Crime & Corruption

Death Toll in Kyoto Animation Studio Climbs to 33, Suspect to Police: Company Stole my Idea for Novel

KYOTO — The Yomiuri Shimbun reports: The death toll from an apparently deliberate fire at a studio of animation production company Kyoto Animation Co. in Kyoto has climbed to 33, while 35 people were injured and at least four among the injured [...]

Vacations for Yakuza Not Much Fun

AMY TAKAHASHI reports: For most Japanese, the month of August will include a summer vacation, likely during the obon holiday period, when the spirits of one’s ancestors are honored. Likewise, members of the nation’s many yakuza syndicates are [...]

Japanese Blogger Stabbed to Death After Internet Abuse Seminar

Cybercrime expert Kenichiro Okamoto reportedly killed by man who abused him online Justin McCurry reports: One of Japan’s most prominent bloggers has been stabbed to death minutes after giving a seminar on how to resolve personal disputes on the [...]

The Seedy Underworld of Movie Memorabilia

With the market for memorabilia breaking records, collectors and auction houses must contend with thieves, fakers and skeptical police who wonder, ‘Who in their right mind would pay that much for that?’ Gary Baum reports: The [...]

Hackers Disable Scores of Canon-made Security Cameras Across Japan

More than 60 security cameras made by Canon Inc. have been hacked and rendered unusable at places including key waterways, a fish market and a care facility for people with disabilities, it was learned Monday. Many of the networked cameras had [...]

Change: Yakuza Membership Reached New Low in 2017

TOKYO (TR) – Membership in criminal syndicates reached a new low as law enforcement continues to tighten its grip on such groups, the National Police Agency (NPA) said last week, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (April 12). According to the NPA, [...]

‘Wild Wild Country’: Most Shocking Reveals From the Sex Cult’s FBI Informant

David Berry Knapp, aka Swami Krishna Deva, the former mayor of Rajneeshpuram, famously flipped on the cult. And his FBI testimony was eye-opening and very disturbing. Netflix’s Wild Wild Country is, so far, the must-see television event of 2018. [...]

North Korean Sanctions Evasions Reveal Hong Kong’s Middleman Role

HONG KONG (AP) — In the dead of night last month, two tanker ships pulled alongside each other in the East China Sea. One was a North Korean vessel, the other was the Belize-flagged Wan Heng 11. Lights on both ships were blazing, arousing a [...]

FTC Raids Amazon Japan Over Suspected Antitrust Violation

KYODO – Japan’s antitrust watchdog raided the office of Amazon.com Inc.’s unit in the country Thursday, for allegedly violating the antitrust law by having its suppliers shoulder part of the costs to cover discounts the retailer applied on [...]

Tokyo: Yakuza Used Facebook to Track Down Target in ¥1 Million Extortion

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested an organized crime member and three others over the alleged attempted extortion of a man whose location was found via Facebook, reports TV Asahi (Feb. 6). In March of last year, gang member [...]

Kumamoto Man, 72, Attacks Wife with Machete: ‘I Reached My Limits’

KUMAMOTO (TR) – Kumamoto Prefectural Police have arrested a 72-year-old man for allegedly attacking his wife with a machete at their residence in Kumamoto City on Sunday, an incident that took place just after police were summoned to handle a [...]

Net Neutrality Comment Fraud Will Finally Be Investigated By The Government

Chris Mills reports: During the Federal Communication Commission’s open period of comment on its net neutrality repeal plan, the commission was flooded with over 22 million comments about net neutrality. Reports at the time, and subsequent [...]

Communist Purge Plays Out in Vietnam’s Trial of the Decade

James Hooky reports: The disappearance of a former Vietnamese official in Berlin last summer gave the outside world an early glimpse into an anticorruption drive captivating communist-run Vietnam. Germany said Vietnamese agents kidnapped Trinh Xuan [...]

Chief Priest Killed in Murder-Suicide Knife Attack at Tokyo Shinto Shrine

After attacking Tomioka, Shigenaga killed the female suspect and then himself. TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The female chief priest of Tomioka Hachimangu in Tokyo was killed in a knife attack that is believed to have happened near the premises of the [...]

Report: North Korea Agents Arrested in China

(UPI) — North Korean agents who attempted to assassinate Kim Han Sol were arrested in Beijing, according to a South Korean newspaper. The JoongAng Daily reported Monday Chinese authorities have detained a group of North Koreans connected to a [...]

‘Sweating Profusely’ and Clutching His Head: Kim Jong Nam’s Last Moments

Salhan Ahmad, Nic Robertson and James Griffiths, CNN: “I saw him clutching his head and he was closing his eyes tightly and his face was very red and he was sweating profusely,” Nik Mohd Azrul Ariff Raja Azlan told a Malaysian court [...]

Thailand: Fugitive Yingluck Shinawatra Gets 5-Year Jail Term

BANGKOK (Reuters) — Thailand’s Supreme Court sentenced former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in absentia to five years in prison on Wednesday for mismanaging a rice subsidy scheme that cost the country billions of dollars. Yingluck fled [...]

China’s ‘Magic Weapons’: Influence Operations Subverting Foreign Governments

Report says Beijing sharply increases overseas efforts to sway governments under Xi Jinping. Bill Gertz reports: China under supreme leader Xi Jinping is stepping up coordinated intelligence operations aimed at influencing foreign governments into [...]

China’s Top Anti-Graft Inspector Under Investigation for Graft

BEIJING (Reuters) — The head of the anti-graft committee for China’s Finance Ministry has been put under investigation himself for suspected graft, the ruling Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog said Sunday. Mo Jiancheng was suspected [...]

[VIDEO] SPOILER ALERT: What Caused Venezuela’s Tragic Collapse? Socialism.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and it was once Latin America’s richest country. Today, most grocery store shelves are empty, and Venezuelans are so hungry that they’re killing zoo animals for sustenance. [...]

Charges: Fists, Wine Bottles Flew After Passenger Tried to Open Door on Seattle-Beijing Flight

Christine Willmsen reports: A Tampa, Florida, man was charged Friday with one count of interference with flight crew members for allegedly assaulting two flight attendants on a Seattle-to-Beijing flight. A 23-year-old Florida man on a Thursday [...]

Fangqin Wan, a graduate student at the University of Illinois, walks for Yingying Zhang, a Chinese scholar who went missing three weeks ago, Thursday, June 29, 2017, in Urbana, Ill. Illinois students and others from the wider community are gathering at the Urbana-Champaign campus to show support for the Chinese scholar who disappeared three weeks ago. The News-Gazette via AP Holly Hart

[VIDEO] Suspect in Kidnapping of Chinese Scholar Due in Court

Hundreds outside courthouse as abduction suspect has hearing CHICAGO – Michael Tarm reports: Hundreds of people gathered outside a federal courthouse Monday as the suspect in the kidnapping of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois [...]

Japan’s Terrible Anti-Terror Law Just Made ‘The Minority Report’ Reality

Abe government makes even pondering crimes cause for arrest, with a U.N.-condemned ‘anti-terrorism’ law that hits mushroom-hunters and music teachers, but not actual terrorists. TOKYO — Jake Adelstein reports: On Thursday morning, Japan’s [...]

U.S. Defense Contractor and Former State Department Security Officer Arrested for Spying for China

Mallory, 60, is a fluent Mandarin speaker who had served in the US army, then as a special agent for the security service of the State Department, before becoming a contractor to various government agencies. A US defense contractor and former State [...]

[VIDEO] ‘Batman’ Arrests Shoplifter Stealing ‘The Lego Batman Movie’

Douglas Ernst reports: A man accused of shoplifting DVDs at a Texas Walmart over the weekend found himself staring down “Batman.” Fort Worth Police Officer Damon Cole was dressed as the Dark Knight for a kids safety fair over the weekend when he [...]