Philippines criticizes 'dangerous maneuvers' after Chinese ships collide
JAMES HAND-CUKIERMAN and RAMON ROYANDOYAN
August 12, 2025 17:22 JST
TOKYO/MANILA -- The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said it was "seriously concerned by the dangerous maneuvers" of a vessel from the China Coast Guard and another from the People's Liberation Army Navy, after footage showed the two Chinese ships colliding during a tense South China Sea encounter the previous day.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
10 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
J-Pop Idol Kenshin Kamimura Found Guilty of Indecent Assault in Hong Kong
HONG KONG, August 13 (Reuters) – J-pop star Kenshin Kamimura was found guilty by a Hong Kong court on Wednesday of the indecent assault in March of a woman who served as his interpreter during a fan event. Kamimura, 26, was previously a member of the six-member boy group One N' Only. He pleaded not guilty in April and chose not to testify during the trial in July. Magistrate Peter Yu said that Kamimura's behaviour showed obvious disrespect towards women, noting that his touches suggested a sexual undertone. 'Such behaviour should be condemned,' Yu said, fining him HK$15,000 ($1,923) after his lawyer in mitigation urged a financial penalty rather than jail. On hearing the sentence, Kamimura hugged his court translator, while a handful of fans wept in the public gallery. Dozens more waited outside after the hearing ended as Kamimura left court without saying anything. The victim, identified only as X, testified in July that Kamimura and actor Junsei Motojima hired her as an interpreter to translate during a fan meeting in Hong Kong on March 1. The group then attended a celebratory dinner at a restaurant in the city's Mong Kok district. She told the court Kamimura moved to sit beside her during a toasting session and started repeatedly brushing and patting her thigh before suggesting they visit the bathroom together. He asked both in Chinese and Japanese if she knew what he meant, she added. X said she declined, telling him, 'If you want to go, you can go by yourself.' She said she then moved away to get some tea, but Kamimura blocked her path and again asked her to go outside. She told the court she refused. After X returned to her seat, Kamimura also came back and sat beside her. He apologised and said, 'Forget what just happened,' she recalled in her testimony. The singer also asked her about her relationship status and whether she planned to marry her boyfriend, she said. Kamimura then brushed her inner thigh again with the back of his right hand, X told the court. She shrank away, but he repeated the action about two to three times. Kamimura's lawyer said in mitigation that his client did not intend to coerce or threaten and that alcohol might have affected his judgment. The magistrate said that Kamimura had paid a huge price for the incident, saying he was immediately fired by his company and forced to leave the band.
Japan Today
15 hours ago
- Japan Today
Harvey Weinstein's next retrial — or sentencing — could happen this fall
Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan after a mistrial on a rape charge, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025 in New York. (Steven Hirsch /New York Post via AP, Pool) By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ Harvey Weinstein faces sentencing and a possible retrial in his New York City sex crimes case, but it's still unclear when they'll happen — and whether the former movie mogul will end up in front of another jury at all. Manhattan Judge Curtis Farber said Wednesday he could sentence Weinstein on Sept. 30, but only if there's no retrial on a rape charge that the last jury failed to decide. If there is a retrial, the judge wants it to happen this fall. Prosecutors and Weinstein's lawyers vowed Wednesday that they were willing to square off at yet another trial — it would be his third in New York and fourth overall. But Weinstein's lawyers aren't ruling out the possibility of reaching a deal to resolve the case, though they also emphasize he's not willing to plead guilty to raping Mann, and they are pressing prosecutors simply to abandon that charge. Weinstein, 73, was convicted in June of forcing oral sex on TV and movie production assistant and producer Miriam Haley in 2006. The charge carries a possible sentence of up to 25 years in prison. At the same time, the jury acquitted him of forcing oral sex on another woman, one-time model Kaja Sokola, but couldn't decide a charge that he raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in 2013. Manhattan prosecutors reiterated Wednesday that they and Mann are ready for another trial on the rape charge. In this case, any conviction is punishable by up to four years in prison — less than Weinstein has already served, and far less than the potential 25 years he faces for his conviction related to Haley. Prosecutors requested a January trial date, but Farber proposed the fall. 'The case needs to be tried this year,' Farber said. Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala agreed, urging the judge to set the earliest possible date. If a fall trial happens, it would likely put Weinstein's high-profile #MeToo case back in court as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is in the final stage of his reelection bid. Bragg, a first-term Democrat who made prosecuting sex crimes cases a priority, has expressed satisfaction with Weinstein's conviction on a criminal sex act charge related to Haley. Bragg has said Mann deserves a verdict on her part of the case. 'This work, first and foremost, is about the survivors, and that's why we're prepared to go forward," Bragg said in June. Aidala told reporters outside court that, in his view, it's up to prosecutors to resolve the rape charge — either by dropping it and clearing the way for sentencing, or by promptly taking it to trial again. Weinstein sat in court in a wheelchair while wearing a blue suit and black-rimmed glasses. The 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Shakespeare in Love' producer is committed to fighting the rape charge at another trial, Aidala said, though the lawyer added: 'I've been doing this long enough to say never say never.' At Weinstein's first trial in 2020, jurors convicted him of raping Mann and forcing oral sex on Haley. Then an appeals court overturned those convictions and sent the case back for retrial because of legal issues involving other women's testimony. This spring, a new jury convicted him again of sexually assaulting Haley and acquitted him of doing the same to another woman who wasn't part of the first trial. But amid fractious deliberations, the majority-female jury got stuck on the charge related to Mann. Mann has testified that she also had a consensual, on-and-off relationship with the then-married Weinstein, but that she told him 'I don't want to do this' as he cornered her in the hotel room. She said he persevered with advances and demands until she 'just gave up.' Weinstein also stands convicted of sex crimes in California; he's appealing that verdict. He denies all of the allegations against him. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
15 hours ago
- Japan Today
Japanese pop idol Kenshin Kamimura convicted of indecent assault in Hong Kong
J-pop star Kenshin Kamimura arrives at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts to hear verdict over his indecent assault case in Hong Kong, on Wednesday. By KANIS LEUNG Japanese pop idol Kenshin Kamimura was found guilty of a charge of indecent assault on a female interpreter in a Hong Kong court Wednesday before some emotional fans. Kamimura, a former member of a Japanese boy group named ONE N' ONLY, was arrested in the southern Chinese city in March. In the same month, his contract was terminated due to a serious compliance violation. In April, he pleaded not guilty. He allegedly touched the interpreter's thigh repeatedly during a celebratory dinner at a restaurant. During the trial last month, the interpreter testified through a live video link that Kamimura had invited her to a bathroom elsewhere. After she dismissed the request and told him she had a boyfriend, Kamimura continued to touch her thigh, she said. The defense argued the interpreter exaggerated her claims and the alleged bathroom invitation might not have been based on improper motives. Judge Peter Yu handed down the conviction Wednesday, saying Kamimura touched the intrepreter in a caressing nature that implicitly carried a sexual undertone and had indecent intent. After the verdict was announced, a few of Kamimura's fans wept in the courtroom. But Kamimura looked relieved when the judge issued a fine of 15,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $1,900) and no prison term. The maximum penalty for the charge is 10 years of imprisonment. The singer's supporters, including some from Japan and mainland China, formed long lines inside the court building to secure a seat in the main courtroom before the hearing. Others from mainland China who attended said they were not fans but wanted to learn more about the case, especially after seeing criticism of the female interpreter online. University student Betty Zhong from the Chinese city of Shenzhen said she was not a Kamimura fan but had attending the court hearings in Hong Kong because a friend likes the J-pop idol and she wanted to know what happened. She said she was surprised Kamimura was charged during a visit to Hong Kong. 'News reports are not so comprehensive. When I come here, I can understand it holistically and the explainations from both sides,' she said. Kamimura also is an actor who appeared in several TV dramas including the boys' love series 'Our Youth' and the popular drama 'Ossan's Love Returns.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
