"Thriller" (original upload)

1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines at practice! This is not the final routine, and definitely not a punishment! just a teaser.

Dancing Inmate's Michael Jackson tribute

A tribute performed by 1,500 CPDRC Inmates on June 27, 2009 in memory of Michael Jackson. Completed in 10 hours after receiving word that the King of Pop passed away. May he always be remembered. "Ben" and "I'll be there" were sung by Michael when he was still younger! "We are the World" was composed and organized by MJ.

Old Boy Trailer

"Old Boy" proceeds despite legal scuffle

By Gavin J. Blair and Park Soo-Mee Gavin J. Blair And Park Soo-mee – Fri Jun 26, 1:03 am ET

TOKYO/SEOUL (Hollywood Reporter) – Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are moving forward with plans for a remake of "Old Boy" despite a complex, behind-the-scenes rights wrangle involving the Japanese publishers of the original manga and the Korean producers of Park Chan-Wook's 2003 cult hit.

Futabasha, publisher of the manga by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya, has filed a case against Show East in Seoul, alleging the Korean company never had the right to negotiate a remake.

The issue is further complicated by the fact that Show East has shut down and its CEO, Kim Dong-Ju, has disappeared. Big Egg, a co-producer of the ultra-violent revenge flick, has also closed up shop, and its former staffers are unreachable.

"We haven't been able to confirm that Show East is bankrupt, and at this stage we're not sure what effect this will have on the legal case," said a spokesperson from Futabasha in Tokyo, who noted that legal proceedings had begun last week.

South Korean sales company Cineclick Asia, which represented Show East's "Oldboy" in international territories, actually negotiated the remake deal with Universal.

Universal brought in Roy Lee's Vertigo Entertainment, which has made a specialty of Asian film remakes, to produce the picture, and then Mandate acquired the rights from Universal.

DreamWorks, in one of its first moves in the wake of its November separation from Paramount, secured remake rights from Mandate, which remains involved in the project.

DreamWorks had no comment on the dispute between Futubasha and Show East.

(Editing by Dean Goodman at Reuters)

Tens of thousands of Chinese fight the police in Shishou

By Malcolm Moore

It was a dramatic weekend in the relatively small city of Shishou in Hubei province.

Tens of thousands of rioters torched a hotel and overturned police cars, accusing the authorities of trying to cover up the murder of a 24-year-old man as a suicide.

(Photos: QQ)

The deceased, Tu Yuangao, was the chef of the Yong Long hotel. According to the cops, he committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the building and left a note.

However, witnesses said there was no blood on the scene and Tu's body was already cold just after it hit the ground. His parents were surprised that he left a suicide note, since he was allegedly illiterate.

There are plenty of rumours flying around - that two other employees at the hotel had died in the same way, that the boss of the hotel is related to the mayor of Shishou, that the hotel was a centre for the local drug business and Yu was killed for threatening to expose what was going on. There's also a rumour that three further bodies have been found at the hotel.

There are more details and photos here (EastWestNorthSouth).

It's a strange story, and it gets stranger. A huge mob, of anywhere between a few thousand to 70,000 people, depending on which report you read, quickly gathered outside the building to protect the body. Tu's parents refused to let his corpse be taken away, claiming that it held vital evidence of the crime, and instead placed it inside the hotel on ice.

The crowd beat back waves of policemen. On Saturday, someone lit a fire inside the hotel, possibly to destroy the body, but it was saved.

Tu's cousin apparently then armed himself with two barrels of gasoline and threatened to blow himself up if the body was taken.

The police restored order yesterday, imposed a curfew and took the corpse to a funeral parlour. There is still a lot of anger, however, and the website of the local government has been defaced by hackers.

What's extraordinary is the speed in which the riot blew up, and the venom directed against the local authorities. Whatever was behind Tu's death, there's clearly something rotten in Shishou.

After months of calm, there have recently been a spate of riots being reported in the Chinese media, or on the internet.

Is this because media restrictions have been lifted, allowing news of riots to spread, or has there been a genuine increase in social tension in the countryside?

It is impossible to tell. China no longer publishes the figures for how many riots take place each year, but most people put the figure at around 80,000 and the vast majority go totally unnoticed.

The fact that there have been a dozen riots reported in the last couple of months may not demonstrate anything out of the ordinary. There is no theme that connects the recent protests - some are about property, some are work disputes, some are because of corruption.

But then again, a huge number of migrant workers are still out of work. Their factories have not recovered from the economic crisis. In the countryside, the harvest is finished and people's savings may be running low. Perhaps the tinderbox is drier than usual.

UPDATE:  Overnight between Sunday and Monday over a thousand students rioted at Nanjing Industrial Technical School, smashing windows, television sets, their teacher's cars and an on-campus supermarket.

A policeman was attacked, but the crowd was eventually subdued by hundreds of anti-riot police, according to blogs written by participants.

The students were enraged after being told that they would only graduate with a technical degree (the equivalent of high-school diploma) rather than the associate degree (just underneath a normal bachelor's degree) they were promised at enrollment.

Malcolm Moore

Malcolm Moore is the Telegraph's Shanghai Correspondent. He arrived in China in July 2008 after three years in Italy as the Telegraph's Rome Correspondent. Before that, he was the paper's Economics Correspondent.

Harsh Justice - Japan

Recent reports from some of Japan's top prisons are painting a disturbing picture of this country's 'third world' approach to justice.

RAPEMAN !!!

Rape Club - Japan

apan's attitude towards women is under the spotlight following revelations that students at an elite university ran a 'rape club' dedicated to planning gang rapes.

Killer Baths - Japan

In winter the average Japanese spends 30 minutes a day in a scorching 42 degree bath -- aiming to become yudedako, or "boiled octopus." The tradition results in heart attacks for the elderly. Kenji Tanaka, 83, was unconscious for 20 minutes. "I don't know a better way to go!" he quips.

Robbers targeting foreign tourists busted in Bangkok

 Gang of robbers targeting foreign tourists busted


Tourist police say they have broken up a "legshaking gang" targeting mainly tourists, who grab victims by the leg in a bagdropping pretence or a staged fight before getting away with their valuables. They were especially active in Bangkok's Silom and Bang Rak areas.

Two Filipino men - Angor Roger Novo, 36, and Billionet Manni, 55 - were arrested on May 26 for robbing 54 year old Canadian Faramad Adadian of US$3,000 (Bt103,000)in cash, $3,000 in cashier cheques, and Bt1,000 in cash.

Police arrested the duo as they were fighting with good Samaritans helping the victim at the mouth of Soi Silom 28. Other victims also identified the duo as their robbers.

Police say that the duo, along with five other gang members, assaulted and robbed tourists by pretending to drop papers near the victim. They would then shake the victim's legs in a chaotic scene, while other gang members pocketed the victim's valuables. Then all would flee in taxis.

One victim, jewellery businessman Thana Komenthiti, 59, told police he was robbed of Bt100,000 worth of valuables by five men while crossing Silom after withdrawing money from an ATM machine.

Metropolitan Police Area 6 chief Major General Wittaya Rattanawit said the gang members came into Thailand on threemonth tourist visas before leaving and coming back to Thailand to commit the crimes. "Sometimes, they stun victims with an electric shock device or by applying psychedelic medicine to the victim's body before getting away with their valuables, often by taxi," he said.

Wittaya said the gang lived in the Suparp Hotel in the Saphan Kwai area and operated for about a year in the city's other tourist areas. Three people had filed complaints to Yan Nawa police. Each said they had lost Bt100,000 worth of valuables.

After the latest assault, on Wednesday, tourist police arrested Novo and Manni, another Filipino man and two Filipino women, along with a notebook and assets worth Bt100,000 from Ratchada Soi 3 in Din Daeng area.

Deputy Tourist Police commander Colonel Yongkiat Monpranit said Tourist Police gave priority to this case after French tourist Sophia Yenepelliton, 49, lost gold ornaments worth Bt100,000 and Bt9,200 in cash to the gang at a Starbucks coffee outlet on Silom Road on March 18.

The complaint was filed and the victim talked to TV news reporters, leading to the police investigation that found the gang's operation on the cafe's security camera footage.

"The gang of about five or six members came into the cafe and chose to sit near the victim and pretended to read newspapers. While one member seated behind the victim grabbed the victim's purse on the floor by her foot, other members used newspapers as a cover, before escaping with her purse," he said.

Police found the suspects had also pickpocketed tourists in Pratunam area. Two suspects found in Din Daeng were said to belong to a 10strong Filipino "legshaking gang" that had operated many times before, luring tourists to gambling games and taking their valuables, the officer said. He expressed concern the gang had damaged Thailand's image.

 

www.BahtSold.com
Connecting People · Connecting Thailand

Jobless Taiwan man steals just for free prison lunch

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A jobless Taiwan man released from prison stole a box of cotton swabs just to get arrested again because he "could not forget the police department boxed lunches," officers and local media said on Tuesday.

The homeless man in Taipei first stole a pair of shoes on Sunday, was detained and released, the Liberty Times said. He then resorted to stealing again the next day just to get back inside and be fed for free.

"If someone's not doing well and comes in around meal time, we'll definitely prepare food," said an officer, surnamed Wang, at the Hsinyi District police station, which handled the case but again released the suspect, Tsou Hao-lan.

In another sign of the times on the recession-hit island, a man who had been without a job for four months stole a motor scooter and drove it to a Taipei-area police station, the paper said.

Taiwan is in recession and economists see more weakness through most of 2009, given falling demand for Taiwan's electronics goods overseas.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sugita Katyal)

Residents fight burglars with flower power

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Tokyo district plagued with burglaries has turned to planting flowers to beautify its streets and help stamp out crime.

"'Operation Flower' began about three years ago. By planting flowers facing the street, more people will be keeping an eye out while taking care of the flowers or watering them," said Kiyotaka Ohyagi, a Suginami City official.

"The best way to prevent crime is to have more people on the lookout."

Suginami, with a population of 528,800, saw a record 1,710 break-ins in 2002.

When a neighborhood watch group found that there were fewer burglaries in buildings on flower-lined streets, Suginami decided to kick off Operation Flower and asked volunteers to plant seeds on side streets and in front of their homes.

The flowers are part of a wider crime prevention campaign. The district also has 9,600 volunteer patrollers and 200 security cameras set up in areas where there are frequent break-ins. It also emails crime information daily to residents.

Suginami says its efforts have paid off, with the number of burglaries falling to 390 in 2008, down almost 80 percent from 2002.

"Our residents are very conscientious about preventing crime, and they are very active," Ohyagi said.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

Son of North Korea's Kim visits China as heir: media

 

By Yoko Kubota Yoko Kubota

TOKYO (Reuters) – The youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il secretly visited China last week and his hosts were told he had been appointed heir to the ruling family dynasty, Japan's Asahi newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The report, citing unidentified informed sources, said Kim Jong-un met Chinese President Hu Jintao and other leaders of the ruling Communist Party when he flew to Beijing around June 10.

Analysts have said North Korea's nuclear test on May 25 and other belligerent acts may be aimed at a domestic audience, with the elder Kim trying to bolster his position at home to secure the succession of his youngest son. The 67-year-old leader is believed to have suffered a stroke last year.

An aide to Jong-un told Chinese officials the younger Kim had been appointed heir and that he held an important post in the ruling Korean Workers' Party, the mass circulation Asahi said.

"If what was said in the paper is proven to be true, it would not be a stretch to say the decision to make him heir is official," said Ko Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul's Dongguk University.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said he had no knowledge of the reported visit. North Korean state media has never told the country's public that leader Kim has offspring, let alone report on the journey of a son to Pyongyang's key backer.

Jong-un is the Swiss-educated third son of Kim Jong-il and was born in 1983 or 1984. Earlier this month South Korean media, quoting informed sources, said Pyongyang had asked the country's main bodies and overseas missions to pledge loyalty to him, indicating he will take over from his father.

China is the closest thing North Korea has to an ally, and in theory Beijing wields more influence over Pyongyang than any other power, but experts say the relationship is brittle and China actually has limited room for maneuver.

Hu apparently asked North Korea not to go ahead with another nuclear test or test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Asahi reported. Jong-un was believed to have asked China for emergency energy and food aid, the newspaper said.

DILEMMA FOR CHINA

Beijing does not want its neighbor to build up a nuclear arsenal that could spark a regional arms race, but nor does it want to risk North Korea falling into chaos -- which could prompt a flood of refugees across their land border.

Reluctant to back sanctions, China agreed to a U.N. Security Council resolution last week that banned all weapons exports from the hermit state in response to the nuclear test, the country's second after one in 2006, but analysts say Beijing may take a soft approach to enforcing the resolution.

The resolution also authorized U.N. member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo, requiring them to seize and destroy shipped goods that violate the sanctions.

"The danger point is the ship inspections ... China is unlikely to participate in stopping ships on the sea, but on the roads they might become more rigorous about inspection," said Jin Canrong, a North Korea expert at Beijing's Renmin University.

North Korea held a large rally in Pyongyang on Monday to denounce the U.N. sanctions, its official KCNA news agency said.

"In case the enemies foolishly attempt to blockade the DPRK (North Korea), it will respond with resolute and deadly blows," KCNA quoted a senior communist official as saying at the rally.

North Korea has raised regional tensions in recent months by also test-firing missiles, threatening attacks and restarting a plant to produce arms grade plutonium.

The North Korean crisis will dominate talks between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.

North Korea had also finished preparatory work at a missile launch pad at Tongchang-ri in the country's north, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo quoted a Seoul government source as saying. No missile had been set on the pad yet, the source said.

Pyongyang has threatened another intercontinental ballistic missile launch after the U.N. Security Council punished it for firing a long-range rocket over Japan in April.

It takes North Korea several days to prepare long-range rockets for launch once they are on the pad. The rocket, known as the Taepodong-2, is designed to fly as far as U.S. territory.

Japan said it would impose fresh sanctions on North Korea in response to the nuclear test, including what media said would be a ban on all exports. The impact will be limited, with Japan's exports to the North already small and imports banned as part of previous sanctions.

(Additional reporting by Yoko Nishikawa in Tokyo, Jon Herskovitz, Jack Kim and Christine Kim in Seoul, Emma Graham-Harrison and Lucy Hornby in Beijing, Editing by Dean Yates)

Japan Probes Report Two Seized With Undeclared Bonds

By Shunichi Ozasa and Makiko Kitamura

June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Japan is investigating reports two of its citizens were detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland.

"Italian authorities are in the midst of the investigation, and haven't yet confirmed the details, including whether they are Japanese citizens or not," Takeshi Akamatsu, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said by telephone today in Tokyo. "Our consulate in Milan is continuing efforts to confirm the reports."

An official at the Consulate General of Japan in Milan, who only gave his name as Ikeda, said it still hasn't been confirmed that the individuals are Japanese. "We are in contact with the Italian Financial Police and the Italian Public Prosecutor's Office," Ikeda said by phone today.

The Asahi newspaper reported today Italian police found bond certificates concealed in the bottom of luggage the two individuals were carrying on a train that stopped in Chiasso, near the Swiss border, on June 3.

The undeclared bonds included 249 certificates worth $500 million each, the Asahi said, citing Italian authorities. The case was reported earlier in Italian newspapers Il Giornale and La Repubblica and by the Ansa news agency.

If the securities are found to be genuine, the individuals could be fined 40 percent of the total value for attempting to take them out of the country without declaring them, the Asahi said.

The Italian embassy in Tokyo was unable to confirm the Asahi report.

To contact the reporter on this story: Makiko Kitamura in Tokyo at mkitamura1@bloomberg.net.