Lurid tale of China's cross-dressing 'red uncle' goes viral online
BEIJING - The tale of a middle-aged Chinese man, or "uncle", who disguised himself as a woman to secretly film and share videos of his hookups with more than 1,000 men, shook China's social media, spurring fears for public health, privacy and marital fidelity.
The hash tag "red uncle" was the top trending item on China's popular micro-blog Weibo on Tuesday, drawing at least 200 million views as users expressed incredulity and shock.
The online posts told of how the man in the eastern city of Nanjing had lured 1,691 heterosexual men into sexual encounters at his home that he then recorded and distributed online.
The video-sharing was confirmed by district police in Nanjing in a statement on Tuesday. They said the cross-dressing man, surnamed Jiao, had been detained on Sunday on suspicion of spreading obscene material.
But police said Jiao was aged 38, not 60, as social media posts had stated. They also denied that he had intimate meetings with more than 1,000 men, but did not give a figure.
Jiao could not be immediately reached for comment.
Same-sex relations are not illegal in China, but dissemination of images of sexual acts is punishable by law.
Taking pictures of sexual activities in a private setting and sharing them also violates privacy rights and could be deemed a criminal offence.
Many social media users expressed public health concerns, with one Weibo user warning the incident could be "a big headache" for epidemic prevention authorities.
Social media users also circulated a montage of headshots of nearly 100 men supposed to have met the "red uncle", prompting mock advice from some, urging women to check if their fiances or husbands featured.
"The invasion of personal privacy is a no-no," said one user, warning that it was irresponsible to publish such a compilation. REUTERS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
43 minutes ago
- Straits Times
ICC seeks arrest of Taliban leaders over persecution of women
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The ICC judges said the Taliban had 'severely deprived' girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life. THE HAGUE - The International Criminal Court on July 8 issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of crimes against humanity for persecuting women and girls. Judges said there were 'reasonable grounds' to suspect Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani of committing gender-based persecution. 'While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms,' the court said in a statement. The Taliban had 'severely deprived' girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion, ICC judges said. 'In addition, other persons were targeted because certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity were regarded as inconsistent with the Taliban's policy on gender.' The court said the alleged crimes had been committed between Aug 15, 2021, when the Taliban seized power, and continued until at least Jan 20, 2025. The ICC, based in The Hague, was set up to rule on the world's worst crimes, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity. It has no police force of its own and relies on member states to carry out its arrest warrants – with mixed results. In theory, this means anyone subject to an ICC arrest warrant cannot travel to a member state for fear of being detained. 'Ongoing persecution' After sweeping back to power in August 2021, the Taliban authorities pledged a softer rule than their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001. But they quickly imposed restrictions on women and girls that the United Nations has labelled 'gender apartheid'. Edicts in line with their interpretation of Islamic law handed down by Akhundzada, who rules by decree from the movement's birthplace in southern Kandahar, have squeezed women and girls from public life. The Taliban government barred girls from secondary school and women from university in the first 18 months after they ousted the US-backed government, making Afghanistan the only country in the world to impose such bans. Authorities imposed restrictions on women working for non-governmental groups and other employment, with thousands of women losing government jobs – or being paid to stay home. Beauty salons have been closed and women blocked from visiting public parks, gyms and baths as well as travelling long distances without a male chaperone. A 'vice and virtue' law announced last summer ordered women not to sing or recite poetry in public and for their voices and bodies to be 'concealed' outside the home. When requesting the arrest warrants in January, chief prosecutor Karim Khan said Afghan women and girls, as well as the LGBTQ community, were facing 'an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban'. 'Our action signals that the status quo for women and girls in Afghanistan is not acceptable,' he added. Mr Khan warned at the time he would soon be seeking additional warrants for other Taliban officials. AFP
Straits Times
44 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Three men guilty of UK arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses ordered by Russia's Wagner group
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox British officials said the arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in London had been ordered by Russia's Wagner mercenary group. LONDON - Three men were found guilty on July 8 over an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in London which British officials said had been ordered by Russia's Wagner mercenary group and was the latest malign activity conducted on behalf of Moscow in Britain. Ringleader Dylan Earl, 21, had already pleaded guilty to aggravated arson over the 2024 blaze, which targeted companies delivering satellite equipment from Elon Musk's Starlink to Ukraine. Starlink and the satellite devices are vital for Ukraine's defence against Russia's continuing invasion. Earl also became the first person convicted under the National Security Act when he admitted his role in a plot targeting a wine shop and restaurant in London's upmarket Mayfair district, with plans to kidnap the owner, a high-profile critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Jake Reeves, 23, also pleaded guilty before trial to aggravated arson and a National Security Act charge of obtaining a material benefit from a foreign intelligence agency. A jury at London's Old Bailey court on July 8 convicted three other men - Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, Jakeem Rose, 23, and Ugnius Asmena, 20 - of aggravated arson, though they had denied the charge. It cleared a fourth man, Paul English, 61. (From left) Nii Kojo Mensah, Jakeem Rose and Ugnius Asmena were convicted of aggravated arson. PHOTO: METROPOLITAN POLICE Ashton Evans, 20, and Dmitrijus Paulauskas, 23, denied two counts of knowing about terrorist acts but failing to disclose the information. Evans was convicted of one charge and cleared of a second, while Paulauskas was acquitted of both charges – bursting into tears and nodding towards the jury. The convictions are the latest involving allegations of malign activity by Moscow in Britain, after a group of Bulgarians was convicted in March of being directed by Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek to spy for Russian intelligence. In recent years, London has accused Russia or its agents of being behind spy plots and sabotage missions in Britain and across Europe, with the British domestic spy chief saying Russian operatives were trying to cause 'mayhem'. The Kremlin has denied the accusations, and its embassy in London has rejected any part in the warehouse fire, saying the British government repeatedly blames Russia for anything 'bad' that happens in Britain. More 'proxies' British authorities say that, since the expulsion of Russian spies following the 2018 poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, Moscow has had to rely mainly on criminals motivated by financial gain, or those with existing grievances, to carry out activities on its behalf. Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the London police's Counter Terrorism Command, said both plots involving Earl showed 'the Russian state projecting activity into the United Kingdom'. He said Russia and other states such as Iran had adapted to British authorities' response to hostile activity, with some 20 per cent of counterterrorism police's work coming from foreign states. 'We've made the UK a hostile operating environment for those governments but, as a result, they've diversified and are now contacting relatively young people to act on their behalf as proxies in doing their activity,' Comm Murphy said. Ringleader Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves had already pleaded guilty to aggravated arson over the 2024 attack. PHOTOS: METROPOLITAN POLICE Earl – who, along with Evans, also pleaded guilty to dealing cocaine – exchanged hundreds of messages with an apparent Wagner handler who encouraged him to find links with soccer hooligans, Irish republican militants and high-profile criminal groups. Earl also expressed a desire to fight for Wagner, a proscribed terrorist group in Britain which was heavily engaged in the earlier stages of Russia's war in Ukraine, until its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led a short-lived mutiny against Russia's defence establishment in 2023. Earl's contact used the name 'Privet Bot' on Telegram and reporting by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and others last year said the account had been advertised on Grey Zone, a channel affiliated with Wagner. Comm Murphy said he was confident that 'it was Wagner and it is the Russian state tasking these individuals'. Comm Murphy also said he expected further similar actions from criminals acting as state proxies. REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Ghana launches task force to curb gold smuggling losses
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox ACCRA - Ghana President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday launched a task force backed by security forces to address illegal gold trading, as Africa's top producer seeks to recover billions of dollars lost to smuggling. The task force is Ghana's first national anti-gold smuggling initiative. The government has previously launched efforts to sanitize artisanal mining but these were unsuccessful in curbing illegal extraction and preventing revenue losses that plague most African gold producers. Ghana this year created the new gold board known as GoldBod to centralise gold trading. This has led to record official exports of 55.7 metric tonnes of gold valued at $5 billion in the first five months of 2025, Mahama said at the inauguration of the new task force. "This is money that would not have come back to Ghana because traders would have taken it and kept the foreign exchange outside," Mahama said. To encourage public cooperation with the new anti-smuggling task force, which will involve both soldiers and police officers, informants will receive 10% of the value of gold seized as a result of their tips, Mahama said. Ghana plans to implement a nationwide gold traceability system and transition to refined gold exports by 2026, Mahama added. The country will also seek to capture more value from gold through an assay laboratory, certified by the International Organization for Standardization to guarantee quality, and a specialized manufacturing hub. West African governments are striving to capture more revenue from surging commodity prices. Military-led nations are adopting aggressive policies, including rewriting mining codes, seizing assets and renegotiating contracts, while democracies like Ghana and Ivory Coast are pursuing measured reforms through higher royalties and enhanced revenue-sharing deals. Gold prices have jumped 25% this year to date, and peaked at $3,500 per ounce in April, according to Reuters data. REUTERS
