JAPAN
Job recruiters use mahjong
Fifty graduates opted to gamble with their job prospects at a mahjong tournament set up by recruiters looking for a different way to find the next high flyer. Held in a crammed mahjong outlet in downtown Tokyo, prospects competed against each other in a tournament that began on Friday last week to gain the chance to face recruiters from six companies in the fitness, education, technology and real-estate sectors. “Mahjong is a very strategic game, so I think people who are good at it would be good at marketing. This is a new approach and I find it really interesting,” said candidate Tomoko Hasegawa, who is aspiring to become a designer. Organizers said the recruiting tournaments began in 2012 and had gained popularity, mostly among male students and also with hirers, who say the game reveals more about the candidates than their resumes.
UNITED STATES
Nude celebs in Kanye video
Rapper Kanye West set tongues wagging on Monday with his latest music video, which features nude portrayals of high-profile celebrities, including pop singer Taylor Swift, Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump and comedian Bill Cosby. The video for Famous, which premiered on E! News, featured footage depicting 12 celebrities sleeping next to each other with West situated in the middle, nestled between Swift and his wife, reality star Kim Kardashian. Other celebrities include former president George W. Bush, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, rapper Chris Brown, R&B singer Ray J, transgender reality star Caitlyn Jenner, model Amber Rose and singer Rihanna, who provided vocals for the song. E! News blurred out depictions of breasts and genitals. It is not known if the portrayals are paintings or wax statues, but in some cases it appears to be the actual celebrity. E! News host Jason Kennedy said: “Kanye wants everyone to know this is not a video. This is an art visual.” The imagery was inspired by Vincent Desiderio’s 2008 painting Sleep.
UNITED STATES
Timberlake sorry for tweet
Justin Timberlake, who praised actor-activist Jesse Williams’ moving speech at the BET Awards, has apologized for responding to a tweet claiming he appropriates black culture. Timberlake on Sunday tweeted that he was inspired after Williams spoke passionately about racism and social injustice. A responder tweeted to Timberlake: “Does this mean you’re going to stop appropriating our music and culture?” Timberlake responded: “The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation.” The pop singer said he felt “misunderstood” after some said his response was insensitive. Timberlake ended with: “I apologize to anyone that felt I was out of turn. I have nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US.”
UNITED STATES
‘Suge’ sues Chris Brown
Former rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight sued Chris Brown and the owners of a popular nightclub on Monday after he was shot seven times at a 2014 party hosted by the R&B singer. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court accuses Brown and the West Hollywood nightclub 1 Oak of failing to have adequate security and allowing at least one armed person into the venue during the party. Knight survived gunshot wounds to the abdomen, chest and left forearm. His attorneys say Knight’s fear months after the shooting led him to flee when he was attacked in his car, running down two men and killing one. Knight is in jail awaiting trial.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of