Mascot makes a monkey of Malaysia, sex toy flops in India
A French tourist is found dead in India after an altercation over sex with male student; South Korea struggles with rising rate of spycam porn offences
Troublesome orangutan logo causes rethink at Malaysia’s tourism office
Malaysia’s new government will change an official tourism logo featuring an orangutan wearing sunglasses after it sparked a storm of mockery. The “Visit Malaysia 2020” logo has an image of the orangutan with its arm around a proboscis monkey, a picture of a turtle – also sporting sunglasses – and multicoloured, uneven lettering. It was released in January as part of a campaign to attract more tourists to the tropical Southeast Asian country but it was widely panned for being ugly and outdated, with thousands signing a petition calling for it to be dumped. Despite the criticism, the tourism minister at the time stood by the design, which also includes a retro image of Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Petronas Twin Towers. But new Tourism Minister Mohamaddin Ketapi is now pledging to alter the logo.
What next? A contest will be held to redesign it, he was cited as saying in local media, but insisted it was not being dumped entirely. “We’re not ditching it but we’ll improve it. There were many complaints it wasn’t nice,” Ketapi was quoted by news website Malaysiakini.
Pink dot: Singapore's rare gem for LGBT community shines brighter than ever
Mother arrested after leaving baby in freezing bathroom in a plastic bag
A young mother was arrested in Tokyo for causing her eight-month-old daughter to suffer frostbite after leaving her in a freezing bathroom this past winter. The mother, Asuka Kamikubo, allegedly put the baby in a plastic bag, wearing just a diaper and with only her head exposed before leaving her unattended in the bathroom of their home north of Tokyo for about 20 hours from around 5pm on January 13, according to police. It is suspected the baby girl may have been suffering daily abuse at the hands of her 24-year-old mother. “I had difficulty taking care of the child and could not develop affection for my daughter,” Kamikubo was quoted as telling the police while admitting to the charge of neglect resulting in injury. The daughter’s severe case of frostbite took six months to heal.
What next? The girl’s plight became apparent when Kamikubo and the children visited her mother’s home in Tokyo on January 15. The grandmother noticed the baby’s ailments and called an ambulance when she saw her condition. The case was reported to a child consultation centre by the hospital.
Woman the latest spycam offender as South Korea’s fetish escalates
A South Korean court has taken the rare step of jailing a woman for secretly photographing a male nude model, in a case that has sparked accusations of sexism and double standards. The 25-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Ahn, was sentenced to 10 months in prison by the Seoul Western District Court and ordered to undergo 40 hours of counselling on sexual violence. South Korea is in the midst of an epidemic of spycam pornography, where victims are secretly filmed in places such as toilet stalls and changing rooms. A series of monthly protests in Seoul have drawn tens of thousands of people. Ahn, also a nude model at an art school in Seoul, was arrested in May days after she posted a photo of her male colleague. Her arrest was highly publicised and covered by a phalanx of television cameras.
