A well-known actress and former international beauty queen has been banned from travelling out of China after being deemed 'untrustworthy' by the country's social credit system.
China-born, U.S.-raised Michelle Ye Xuan, 39, only found out about the travel restriction against her when she was about to board a plane in Beijing last month.
Ms Ye, who won the Miss Chinese International competition at the age of 20, had failed to follow a court order from last year after being found guilty of defaming her then boyfriend's ex-girlfriend on social media.
Ms Ye, who grew up in Hangzhou and New York, is the first high-profile figure to be punished by Beijing's controversial social credit system, which rates citizens based on their daily behaviour and punishes 'untrustworthy' people in as many ways as possible.
Millions of offenders have been penalised since the national system was rolled out in selective cities in 2014.
Having appeared in dozens of mainstream TV shows and films in both Hong Kong and mainland China, Ms Ye is hailed by her fans for her 'classic Chinese beauty' appearance and enviable upbringing in the United States since the age of 10.
She studied in liberal arts institution Wellesley College in Massachusetts, according to information on her verified Weibo account.
Ms Ye was sued in 2017 by her then boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, Lv Mei. Ms Lv accused Ms Ye of damaging her reputation by spreading malicious rumours about her on China's Twitter-like Weibo.
The TV star was found guilty by the Shanghai Xuhui Court in April, 2018.
The court ordered Ms Ye to stop the defaming activities, delete all related posts from Weibo, issuing a written apology to the victim and give the victim a payout of around 9,600 yuan (£1,088).
According to a court statement, Ms Ye failed to meet the court's order by the deadline of August. Ms Lv then filed a request to the court for an injunction in September, and Ms Ye failed to answer the subpoena.
The court said it then put a restriction on Ms Ye's ability to spend money in China - which the court said the star later broke - and attempted to contact her repeatedly, but the actress did not respond.
As a result, she was blacklisted by the court and banned from leaving the country last December.
The Indian government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that documents associated to the Rafale aircraft deal have been stolen from the defence ministry.
The apex court has adjourned the hearing in the case to March 14, according to The Times of India.
Those who had released documents on the Rafale deal in the public domain are guilty under the Official Secrets Act and contempt of court, attorney general KK Venugopal said before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
An inquiry into the theft is ongoing, the attorney general said on a day the newspaper, The Hindu, published another article on the fighter jet deal.
The bench was hearing petitions seeking a review of its December 14 verdict rejecting all the appeals against the deal purchased by India from France.
Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and advocate Prashant Bhushan, who had jointly filed a petition,
claimed that the Modi government subdued crucial facts when the apex court chose to drop the batch of PILs against the Rafale deal in December.
When Bhushan pointed to an article written by senior journalist N Ram in The Hindu, Venugopal said the articles were based on stolen documents.
An FIR has not been registered against the theft of documents relating to Rafale deal, he said.
He also said the first articles by Ram appeared in The Hindu on February 8 and Wednesday’s edition which like the other articles published later aimed at influencing the court’s proceedings. This amounted to contempt of court, he said.
The newspaper published the documents by omitting the word ‘secret’ from the top, he said, increasing objections to Bhushan’s arguments based on The Hindu’s articles and seeking a dismissal of the review petitions.
The bench inquired to know, what is done by the federal government when it alleges that the articles are based on stolen material.
Raising arguments on behalf of Sinha, Shourie and himself, Bhushan said the top court would not have rejected the plea for an FIR and a probe into crucial facts has been suppressed.
Venugopal added the documents relied upon by Bhushan were stolen from the defence ministry and an investigation into the matter was underway.
The chief justice further said hearing Bhushan did not mean the top court was taking on record the documents on the Rafale deal.
Citing to the ‘aerial warfare’ with Pakistan last week, he said the country needs the Rafale jet to defend itself “from F-16 fighter planes that recently bombed us”.
“Without Rafale how can we resist them,” he said, adding that two squadrons of Rafale fighter jets are coming in flyaway condition. The first one will be launched in September this year, Venugopal added.
After Fayyazul Hassan Chohan’s comments hurt the religious sensibilities of Hindus, a single tweet was able to galvanise a movement that eventually put an end to Chohan’s tenure as Punjab information minister.
Yesterday, Kapil Dev — a Pakistani human rights activist — slammed Chohan saying that,”This is what we get in response to our love & patriotism for #Pakistan from @PTIPunjabPK Minister @Fayazchohanpti using derogatory words for #Hindus … without realizing that #4million Hindus live here.”
This is what we get in response to our love & patriotism for #Pakistan from @PTIPunjabPK Minister @Fayazchohanpti using derogatory words for #Hindus "cow's urine" peenay walo & "idol worshippers" without realizing that #4million Hindus live here. Even his party has Hindu MPs.
Chohan, known for his outlandish speeches, had used disparaging words for the members of Hindu community while speaking in Lahore on February 24.
He later claimed that his comments were directed against Indians and not Pakistani Hindus.
However, as a video clip accompanying Dev’s tweet of the comments went viral, Twitterati used the hashtag “#SackFayazChohan” demanding the government to take action against him.
Less than 24 hours later, Chohan was sent packing.
Following the announcement, Twitterati lauded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s move of removing him from his post.
“I am so glad & relieved. This is [the] power of tweeple,” Dev tweeted after Chohan’s resignation. “It all started from my single tweet & within 24 hours #FayazulHassan is sacked.”
A Twitter user said that,”Never underestimate the power of social media! One tweet can remove a minister from his seat. Chohan disrespected Hindus, PK Hindus responded with a might and the entire nation, irrespective of religion, stood behind them.”
Indian cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday hit out at the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for using the armed forces to fulfil its own ‘political’ interests.
He spoke out via Twitter, saying: “Stop deflecting the real issues, they will come back to haunt you [the incumbent Modi government].”
Sidhu, who is Punjab , assailed the ruling party for high rate of unemployment and corruption plaguing the country.
Sidhu Tweeted "Skimmed milk masquerades as cream, things are seldom as they seem."
क्या मिलिए ऐसे लोगों से जिनकी फितरत छुपी रहे, नकली चेहरा सामने आए असली सूरत छुपी रहे|"
Sidhu replied to a Tweet " Stop politicising the army for your political motives
Army is as sacred as the state!
Stop deflecting the real issues, they will come back to haunt you"
All this gone, because your ‘so-called’ propaganda war is on.. "
He added that the regime has started a “propaganda war”, adding, “Army is as sacred as the state.”
The television personality called out PM Modi for lying to the nation over the ‘airstrike’ in Balakot.
In another tweet, the former cricket star raised a number of questions, asking: “300 terrorist dead, Yes or No? What was the purpose then? Were you uprooting terrorist or trees? Was it an election gimmick.”
3300 terrorist dead, Yes or No?
What was the purpose then? Were you uprooting terrorist or trees? Was it an election gimmick?
Deceit possesses our land in guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
Stop politicising the army, it is as sacred as the state.
ऊंची दुकान फीका पकवान|
14.7K
11:09 AM - Mar 4, 2019
On February 26, Indian fighter jets had carried out airstrikes in Balakot on what the Modi administration alleged were ‘militant camps’. Islamabad has denied any such camps existed.
According to Sidhu, the BJP was trying to dupe the public in the guise of having to wage war with a foreign enemy.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had claimed that Indian Air Force (IAF) jets had destroyed a key ‘terror camp’ and killed scores of terrorists.
The figure informally leaked to the Indian media by the Modi government sources who put the number of slain terrorists at 300.
Gokhale had stated that a very large number of terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of militants had been eliminated.
