Crime

South Korea's ongoing sex crime crisis forms the focus of a gripping new Netflix documentary— Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror. The latest program reveals just the tip of the iceberg of sex crimes in the Asian country, which can be traced back to a "deep-rooted gender inequality " and an increase in gender-based violence, Boram Jang, East Asia Researcher at Amnesty International, told Newsweek. "According to the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, violent crimes such as murder, robbery and arson are generally decreasing in Korean society, but crimes involving sexual violence are steadily rising," Jang said. Released on Wednesday, the new Netflix documentary follows the exposé of a sexual abuse scandal that saw dozens of women—including minors—allegedly being blackmailed into capturing non-consensual , sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. The footage was shared and sold via online chat rooms—known collectively as the "Nth Room"—on … [Read more...] about ‘Cyber Hell’ only scratches surface of South Korea’s sex crime crisis

The first Russian soldier on trial in Ukraine for war crimes during Moscow’s invasion pleaded guilty on Wednesday, facing possible life imprisonment in Kyiv. Asked in court if he was guilty of the allegations, including war crimes and premeditated murder, 21-year-old sergeant Vadim Shishimarin responded “yes”. He is accused of killing a 62-year-old civilian in northeast Ukraine in the first days of the Kremlin’s offensive. Shishimarin — from the Siberian region of Irkutsk — sat in the glass defendant’s box in a Kyiv district court, wearing a blue and grey hoodie. The youthful-looking soldier with a shaved head looked towards the ground as a prosecutor read out charges against him in Ukrainian. An interpreter was translating for him into Russian. He is accused of killing the civilian — allegedly on a bicycle — near the village of Chupakhivka in the eastern Sumy region on February 28. Prosecutors say Shishimarin was commanding a unit in a tank division when his convoy came … [Read more...] about Russian Soldier Pleads Guilty at Kyiv War Crimes Trial

The US white supremacist who shot dead 10 people and called for London Mayor Sadiq Khan to be killed is a terrorist using the internet for an international platform. Deranged, bigoted teenager Payton Gendron’s racist killing spree in Buffalo, New York state was motivated by the murderous prejudice of the extremist far right. Calling for the killing of African American, Jews and Muslim Khan, one of three people labelled high profile enemies by Gendron, illustrates the global danger posed by fanatics. Ranting, unhinged Donald Trump regularly targeted London’s Mayor and it’s easy to guess why the racist then President picked out Khan. Gendron focusing on specific cases in Britain underlined both why we must discuss crimes here sensitively and why there are zealots around the world who exploit cases here for their own evil ends. Decent folk everywhere have lots in common. We must never let terrorists divide us. Shame on you Keir Starmer’s party is on the side of families … [Read more...] about ‘Buffalo killer was motivated by murderous prejudice of extreme far right’

Appearing on CBS News’ Face the Nation on April 14, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said Newtown families have told him they know the bill he and Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) have crafted would not have prevented the heinous crime at Sandy Hook Elementary. In other words, Manchin’s expanded background check “compromise” bill, being pushed in response to Newtown, does not do anything that would have stopped the Newtown tragedy from happening. Manchin said the families to whom he’s spoken just keep urging him to do something in hopes that somewhere down the road new gun control legislation will “prevent one family from…going through what [Newtown] families went through.” Senator Toomey was also on Face the Nation. And he said: “I acknowledge, there’s no single bill that is a panacea for [gun crime], nothing guarantees that a committed criminal isn’t going to find a way to get a gun.” Connecticut had the 5th most stringent gun control laws in the nation when Adam Lanza committed his … [Read more...] about Manchin: Gun Control Bill Wouldn’t Have Stopped Newtown

An 11-year-old girl died Monday after she was struck by a stray bullet in a bungled drive-by shooting on a street in the Bronx borough of New York City. Hitmen on a motor-scooter targeted and intended to kill a man as they rode along 166th Street and Fox Street, according to the New York Police Department. CCTV footage of the attempted hit shows the gunman riding pillion, turning to fire behind him over his shoulder at the intended target, who was running away. But as the man escaped apparently unhurt, a stray bullet hit the 11-year-old in the abdomen. She was taken to the hospital in critical condition but later died of her injuries. NYPD Assistant Chief Philip Rivera said two men on a scooter were chasing another man on Fox Street when the suspect riding pillion opened fire on the fleeing target. Police are continuing to look for the two suspects on the scooter as well as their intended target. Deputy Chief Timothy McCormack said: "This is very, very difficult for us … [Read more...] about 11-year-old girl killed by stray bullet on New York City street: police

A hospital employee was arrested after she allegedly stole almost $1,000 from a COVID patient's wallet, according to police. Yolanda Curtis-Deliz, 46, was taken into custody last Thursday and charged with grand theft, the Haines City Police Department in Florida said in a news release. Police said Curtis-Deliz, a certified nursing assistant at AdventHealth Heart of Florida, was working in the COVID-19 ward of the hospital. She was working in the area of hospital restricted to COVID-19 patients when a man was admitted on February 19. "The patient placed his wallet in a bedside table drawer when Curtis-Deliz insisted that he go to the bathroom to 'freshen up' while she 'refreshed" the room," police said in the release. Police say when the patient returned from the bathroom, he noted the table where his wallet had been placed was turned in a different direction and the drawer was open. "The patient happened to be a former law enforcement officer and was cognizant of the way … [Read more...] about Hospital worker accused of stealing almost $1,000 from COVID patient’s wallet

A Florida anesthesiologist has been charged with a hate crime for assaulting a Hispanic man outside a supermarket. Dr. Jennifer Susan Wright, 58, of Miami Springs, was arrested on Friday following the alleged assault on January 20, the day of Joe Biden 's inauguration. The Miami Herald reported that Wright became enraged after a man asked her in Spanish to keep her distance due to COVID-19 while waiting in line to pay for groceries at a Publix store in Hialeah, a predominantly Hispanic suburb of Miami. Police said that Wright ignored the man's request, so he asked again in English. According to an arrest report obtained by the Herald , Wright responded by "mumbling bad words." The man ignored her and began walking to his car. But Wright then approached the man in the parking lot as he was loading his groceries in his car and got close to him. When he asked her to back up, she became more enraged and hurled a racial slur at the man, according to the arrest report. "We … [Read more...] about Trump-supporting doctor assaults Hispanic man outside Publix, police say

A former gang member from Berkeley, California , has reportedly been arrested over hate crimes after posting threatening messages about Asians online. The Oakland Police Department said a Berkeley man was taken into custody after "social media partners" alerted them to "disturbing messages" directed at Asian communities online. Reginald Jackson, who police flagged as a gang member in previous investigations, shared a series of now-deleted and private posts on Twitter and Instagram that included references to beating up, robbing and blowing up Asians, according to ABC 7. Police records show that Jackson has a lengthy list of past felonies, including attempted robbery and weapons charges, including possession of an AR-15 assault rifle. Jackson was booked into the Santa Rita Jail on Monday and is being held without bail until his next court hearing on March 23, the records show. It comes as the Asian American community in the Bay Area and across the wider U.S. have … [Read more...] about Ex-gang member threatens to kill Asians on social media, arrested by police

When a shooter attacked a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, over the weekend, its security guard tried to stop him. At least one of his shots hit the gunman, but it didn’t stop the deadly rampage because the gunman was wearing body armor. Ten Black people died in the racist massacre, including security guard Aaron Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer hailed as a hero. It’s the latest mass shooting in which the gunman apparently came prepared for anyone trying to stop him with a gun. At least 21 mass shooters over the last four decades have worn some kind of body armor — and the majority of those were within the last 10 years, according to a database maintained by The Violence Project, a nonpartisan research group that tracks gun violence. Among them: A massacre that killed 12 people and injured dozens more at a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012, and another in nearby Boulder that left 10 people dead at a supermarket last year. The shooter in Texas’s deadliest … [Read more...] about Buffalo is latest mass shooting by gunman wearing body armor

At present, I’m rehearsing my new autobiographical play, We Started To Sing . In order to do so I drive across London each morning at dawn to reach the Arcola Theatre, where the play is going on. All along the route, ageing white men with slight stoops stare down at me from electric billboards, advertising what they call freedom of speech, though what they’re actually advertising is a range of privately-owned talk show platforms . In the deserted early morning, they look like Easter Island statues, and they make me wonder: how would I feel if this world ended now, and this was what was left behind to stand for us all? Then I get to the Arcola and rehearse a play about my grandparents, whose generation gave their youths (and often their lives) to resist the fascist right, and built the welfare state ; who bequeathed to us this country we’re in the process of selling off at present . And I think, if all this ended, I’d feel such shame at being represented by those … [Read more...] about Yes, we need to ‘reclaim England’ – from the political right