Police search for motive in Wisconsin school shooting

(Reuters) - Police in Wisconsin on Tuesday were interviewing friends and family and examining the online presence of a 15-year-old girl to determine what drove her to open fire in a school classroom, killing a fellow student and a teacher before taking her own life. The shooter, identified by police as Natalie Rupnow who also went...

Retired cop finds trove of unreleased Michael Jackson songs: Report

A retired California highway patrolman has stumbled into possession of a trove of unreleased Michael Jackson songs, which the world may never have a chance to hear. Gregg Musgrove, now a stay-at-home dad, procured the tapes after an associate purchased a storage unit in the city of Van Nuys that contained the recordings, according to American...

Jail for China man who went to forested area to collect burglars’ loot worth nearly S$500,000

SINGAPORE: A Chinese national was offered a 30,000 yuan (S$5,600) reward if he came to Singapore to retrieve nearly $500,000 in cash and valuables that two burglars had earlier stolen. Food deliveryman Wu Jinxing, 28, who earned around 200 yuan a day, accepted the offer and arrived in Singapore on July 27. He then went to a...

China extends visa-free transit stays to 10 days

HONG KONG: China announced on Tuesday (Dec 17) a relaxation of its visa-free transit policy, extending the permitted stay for eligible foreign travellers to 240 hours, or 10 days, from the original 72-144 hours, as authorities aim to lure more foreign visitors. The measure, which is effective immediately, was announced by the National Immigration Administration (NIA)...

Select Asian students to study medicine in Japan for free, new programme to start as soon as 2026

TOKYO: Japan’s Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry plans to cover tuition and living expenses for select international students from Asia studying at medical schools in Japan. This is the first time that the ministry is attempting such an initiative, which it is undertaking with the aim of contributing to the international community and expanding the use...

Singapore Ministers to send letters of demand to Bloomberg, other media outlets over ‘libellous’ statements

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng are taking legal action against Bloomberg and other media outlets for publishing statements concerning their property transactions, which they consider libellous. The statements were first published in a Dec 12 Bloomberg article on good class bungalow transactions in Singapore...

Indonesia’s largest party expels Jokowi after he backed Prabowo for President’s post

JAKARTA (Bloomberg): Indonesia’s largest party has officially expelled former President Joko Widodo after he spurned the party’s own candidate in February elections and backed Prabowo Subianto’s successful campaign to become leader of South-East Asia’s biggest economy. Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle Chairwoman, known as PDI-P, Megawati Soekarnoputri made the decision to expel Jokowi, as the former...

Canada’s finance minister quits, attacks PM Trudeau’s ‘political gimmicks’

OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unexpectedly resigned on Monday over a policy clash with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, dismissing his plans for increased spending as "political gimmicks". Freeland quit just hours before she was due to present a fall economic update to parliament, a document widely expected to show the minority Liberal government had...

Singapore police explain why they did not arrest Chinese fugitive on Interpol Red Notice

SINGAPORE: Authorities in Singapore do not have sufficient evidence that a Singapore-based Chinese fugitive who was arrested in Indonesia had committed money-laundering offences, the local police said, explaining why his detention occurred in Batam rather than within the city state. The police’s comments were in reference to the case of Yan Zhenxing, a Chinese national in...

South Korea looks to assuage tourists spooked by political chaos

SEOUL: South Korea is urging tourists to continue visiting the East Asian country, as also actively engaging with foreign governments regarding the safety of tour groups following political tensions triggered by a failed martial law attempt. "There is a slight concern that tourist arrivals may decline next year,” Culture Minister Yu In-Chon said in an interview...