A 46-year-old Indian national and Singapore permanent resident on Monday was sentenced to four years in jail and six strokes of the cane for molesting a woman in a nursing room at a shopping mall. Ankit Sharma was convicted on one charge of aggravated outrage of modesty for molesting a 31-year-old technology specialist recruiter after dragging her into a nursing room at Changi City Point mall on March 1, 2023, Channel News Asia reported. The victim had met Sharma for the first time that evening after a colleague shared his profile with her.
Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling party opened official campaigning Monday to find his replacement who can restore political stability and voter support for the beleaguered Liberal Democrats. Five candidates are vying for the Liberal Democratic Party’s top job ahead of a highly unpredictable vote in early October. The race has a slogan: “Change, LDP.” The winner must act quickly to address rising prices if the party is to have any chance of winning back support following devastating losses to both the LDP and its junior partner Komeito in the past year that deprived their coalition of a majority in either house of parliament.
In the pre-dawn hours of Monday, a 4.3-magnitude earthquake rattled the San Francisco Bay Area, centered just east-southeast of Berkeley. Striking at 2:58 a.m. PDT, the quake jolted residents awake, with phone alerts blaring and homes shaking sharply. The US Geological Survey reported no injuries or major damage, but the tremor sparked unease. Social media buzzed with accounts of startled pets and swaying lights. As dawn broke, officials assessed infrastructure, urging calm. For many, it was a stark reminder of the region’s seismic reality.