was carried out by four of the Taliban’s local officials who took him to their intelligence facility General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI).
He was picked up from his house in Butkhak in Kabul, taken out by the Taliban officials who tied his hands and blindfolded his eyes, his brother Amir Khan Zaland told The Independent.
“We have no idea where he is right now and how he is. It has been more than seven days since he was picked up,” he said.
“Wazir Khan worked for human rights, was an activist for children’s education, why was he arrested? What sin did he commit? Instead of being praised, he is being imprisoned in Afghanistan,” his brother told The Independent.
“As of Monday, more than a week after his arrest, we have no idea about Mr Khan’s whereabouts and his safety. It is believed he is in the Taliban’s detention facility,” said Samantha Leaning, a human rights advocate working closely with Mr Khan for nearly two years.
Mr Khan was running Today Child, a non-profit organisation for raising awareness of education for girls since 2022, which he said was his tool for supporting education in the rural areas of Afghanistan and wiping out illiteracy in the country.
“The Taliban has a red line with activism on girls education inside Afghanistan but Mr Khan was campaigning for both – girls and boys education – and that too for the age under 12 years, which the Taliban allows under its Sharia law,” Ms Leaning told The Independent, stating that he was “worried about his security”, in a likely sign he was already under threat from the Taliban.
She added that the young Afghan educator has been using the “let Afghan girls learn” hashtag in his social media which probably “tipped it” with the Taliban.
Several social media photos and videos of Mr Khan show him reaching the hinterlands of Afghanistan where he campaigned among the rural elders and tribal leaders to continue educating their children.
Mr Khan is also seen distributing storybooks and notebooks and narrating stories to groups of Afghan children during his regular outreach activities.
The Taliban have not released any official statement confirming the arrest of Mr Khan.
However, this is not the first such arrest of Afghan educators campaigning inside the hardline Islamist regime for education of girls and women.
The Taliban has banned the education of girls and women above sixth grade for more than three years now inside the country, leading to a widespread shutdown of education for millions of girls and women.
In March 2023, the Taliban arrested a prominent Afghan educator Matiullah Wesa from Kabul after he spent months travelling to remote parts of the country with his mobile library.
He was severely assaulted and tortured in his prison detention at the GDI facility and was released only after 215 days in prison.
Mr Wesa was seen as outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school and repeatedly called on the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan to reverse its bans on female education.
After his release from the detention, Mr Wesa has maintained a low profile in public and abstained from actively campaigning for Afghan girls’ right to education.