(ANN/THE JAPAN NEWS) – An emergency call was made to the police at around 9:50 a.m on Tuesday reporting that a woman was attacked by a man with a knife by a man on a street in Takadanobaba, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. Upon arriving at the scene, officers from the Totsuka Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department discovered a woman in her 20s lying on the ground with stab wounds to her head, neck and chest.
The woman was taken to a hospital, but later confirmed dead.
The police arrested a man in his 40s, present at the scene, on suspicion of attempted murder. It was believed that the woman was live-streaming a video on the street when the incident occurred, and the police are investigating the incident, suspecting that there was some kind of conflict between the two.
According to a senior police officer, the man has confessed to the accusation. A knife suspected to be the murder weapon was seized from the scene.
The incident occurred in an area with houses and shops about 350 metres southwest of JR Takadanobaba Station.
Police officers investigating the scene where a woman was stabbed near JR Takadanobaba Station at 11:16 a.m. on Tuesday morning. PHOTO: ANN/The Yomiuri Shimbun/The Japan News
LONDON (Bernama-PA Media/dpa) – Children who regularly eat fish could be more sociable and kind than their peers, a new study suggests.
Academics said encouraging children to eat fish is “likely to have a positive effect on child development”, reported PA Media/dpa news.
Researchers from the University of Bristol said that seafood is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and iodine – which have previously been found to play an important role in brain development and cognitive function.
As a result, they wanted to investigate whether there is a link between seafood consumption in children at the age of seven, and any possible cognitive and behavioural changes when they were seven, eight, or nine.
They examined long-term data on almost 6,000 children in England.
The average amount of fish eaten each week was 123 grams.
For illustration only. PHOTO: FREEPIK
Some 7.2 per cent of children ate no fish every week; 63.9 per cent ate one to 190 grams per week and 28.9 per cent consumed more than 190 grams of fish each week – the equivalent of more than two portions.
So-called “white-coated fish products” – fish fingers or similar – made up almost half (46 per cent) of the average total seafood intake.
Children who ate no fish were more likely to display “suboptimal prosocial behaviour,” according to the new study, which has been published in the European Journal of Nutrition.
“Prosocial” behaviour includes friendly interactions, altruism and sharing.
At seven years old children who consumed no fish, compared with those who ate at least 190 grams of fish each week, were 35 per cent more likely to display “suboptimal prosocial behaviour.”
This increased to 43 per cent among nine-year-olds.
The researchers also wanted to assess whether there was any measurable differences between intelligence among fish eaters and those who did not eat fish, but did not find any differences among the eight year-olds studied, regardless of their fish intake.
The National Health Services (NHS) says that a “healthy, balanced diet” should include at least two portions of fish a week, including one of oily fish – such as salmon, mackerel or sardines.
It advises parents to give children at least one portion of oily fish a week, but “as oily fish can contain low levels of pollutants that can build up in the body, boys should have no more than four portions of oily fish a week, and girls no more than two portions a week.”
Dr Caroline Taylor, associate professor in nutrition at the University of Bristol, said: “When there is conflicting advice, it can be difficult to know what the best course of action is.
“Our previous studies have shown that eating fish during pregnancy in the UK can have a positive effect on child development.
“This has also been found in countries where fish intakes are higher than they are here, so encouraging fish consumption is likely to have a positive effect on child development.
“Our evidence to link fish consumption in children with the best behavioural development is clear, and we strongly recommend parents to provide at least two portions of fish a week in accordance with NHS guidelines.
“We hope these research findings empower parents with the knowledge to give their children the best start in life.”
Researchers used data from the Children of the 90s study, a long-term study tracking families as children age. The study has recently been awarded £5.2 million (US$6.7 million) to continue tracking families in the south-west of England. The study was founded in the early 1990s and has contributed to thousands of research papers.
Minister of Transport and Infocommunications Yang Berhormat Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha highlighted discussions on a potential rail network and railway service during the 21st Legislative Council session on Tuesday.
He noted that the topic was raised during a bilateral meeting between Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia last November. The Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications is aware of Malaysia’s plans to conduct a feasibility study on railway development between Sabah and Sarawak, but further research is needed before considering Brunei’s involvement.
Minister of Transport and Infocommunications Yang Berhormat Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha at the 21st LegCo meeting. PHOTO: RAFI ROSLI
No feasibility studies have been conducted on proposals received by the ministry. However, the ministry will continue to monitor developments and collaborate closely with proposers, particularly in planning domestic and cross-border connectivity systems. – James Kon
The Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the acquittal of two former senior officials from Radio Televisyen Brunei (RTB), Haji Muhammad Suffian bin Haji Bungsu and Jonathan Kho Chew Sen, who were previously cleared of corruption charges related to the purchase of a luxury car valued at BND66,800.
The Magistrate’s Court had delivered its ruling on March 6, acquitting both men after finding insufficient evidence to support the charges brought under Sections 6(a) and 6(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, as well as alternative charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code. The prosecution alleged that the transaction was a corrupt gift intended to influence public officers, while the defence maintained that it was a personal loan between colleagues.
Despite the court’s decision, the Public Prosecutor is now challenging the acquittal for any error in law or in fact or against the weight of the evidence. – Fadley Faisal
The nightly Ramadhan 1446 Hijrah Tadarus ceremony at Istana Nurul Iman entered its 10th night on Monday, with the participation of officers and staff from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Minister of Home Affairs Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman was in attendance, along with religious officers, teachers from the Department of Islamic Studies (JPI), and invited guests.
The ceremony commenced with mass Isyak prayer led by Yang Dimuliakan Pehin Khatib Haji Awang Suhaili bin Haji Metali Al-Hafiz, who also recited the Doa. This was followed by Sunnat Terawih prayers and Doa, led by Ustaz Pengiran Haji Khairul Ikhwan bin Pengiran Haji Alit.
Minister of Home Affairs Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman at the ceremony. PHOTOS: MUIZ MATDANIWomen participants from MoHA at the ceremony.
A religious talk on Fadhilat Surah Yaasin was delivered by speakers from the Islamic Dakwah Centre (PDI), with Ustaz Ahmad Muzhafar bin Marsidi addressing the male section, while Ustazah Syuhaidah binti Haji Mohd Yusof led the session for female attendees.
The event continued with the Tadarus Al-Quran and concluded with Doa Peliharakan Sultan dan Negara Brunei Darussalam.
The ceremony aimed to further enliven the spirit of Ramadan by encouraging acts of worship and strengthening religious practices throughout the holy month. – Lyna Mohammad
(ANN/THE KOREA HERALD) – On Tuesday, environmental officials implemented emergency emission reduction measures in the Seoul metropolitan area for the first time this year due to severe ultrafine dust levels.
According to the environment ministry, the measures will be implemented in the capital area until 9 p.m. and comprise a compulsory alternate no-driving scheme for public vehicles, a prohibition on old diesel cars, and limited operations of factories and construction sites that emit air pollutants.
The sky over Seoul is thick with fine dust particles on Saturday. PHOTO: ANN/YONHAP/THE KOREA HERALD
Due to the continued influx of fine dust from abroad, the density of ultrafine dust particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diametre, known as PM 2.5, is forecast to remain at “bad” levels in Seoul and the central regions throughout the day, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.
The capital area is predicted to experience elevated levels of fine dust on Wednesday as a result of more yellow dust entering from its source, the KMA said, adding that poor air quality may persist for the time being.
The weather authorities categorize concentrations of PM 2.5 particles between 0 and 15 micrograms per cubic metre as “good,” between 16 and 35 as “normal,” between 36 and 75 as “bad,” and more than 76 as “very bad.” – Yonhap
Hours after a series of outages Monday that left X unavailable to thousands of users, Elon Musk claimed that the social media platform was being targeted in a “massive cyberattack.”
“We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources,” Musk claimed in a post. “Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved. Tracing …”
Later on Monday, Musk said on Fox Business Network’s Kudlow that the attackers had “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area” without going into detail on what this might mean.
Cybersecurity experts quickly pointed out, however, that this doesn’t necessarily mean that an attack originated in Ukraine. Security researcher Kevin Beaumont said on Bluesky that Musk’s claim is “missing a key fact — it was actually IPs from worldwide, not just Ukraine.”
Specifically, he said it was a Mirai variant botnet, which is made of compromised cameras. He said while he is not sure who is behind the attack, it “Smells of APTs — advanced persistent teenagers.”
FILE – Workers install lighting on an “X” sign atop the company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, July 28, 2023. PHOTO: AP
Allan Liska of the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, meanwhile, pointed out that even if “every IP address that hit Twitter today originated from Ukraine (doubtful), they were most likely compromised machines controlled by a botnet run by a third party that could be located anywhere in the world.”
Complaints about outages spiked Monday at 6 a.m. Eastern and again at 10 a.m, with more than 40,000 users reporting no access to the platform, according to the tracking website Downdetector.com. By afternoon, the reports had dropped to the low thousands.
A sustained outage that lasted at least an hour began at noon, with the heaviest disruptions occurring along the U.S. coasts.
Downdetector.com said that 56 per cent of problems were reported for the X app, while 33 per cent were reported for the website.
It’s not possible to definitively verify Musk’s claims without seeing technical data from X, and the likelihood of them releasing that is “pretty low,” said Nicholas Reese, an adjunct instructor at the Center for Global Affairs in New York University’s School of Professional Studies and expert in cyber operations.
Reese said the likelihood that a state actor is behind the outages “doesn’t make a lot of sense” given their short duration — unless it was a warning for something larger to come.
“There are kind of two types of cyber attacks — there are ones that are designed to be very loud and there are ones that are designed to be very quiet,” he said. “And the ones that are usually the most valuable are the ones that are very quiet. Something like this was designed to be discovered. So to me that almost certainly eliminates state actors. And the value that they would have gained from it is pretty low.”
Reese added that it’s possible that a group was trying to make a statement with causing X outages, but added that such a temporary outage “is not much of a statement to me.”
“It’s only really a statement if there is some kind of follow on action, which I would not rule out at this point,” he said.
In March 2023 the social media platform then known as Twitter experienced a bevy of glitches for over an hour as links stopped working, some users were unable to log in and images were not loading for others.
“X outage” was trending on rival social media platform BlueSky, with some posts welcoming users to the site and urging them to stick around.
Musk bought the former Twitter in 2022 and also serves as the CEO of Tesla. He’s running X while simultaneously having access to U.S. government data systems — often wearing a shirt that says “tech support.”
LONDON (AFP/BORNEO BULLETIN) – Malaysian singer Siti Nurhaliza has made it onto King Charles III’s personal playlist, with her song “Anta Permana” featured among his top picks in a special radio show.
The UK monarch has joined forces with Apple to launch The King’s Music Room, a program in which he shares his favorite songs from across the Commonwealth and beyond. His selections reveal a surprising appreciation for disco, reggae, and Afrobeats—showcasing the tracks that get the royal toes tapping.
Among them is Kylie Minogue’s The Loco-Motion, which Charles described as having “infectious energy” that makes it “incredibly hard to sit still.” The king, who was photographed at Buckingham Palace with an “On Air” sign, also reflected on his discovery of Ghanaian Highlife music during his first visit to the country in the 1970s.
Recorded at Buckingham Palace, The King’s Music Room offers an exclusive insight into His Majesty’s relationship with music from around the Commonwealth. PHOTO: The Royal Family
“On my most recent visit to Ghana in 2018, I found myself dancing along to the next track, which is by Daddy Lumba—who is regarded by some as the greatest musician Ghana has ever produced,” he said, before playing Mpempem Do Me.
US singer Diana Ross’ Upside Down is another of Charles’ personal favorites. “When I was much younger, it was absolutely impossible not to get up and dance when it was played. I wonder if I can still just manage it,” he joked.
The king said that the songs evoked “many different styles and many different cultures” but that “all of them, like the family of Commonwealth nations, in their many different ways, share the same love of life, in all its richness and diversity.”
The show was recorded to mark Commonwealth Day, which is being celebrated on Monday.
Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley also made the playlist with Could You Be Loved. Charles recalled meeting Marley in London during his youth, describing the late singer’s “marvelous, infectious energy” and “profound concern for his community.”
“I always recall his words, ‘the people have a voice inside them’; he gave the world that voice in a way that no one who heard could ever forget,” Charles said.
Other Caribbean selections included Millie Small’s 1964 hit My Boy Lollipop and Montserratian artist Arrow’s Hot Hot Hot. “When I last visited the island, it certainly was,” joked the king.
On a more sentimental note, the playlist featured The Very Thought of You by 1930s crooner Al Bowlly, a song Charles said reminded him of his beloved grandmother.
Moving into the present, the monarch admitted he couldn’t resist including “the incomparable Beyoncé,” introducing Crazy in Love as part of his selection.
Other featured tracks included La Vie En Rose as sung by Grace Jones, Love Me Again by UK artist Raye, and KANTE by Nigerian star Davido. “It also features lyrics in pidgin, which I love in all its forms,” Charles noted.
The playlist also included Miriam Makeba’s The Click Song, My Country Man by Jools Holland and Ruby Turner, Indian Summer by Anoushka Shankar, Kiri Te Kanawa’s E Te Iwi E, and Michael Bublé’s Haven’t Met You Yet.
SEOUL (AFP) – South Korean singer Wheesung was found dead at his residence, his management said Tuesday, with police reportedly planning to conduct an autopsy to determine the 43-year-old’s exact cause of death.
Wheesung, who had a string of hits in South Korea including a popular cover of British star Craig David’s “Insomnia,” was found unconscious in his apartment at 6:29 pm Monday by emergency responders after his mother called for help, local media reported.
Police told local media they had found no signs of foul play but warned that “a significant amount of time” had elapsed since he died, with an autopsy requested.
“Artist Wheesung has left us,” his management agency Tajoy Entertainment said, adding agency staff and colleagues were “in deep sorrow.”
He was scheduled to perform alongside singer KCM in the southeastern city of Daegu this coming Saturday.
In his final message on social media, Wheesung announced the upcoming concert and wrote: “Weight loss completed. See you on March 15”.
Since his singing debut in 2002, Wheesung had been popular in the South with numerous hit songs, including chart-topping “With Me”, and was well-regarded for his soulful performances.
This undated picture released on March 10, 2025 by Yonhap news agency shows South Korean singer Wheesung posing for a photo during Seoul Fashion Week in Seoul. PHOTO: YONHAP / AFP
But his music career took a hit in 2021 when he was convicted and handed a suspended jail sentence for use of propofol — a surgical anaesthetic that is sometimes abused recreationally.
An overdose of the drug was cited as the cause of pop star Michael Jackson’s death in 2009.
South Korean singers and fans mourned Wheesung’s sudden death.
Rapper Verbal Jint paid tribute on Instagram, saying: “Every moment we spent together was an honour and I’m thankful. You’ve worked so hard. Rest in peace, Wheesung.”
Another rapper, Paltoalto, thanked the veteran singer for fond memories, mentioning he went to see his first concert.
“It’s shocking and sad. I’m thankful for the music that accompanied me through the good memories of my youth,” he wrote on Instagram.
In a heartfelt comment on the artist’s last social media post, a fan said: “At your concert on December 23 last year, you told us to expect a lot from you, singing until you’re 60. I never thought that would be the last time I hear your voice… Goodbye, my idol, Wheesung.”
Last month, another South Korean actor, Kim Sae-ron, was found dead at her home aged 24.
A former child star, her career came to a sudden halt following a drunk-driving accident in 2022, after which she struggled to land new roles.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury on Monday quickly and completely rejected a man’s claim that Disney’s “Moana” was stolen from his story of a young surfer in Hawaii.
The Los Angeles federal jury deliberated for only about 2 ½ hours before deciding that the creators of “Moana” never had access to writer and animator Buck Woodall’s outlines and script for “Bucky the Surfer Boy.”
With that question settled, the jury of six women and two men didn’t even have to consider the similarities between “Bucky” and Disney’s 2016 hit animated film about a questing Polynesian princess.
Woodall had shared his work with a distant relative, who worked for a different company on the Disney lot, but the woman testified during the two-week trial that she never showed it to anyone at Disney.
Moana, voiced by Auli’i Cravalho, in a scene from ‘Moana 2’. PHOTO: AP
“Obviously we’re disappointed,” Woodall’s attorney Gustavo Lage said outside court. “We’re going to review our options and think about the best path forward.”
In closing arguments earlier Monday, Woodall’s attorney said that a long chain of circumstantial evidence showed the two works were inseparable.
“There was no ‘Moana’ without ‘Bucky,'” Lage said.
Defense lawyer Moez Kaba said that the evidence showed overwhelmingly that “Moana” was clearly the creation and “crowning achievement” of the 40-year career of John Musker and Ron Clements, the writers and directors behind 1989’s “The Little Mermaid,” 1992’s “Aladdin,” 1997’s “Hercules” and 2009’s “The Princess and the Frog.”
“They had no idea about Bucky,” Kaba said in his closing. “They had never seen it, never heard of it.”
“Moana” earned nearly USD700 million at the global box office.
A judge previously ruled that Woodall’s 2020 lawsuit came too late for him to claim a piece of those receipts, and that a lawsuit he filed earlier this year over “Moana 2” — which earned more than USD1 billion — must be decided separately. That suit remains active, though the jury’s decision does not bode well for it. Judge Consuelo B. Marshall, who is also overseeing the sequel lawsuit, said after the verdict that she agreed with the jurors’ decision about access.
“We are incredibly proud of the collective work that went into the making of Moana and are pleased that the jury found it had nothing to do with Plaintiff’s works,” Disney said in a statement.
Musker and Disney’s attorneys declined to comment outside the courtroom.
The relatively young jury of six women and two men watched “Moana” in its entirety in the courtroom. They considered a story outline that Woodall created for “Bucky” in 2003, along with a 2008 update and a 2011 script.
In the latter versions of the story, the title character, vacationing in Hawaii with his parents, befriends a group of Native Hawaiian youth and goes on a quest that includes time travel to the ancient islands and interactions with demigods to save a sacred site from a developer.
Around 2004, Woodall gave the “Bucky” outline to the stepsister of his brother’s wife. That woman, Jenny Marchick, worked for Mandeville Films, a company that had a contract with Disney and was located on the Disney lot. He sent her follow-up materials through the years. He testified that he was stunned when he saw “Moana” in 2016 and saw so many of his ideas.
Along with her testimony saying she didn’t show “Bucky” to anyone, messages shared by the defense showed she eventually ignored Woodall’s queries to her and had told him there was nothing she could do for him.
Disney attorney Kaba argued there was no evidence Marchick ever worked on “Moana” or received any credit or compensation for it.
Kaba pointed out that Marchick, now head of features development at DreamWorks Animation, worked for key Disney competitors Sony and Fox during much of the time she was allegedly making use of Woodall’s work for Disney.
Woodall also submitted the script directly to Disney and had a meeting with an assistant at the Disney Channel, which Marchick arranged for him, to talk about working as an animator. But jurors agreed that this didn’t give them reason to believe that “Bucky” made its way to Musker, Clements or their collaborators.
Lage, Woodall’s attorney, outlined some of the similarities of the two works in his closing.
Both include teens on oceanic quests.
Both have Polynesian demigods as central figures and shape-shifting characters who turn into, among other things, insects and sharks.
In both, the main characters interact with animals who act as spirit helpers.
Kaba said many of these elements, including Polynesian lore and basic “staples of literature,” are not copyrightable.
Shape-shifting among supernatural characters, he said, appears throughout films including “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” and Hercules, which made Musker and Clements essential to the Disney renaissance of the 1990s and made Disney a global powerhouse.
Animal guides go back to movies as early as 1940’s “Pinocchio” and appear in all of Musker and Clements’ previous films, he said.
Kaba said Musker and Clements developed “Moana” the same way they did the other films, through their own inspiration, research, travel and creativity.
The lawyer said thousands of pages of development documents showed every step of Musker and Clements’ creation, whose spark came from the paintings of Paul Gaugin and the writings of Herman Melville
“You can see every single fingerprint,” Kaba said. “You can see the entire genetic makeup of ‘Moana.'”
