Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
June 1, 2020
Japanese pro wrestler in popular reality show dies at 22
TOKYO (AP) — Hana Kimura, a Japanese pro wrestler who had appeared in
the popular reality show “Terrace House,” has died. She was 22 years old. Her
organization, Stardom Wrestling, confirmed Kimura’s death. It said details are
still unknown and the group was cooperating in an investigation, and asked her
fans to be respectful. “We are very sorry to report that our Hana Kimura has
passed away,” the organization said in a statement. Kimura was found dead at
her home, Japanese media said. Kimura became the target of massive bullying
on social media over her role on the “Terrace House” show on Netflix, which
involves three men and three women temporarily living together at a shared
house in Tokyo. The show was temporarily suspended due to the coronavirus. In
Instagram posts on May 22, she published a photo of herself and her cat, with a
message: “Goodbye.” Another posting carried a message: “I love you, live long
and happy. I’m sorry.” Her death has triggered a wave of messages on social
media against anonymous bullying and hateful messages. Kimura, whose
mother, Kyoko, was also a famous pro wrestler, performed at a sold-out Madison
Square Garden event by Japan Pro-Wrestling and U.S. Ring of Honor.
Stanley Ho, who built Macao gambling industry, dies at 98
HONG KONG — Casino tycoon Stanley Ho, whose business empire
dominated the Portuguese gambling enclave of Macao for decades, died in Hong
Kong at age 98, according to his daughter, Pansy Ho. Considered the father of
modern gambling in China, Ho’s long and eventful life tracked the ebb and flow
of southern China’s fortunes. After a swashbuckling start as a kerosene trader,
he ended up as Macau’s richest person, a lavish spender, and debonair ballroom
dancer. A family statement said he died peacefully in his sleep, but did not give a
cause of death. Of mixed Chinese and European heritage, Ho fathered 17
children with four women, an extended family that engaged in high-profile
squabbles over his legacy during his later years. Ho had stakes in businesses
running everything from the ferries and helicopters connecting Hong Kong and
Macao to department stores, hotels, Macao’s airport, and its horse-racing
tracks. But he said he avoided the gambling floor. “I don’t gamble at all. I don’t
have the patience,” Ho told The Associated Press in a rare interview in 2001.
“Don’t expect to make money in gambling. It’s a house game. It’s for the house.”
Ho was born on November 25, 1921, into the Hotung family, one of Hong Kong’s
wealthiest and most powerful.
Drug suspect sentenced to death at Zoom hearing
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Singapore sentenced a drug suspect to
death at a court hearing held on the videoconferencing app Zoom because of the
city-state’s coronavirus lockdown, in a decision slammed by a human-rights
group as callous and inhumane. Defense lawyer Peter Fernando said the
Supreme Court announced the penalty to his client, Punithan Genasan from
Malaysia, in a virtual hearing. Genasan was in jail, while Fernando and
prosecutors participated in the hearing from different locations. A Supreme
Court spokesperson said courts have been conducting hearings and delivering
judgements remotely to minimize the spread of the virus. The spokesperson,
who declined to be identified under court policy, confirmed Genasan’s case was
the first “where a death sentence was pronounced by remote hearing in
Singapore.” Singapore however, is not the first country to do so. Human Rights
Watch said a man in Nigeria was also sentenced to death via Zoom last month,
reportedly for murder. “This has been the arrangement made by the court ...
with essential hearings conducted via Zoom. We have no complaints,” Fernando
said. He planned to meet Genasan to discuss an appeal. The Singapore court
ruled that Genasan, 37, was involved in drug trafficking in October 2011. Court
documents said the judge found he recruited two drug couriers and directed
them to transport and deliver 28.5 grams of heroin. Singapore applies the death
penalty to a range of offenses including drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping,
waging war against the government, and use of firearms. It has defended capital
punishment as a deterrent for the most serious crimes. Many of the cases are
related to drugs.
Hong Kong police grapple with pro-democracy protesters
HONG KONG (AP) — Riot police in Hong Kong grappled with pro-democracy
protesters who gathered in shopping malls to sing, chant slogans, and flash
hand signs after permission for a Mother’s Day march last month was denied.
The incident indicated a desire on the part of some in the pro-democracy camp to
revive the protests against Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government that
paralyzed parts of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory for months last year.
With the coronavirus outbreak subsiding, more people in Hong Kong have
responded to online calls for action, although in far smaller numbers than the
hundreds of thousands who marched last year against proposed legislation that
could have seen dissidents or criminal suspects extradited to mainland China to
face unfair trials and possible torture. The legislation was eventually
withdrawn, but the protests continued, growing increasingly violent as both
police and demonstrators adopted hardline tactics. Thousands, mainly young
people, were arrested in the demonstrations for crimes including rioting and
possessing weapons. The former British colony was handed back to China in
1997 under a “one country, two systems” framework in which Hong Kong was
given freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and promised a high degree of
autonomy in its affairs for 50 years. Pro-democracy supporters say those rights
are being eroded by Beijing as it tightens its grip on the territory through tough
policing and increasingly restrictive legislation.
DIGGING DISCOVERY. This photo provided by Apsara Authority shows a turtle statue displayed on the grounds of
Srah Srang in Siem Reap province in northwest Cambodia. Cambodian archaeologists have unearthed a large centuries-
old statue of a turtle in an excavation at the famous Angkor temple complex. (Apsara Authority via AP)
Carved stone turtle unearthed
from Angkor reservoir site
By Sopheng Cheang
The Associated Press
HNOM
PENH,
Cambodia
—
Cambodian
archaeologists
have
unearthed a large centuries-old statue
of a turtle at the Angkor temple complex.
The 22” x 37” carved stone turtle believed to
date from the 10th century was discovered
during digging at what was the site of a small
temple that had been built on Srah Srang, one
of Angkor’s several reservoirs.
Researchers pinpointed where the temple
had been and workers drained water off to
enable the dig, which began March 16, said
Mao Sokny, head of the excavation team of the
Apsara Authority, a government agency that
oversees the Angkor archaeological site.
The bottom half of the turtle remained
P
buried while preparations were made to lift it
out without damaging it.
Angkor was strongly influenced by Hindu
culture, and as a result, when a temple or other
important structure was built, sacred objects
would often be buried in the ground under-
neath as a gesture to ensure safety and good
fortune. In several Asian cultures, turtles are
seen as symbols of longevity and prosperity.
The dig also discovered some other rare
artifacts, including two metal tridents and a
carved head of a naga, a mythical creature.
The Angkor complex is Cambodia’s biggest
tourist attraction, as well as a UNESCO World
Heritage site, and is included on the
Cambodian flag.
Mao Sokny said discoveries of such artifacts
help Cambodians take pride in their heritage.
Desperate Indian girl bikes 745 miles home with disabled dad
By Sheikh Saaliq and Emily Schmall
The Associated Press
EW DELHI — From her village in
eastern India, 15-year-old Jyoti
Kumari reflected on her desperate
745-mile bicycle journey home with her
disabled father that has drawn international
praise.
“I had no other option,” she said. “We
wouldn’t have survived if I hadn’t cycled to my
village.”
Kumari said she and her father risked
starvation had they stayed in Gurugram, a
suburb of New Delhi, with no income amid
India’s coronavirus lockdown.
Her father, whose injury in an accident left
him unable to walk, had earned a living by
N
driving an auto rickshaw. But with all
nonessential travel banned, he found himself
among millions of newly unemployed. Their
landlord demanded rent they couldn’t pay and
threatened to evict them, Kumari said.
So she decided to buy a bicycle and, like
thousands of other Indian migrant workers
have done since March, make her way home.
As the temperature climbed, Kumari
pedalled for 10 days, with her father riding on
the back of the hot-pink bike. They survived on
food and water given by strangers, and only
once did Kumari give her legs a break with a
short lift on a truck.
The daughter and father arrived in
Darbhanga, their village in Bihar state, last
month, reuniting with Kumari’s mother and
Continued on page 7
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84.73
4113.8
7.1348
2.1763
7.7516
75.594
14535
42140
107.75
8993.3
4.345
121.1
162.0
3.449
50.53
70.593
3.7555
1.4135
1235.7
186.41
30.002
31.81
23292