News
Women’s rights activist Ayesha Malik becomes first female Supreme Court justice in Pakistan
- Gender equality activists are celebrating Ayesha Malik’s appointment to the Supreme Court in light of gender disparities in Pakistan and Malik’s own robust track record as a women’s rights advocate.
- Malik’s appointment succeeded by a narrow 5-4 margin.
On Jan. 24, a judiciary committee appointed 55-year-old Ayesha Malik to Pakistan’s Supreme Court bench by a narrow margin.
Domestic and international activists have been celebrating the appointment of Malik to Pakistan’s Supreme Court as an important step towards women’s rights in the country. Female judges make up only 4% of Pakistan’s high courts, BBC reports.
Battle of the Sixes: Surging Nathan Chen to face rival Yuzuru ‘Ice Prince’ Hanyu in bid for Olympic gold
- Team USA’s Nathan Chen and Japan’s “Ice Prince” Yuzuru Hanyu are set to face off for the second time at an Olympics during the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing next month.
- Chen and Hanyu first competed against each other at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, where the Japanese figure skater won gold while the American athlete landed in fifth place overall.
- Both figure skaters have six national champion titles under their belts, making the upcoming head-to-head battle in Beijing the “Battle of the Sixes.”
The rivalry between American figure skater Nathan Chen and Japanese “Ice Prince” Yuzuru Hanyu is expected to reach its climax during the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics next month.
The athletes’ rivalry began at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang when Chen, who made his Olympic debut at 18, was anticipated to go head-to-head with Japan’s “Ice Prince,” according to Chen’s Olympic biography. However, the American skater fell short and finished at fifth place overall, yet still managed to bring home a bronze medal by virtue of a team event. Meanwhile, his competitor, Hanyu, bagged his second consecutive Olympic gold medal. He made history after becoming the second man to win back-to-back gold medals at the Olympics after Dick Button’s run in 1948 and 1952.
‘Equivalent to the n-word’: Woman kicked out of Richmond store for using Cantonese slang term
- An Asian woman was asked to leave a store in Richmond, Canada, for allegedly using a Cantonese term to describe a white person as a “ghost man” or “foreign devil.”
- According to the store’s staff, “gweilo” is a term “equivalent to the n-word.”
- The woman has reportedly been banned from the store following the incident — a claim the store refuted in a statement on Monday.
An Asian woman was asked to leave a store in Richmond, Canada, after she allegedly used a Cantonese term to describe a white person as a “ghost man” or “foreign devil.”
Eugene Ho was accompanying his girlfriend’s mother to a Shaw store in Richmond Centre shopping mall in November 2021 when the incident occurred, according to Richmond News. Ho wrote about their experience at the store in a Facebook post last month.
Sentencing of South Korean teen who ‘accidentally’ stabbed grandmother 60 times for nagging sparks anger
- A 19-year-old South Korean teenager stabbed his grandmother 60 times, reportedly out of anger due to her nagging. His 17-year-old brother assisted him by shutting their home’s windows.
- The South Korean court ruled the murder as “accidental” and gave lenient sentences, sparking online criticisms against the country’s judicial system.
The South Korean court has ruled the murder of a grandmother as “accidental” after her teen grandson brutally stabbed her 60 times.
A 19-year-old South Korean man was found guilty of fatally stabbing his grandmother 60 times. His 17-year-old younger brother assisted in the murder by closing the windows of their home to cover up their 77-year-old grandmother’s screams, according to The Korea Herald.
Chinese crypto influencer makes over $5 million in 10 days selling her photos as NFTs
- Chinese influencer Yuqing Irene Zhao successfully launched an NFT collection with the slogan: “SIMP: Simplicity, Integrity, Meaning, and Purpose.”
- The collection features images of the crypto influencer in different poses with slang used in the crypto community, such as “gm,” “wen Binance” and “yes ser.”
- The influencer’s collection follows in the footsteps of “Ghozali Everyday,” an NFT collection that made Indonesian college student Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali a millionaire.
- Zhao is also creating a platform that will allow other influencers to create their own NFTs.
A Chinese influencer’s non-fungible token (NFT) project has reached a trading volume of 2,300 ether (around $5.5 million) less than two weeks after its launch.
Singapore-based Yuqing Irene Zhao, 28, created the IreneDAO collection based on a sticker pack she made for her Telegram community, reported Cointelegraph.
Taiwanese father is sentenced for assisting suicide of disabled son who faced amputations
- A Taiwanese man, only identified as Chang, helped his disabled son kill himself last year.
- Chang has been sentenced to one year and six months in prison and has also been given a three-year probation.
- He reportedly used a fruit knife to grant his son’s wish.
- Chang turned himself in after the incident, and his son was pronounced dead at the hospital.
A Taiwanese man who assisted his disabled son with committing suicide last year has been sentenced to jail and given a probation.
The man, identified only as Chang, was sentenced to one year and six months of imprisonment followed by a three-year probation with protection and restraint, according to CNA.
Chinese teen sold at birth and rejected twice by biological parents dies by suicide
- Liu Xuezhou, the Chinese teenager whose biological parents sold him at birth and rejected him upon reunion, has died by sucide.
- The 17-year-old college student reportedly overdosed with antidepressants and was found dead on a beach in Hainan Province.
- Liu left what appeared to be a suicide note on Weibo, recalling his life’s misfortunes.
Chinese teenager Liu Xuezhou has died by suicide after being cyberbullied for his viral life story of being sold at birth and rejected twice by his biological parents.
The 17-year-old college student from China’s Hebei Province was found dead on a beach in Sanya, Hainan Province, on Monday morning, Sanya Police told The Paper.
Vietnamese peace activist, writer and Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh dies at 95
Prominent Buddhist monk, writer and Vietnamese peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh passed away at the age of ninety-five.
Plum Village, the first monastic community Hạnh founded, announced the peaceful death of the beloved teacher, or Thay, on the morning of Jan. 22 at the Từ Hiếu Temple in Huế, Vietnam.
66-year-old man in China transforms his terrace into ice rink to play hockey with grandson
- A 66-year-old man in Tianjin, China, transformed his terrace into an ice rink over the course of six months in hopes of sharing his love of ice hockey with his grandson.
- “The ice rink was not only made of ice, but also my parents’ love,” his daughter Zhang Miaoxuan said.
While the rest of China prepares for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, one elderly man in the northern city of Tianjin has been focusing on his own winter games at home by building a small ice hockey rink directly on his terrace.
Zhang Baoqi, aged 66, started building the ice rink over six months ago, before his city went under lockdown due to an outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Press TV. The idea for the rink came to him about a year ago, as he hoped to share his passion for ice hockey with his grandson.
Supreme Court to hear cases alleging Harvard, UNC admissions discriminates against Asian students
- The Supreme Court agreed to hear cases on the consideration of race as a factor in college admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
- The Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) is pushing for the court to repeal its 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger, which upheld the University of Michigan’s law school admissions policy.
- Harvard responded to SFFA’s petition by arguing that the university’s admission process did not discriminate against Asian American applicants.
The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will hear two cases on whether the consideration of race in college admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) violates civil rights.
A ruling against the schools could affect affirmative action programs and racial diversity at public and private universities throughout the country.
East Asia could be flooded by ‘rivers in the sky’ due to climate change, scientists warn
- Researchers used model simulations to predict behaviors of atmospheric rivers under different climate change outcomes.
- A study found that an increase of 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) would result in “unprecedented extreme rainfall” in East Asia.
- The greatest rainfalls, according to the simulation, would occur in Taiwan, northeastern China, the Korean Peninsula and parts of Japan, mainly the southwestern slope of the Japanese Alps.
East Asia will suffer severe rainfalls unlike anything in the past if global warming persists, scientists from Japan’s University of Tsukuba say in a new study.
Such rainfalls, according to the researchers, will be the result of “long, narrow bands of concentrated vapor” called atmospheric rivers, which form as more water is transported through the air. These “rivers” in the sky can cause major flooding as soon as they hit barriers such as a mountain range, according to the university.
France officially recognizes China’s treatment of Uyghurs as ‘genocide’ in parliamentary resolution
- On Tuesday, France adopted an opposition-led resolution condemning China’s treatment of Uyghurs as “genocide.”
- “We refuse to submit to propaganda from a regime that is banking on our cowardice and our avarice to perpetrate a genocide in plain sight," said Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure.
- The Chinese embassy in France released a statement saying the “genocide” allegations are “pure lies based on prejudices and hostility towards China.”
French lawmakers have condemned the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uyghur people with an official resolution calling it a “genocide.”
On Tuesday, France’s National Assembly adopted the non-binding resolution that “officially recognizes the violence perpetrated by the People’s Republic of China against the Uyghurs as constituting crimes against humanity and genocide,” reported Agence France-Presse.