INDONESIA
Woman jailed for pork video
A court has sentenced a woman to two years in prison and handed her a heavy fine after she recited an Islamic prayer before eating pork in a viral TikTok video widely criticized in the Muslim-majority country. Lina Mukherjee, 33, was on Tuesday found guilty of “spreading information aimed at inciting hatred against religious individuals and specific groups” at a court in the South Sumatra city of Palembang. A resident reported Mukherjee in March for the video, which had amassed millions of views. In it she uttered a Muslim prayer that translates to “in the name of God,” before consuming crispy pork skin. Pork is forbidden under Islam, Indonesia’s dominant religion. Mukherjee was also fined 250 million rupiah (US$16,262), and her jail term would be extended by three months if it is not paid.
SINGAPORE
Ex-PM’s son charged
Goh Jin Hian (吳仁軒), the son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), was among four people yesterday charged with false trading offenses, Channel News Asia reported. The 54-year-old former CEO of investment holding company New Silkroutes Group Ltd, Goh stands accused of conspiring with three other men linked to the firm for creating a misleading appearance of the price of its securities on 31 trading days between February and August 2018, the report said. Goh is also accused of pushing up the price of the firm’s securities by placing orders and executing trades using his bank investment account. He was handed 39 charges under the Securities and Futures Act, while the three other men each received 31 similar charges.
RUSSIA
Top official woos China
A senior Kremlin official on Tuesday called for closer policy coordination between Moscow and Beijing to counter what he described as Western efforts to contain them, as he hosted China’s top diplomat for security talks. Moscow “seeks progressive development and strengthening of the Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation,” Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅). “Amid the campaign unleashed by the collective West that is aimed at the double containment of Russia and China, it’s particularly important to further deepen Russian-Chinese coordination and interaction on the international arena,” Patrushev said. Putin is set to hold “substantive” talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a trip next month to Beijing, he added. Patrushev reaffirmed Russia’s “invariable” support for Beijing’s policy on issues related to Taiwan, the Xinjiang region and Hong Kong, which he said “are being used by the West to discredit China.”
UNITED STATES
Neuralink to start human trial
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s brain-chip start-up Neuralink on Tuesday said it has received approval from an independent review board to begin recruitment for the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients. Those with paralysis due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis can qualify for the study, it said, but did not reveal how many participants would be enrolled in the trial, which would take about six years to complete. The study would use a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface (implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move), Neuralink said, adding that its initial goal is to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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