Asian Headlines at 2:06 a.m. GMT
India kicks off a massive Hindu festival touted as the world's largest religious gathering
Latest stories
Cinema OnlineMainland model Yang Zeqi found after going missing at Thai-Myanmar border
The male model is believed to be another victim of abduction and filming scam
- Evening Standard
Prisoner who had sex with female guard in cell is violently attacked while holding baby in family visit
Linton Weirich was filmed having sex with a prison guard in a viral video
- People
Newlywed Wife Is Allegedly Stabbed to Death by Husband After Traveling Overseas to Meet up with Him: Authorities
Marvil Facturan-Kocjančič, a native of the Philippines, was killed seven days after arriving in Slovenia
- The Guardian
A kidnapped Chinese actor, a scam gang, and a very public rescue operation
Wang Xing was abducted in Thailand by increasingly bold crime gangs operating in Myanmar, putting an entire tourism industry at risk
- Associated Press
Millions of pilgrims and naked, ash-smeared ascetics take holy dips in India's mega Hindu festival
Tens of thousands of naked Hindu ascetics and millions of pilgrims took dips in freezing water at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday, in the first of a series of major baths in the Maha Kumbh festival, the largest religious congregation on Earth. Holding tridents, swords, spears and small two-headed drums, ash-smeared Hindu holy men marched and rode chariots at sunrise toward the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers in the northern city of Prayagraj.
- The Independent
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry ‘disaster tourists’ after photo with LA wildfire victims, claims star
‘Meghan Markle and Harry are no better than ambulance chasers,’ said ‘Family Ties’ star
- Cinema Online
Chen Xiao and Nicky Wu spark divorce rumours again due to charity donations
The two actors signed their donations for Tibet earthquake victims without their respective wives
- BBC
The truth behind your $12 dress: Inside the Chinese factories fuelling Shein's success
Workers making clothes for the fast fashion giant tell the BBC they labour for up to 75 hours a week.
- People
Mom Who Sexually Assaulted 2 Teens After Complaining to Them About Marital Problems in Hot Tub Learns Fate
"If the genders were reversed, there are few who would believe that leniency is appropriate," prosecutors reportedly told the court
- Associated Press
South Korea's impeached President Yoon detained in major law enforcement operation
South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was detained in a major law enforcement operation at the presidential compound Wednesday, defiantly insisting the anti-corruption agency didn’t have the authority to investigate his actions but saying he complied to prevent violence. Yoon, the country’s first sitting president to be apprehended, now faces the prospect of a lengthy prison term over potential rebellion charges. In a video message recorded shortly before he was escorted to the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency, Yoon lamented the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country.”
- People
Bodycam Shows Bizarre Post-Arrest Behavior of Teen Who Killed Boyfriend by Intentionally Driving 100 mph into Wall
Mackenzie Shirilla, 19, of Ohio, was convicted in 2023 of killing her boyfriend and a friend after crashing into a car
- PA Media: UK News
GP jailed for ‘truly horrific’ sexual abuse of patients over 15-year period
Wayne Sefton Davis told one of his victims that he ‘needed to teach her how to pleasure her husband’ and wanted to check that another was ‘a virgin’.
- CBC
Boissevain teacher sentenced to 6 months for sexual exploitation of former student
WARNING: This article contains details of abuse.A former southwestern Manitoba teacher will spend time behind bars for the sexual exploitation of a teenage student, which a judge called "an abuse of a position of trust."Troy Innes pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation in 2022 in the historic sex crime, which happened over a year in 2010. He was sentenced Tuesday in a Killarney provincial circuit court to six months in jail and 18 months probation, following sentencing submissions last October.In
- Reuters
Indian police arrest 44 men accused of raping teenager over five years
Police in India's southern state of Kerala have arrested 44 men accused of raping an 18-year-old girl over a period of five years, a police official said on Tuesday, in a case that has shocked the coastal tourist resort. Police have identified 58 of those men, some of whom are minors and arrested 44 over the last two days, officials said. The case came to light after the girl narrated the gang rape to a volunteer during a gender awareness programme.
- BBC
Dead bodies seen in videos from South African mine
Hundreds of people have reportedly been underground since a crackdown on illegal mining began last year.
- BBC
S Korea impeached president arrested after investigators scale walls
They cut through barbed wires and braved freezing temperatures to reach Yoon, ending a weeks-long standoff.
- CNN
One of the world’s greatest religious spectacles is underway and the numbers are staggering
Millions of Hindu devotees are bathing in sacred waters as the world’s biggest religious gathering begins in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
- Storyful
Cats Appear to Sense Earthquake Is Coming, Eerie Livestream Shows
Several cats in Japan were caught on camera suddenly raising their heads and looking up seconds before a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the southern part of the country on Monday, January 13.Footage filmed inside the Beppu Onsen Shindama Ryokan, a structure housing cats in Beppu, Japan, shows the cats appearing to sense that an earthquake is coming a few seconds before objects in the room start to move.The source wrote on X that “the cats sensed the earthquake about 10 seconds before it started.”The earthquake prompted a tsunami advisory for the Miyazaki and Kochi prefectures.The Japan Meteorological Agency said that the earthquake occurred at around 9:19 pm local time on Monday, and that the epicenter was in the Hyuganada Sea. Credit: Nyantama Channel via Storyful
- Evening Standard
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol arrested after dramatic hours-long standoff
Yoon Suk Yeol was brought into custody about three hours after hundreds of law enforcement officers entered the residential compound
- People
Woman Says She Was Drugged, Raped by Diddy When She Was Teen Babysitter: Complaint
The unnamed plaintiff claims she was offered a drink that made her feel "groggy" before the alleged assault in New York City