Hisham Abugharbieh has been charged in the deaths of his roommate and his roommate’s girlfriend

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The man charged with killing two University of South Florida doctoral students from Bangladesh allegedly asked ChatGPT about what happens if a person has been put in a garbage bag and “thrown in a dumpster”, according to prosecutors in a court filing.

He also allegedly bought duct tape and trash bags in the days leading up to the students’ disappearance.

Michael Glantz, a senior talent agent, says he ‘wasn’t scared’ and ‘wanted to watch’ as chaos unfolded at the event

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A guest at the White House correspondents’ dinner retained his table manners and was spotted calmly tucking into his salad course on Saturday, soon after gunfire rang out and heavily armed Secret Service agents swarmed into the ballroom of the Washington Hilton hotel.

A video clip captured Michael Glantz, a senior talent agent with the Creative Artists Agency, leisurely forking leaves from his burrata salad into his mouth against a backdrop of a stage just yards away, by then empty of everyone save a rifle-wielding officer in tactical combat gear.

Hong Kong police have arrested nine men in a joint operation with law enforcement agencies in six other jurisdictions, targeting the production, use and distribution of child sexual abuse material online.

The city’s police force said on Monday that Operation Hurdler arrested a total of 326 people in March and April in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Brunei on suspicion of child sexual abuse material-related offences and other sex crimes.

The nine men held in Hong Kong, aged from 18 to 61, were arrested on suspicion of possessing child sexual abuse material, police said. One of them is also alleged to have sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy multiple times between 2023 and 2024, police added.

Ferris Cheung, a superintendent of the force’s cyber security and technology crime bureau, said at a press conference on Monday that officers arrested the suspects on April 14, seizing 15 computers and external storage devices, as well as eight mobile phones.

Over 200 child sexual abuse videos and photos were found on the electronic devices, Cheung said.

“Initial investigation shows that the suspects downloaded the child sexual abuse material through social media platforms, websites and torrent software, and stored them in their computers or phones,” Cheung said in Cantonese.

One of the suspects, a 28-year-old man, had over 20 indecent videos and photos on his devices and is suspected of sexually assaulting a minor between 2023 and 2024, according to police.

The man allegedly befriended the boy online before meeting him in person and sexually assaulting him. The suspect has been charged with indecent assault and appeared before a magistrate on April 16, police said.

Tip of the iceberg

At the same press conference, police clinical psychologist Michael Fung warned of sexual grooming.

Citing a study jointly conducted by police, the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Fung said 15 per cent of respondents admitted to having consumed child sexual abuse material.

The figure represented “the tip of the iceberg,” he said, adding that boys were just as vulnerable to online sexual predators as girls.

Offenders could come from different social classes, with varying income and educational levels, Fung said.

Tam Yik-wun, an acting superintendent of the force’s crime wing support, said that, while police recorded 62 cases related to child sexual abuse material in 2025 – down from 80 in the previous year – online sexual grooming remained a significant source of illicit content.

Offenders often lure minors into sending them intimate photos, which are then used for blackmail for money or sex, Tam said.

Some children mistakenly believe that sending images through the “view-once” function of social messaging apps is safe, Tam added.

She urged parents to be mindful of their children’s online connections, adding that in some cases, parents had successfully prevented their children from falling prey to sexual grooming by sharing social media accounts.

Cheung said the distribution of child sexual abuse material has been increasingly transnational, and that police will step up cooperation with counterparts in other jurisdictions in response.

Hong Kong has joined the International Child Sexual Exploitation Database, operated by Interpol and serving a network connecting investigators from 75 countries. The database has identified over 60,000 victims and led to the arrests of over 25,000 offenders, she said.

Under Hong Kong law, possession of child sexual abuse material carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a HK$1 million fine. The production or distribution of such material is punishable by up to eight years in jail and a HK$2 million fine.

China has blocked Meta’s acquisition of AI startup Manus, the top economic planning body said Monday, after a regulatory review that reportedly also saw Beijing restrict two co-founders from leaving the country.

Facebook owner Meta had agreed to acquire Manus, an artificial intelligence agent created by a company founded in China but now based in Singapore, the two firms said in December.

Analysts however had warned then the deal could fall foul of regulators at a time of fierce technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

The Financial Times reported last month that China had restricted two Manus co-founders from leaving the country, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.

Chief executive Xiao Hong and chief scientist Ji Yichao, who are usually based in Singapore, were reportedly summoned to a meeting in Beijing in March and told they were not allowed to leave China because of a regulatory review of the Meta acquisition.

Beijing’s National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on Monday that it will “prohibit the foreign investment in the acquisition of the Manus project” and “requires the parties involved to withdraw the acquisition transaction”, without naming Meta.

It added that this was done “in accordance with laws and regulations”.

AFP has contacted Manus and Meta for comment.

Meta said in December that the deal — the financial details of which were not disclosed — would “bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products”.

Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said the purchase was likely aimed at expanding Meta’s AI agent task capabilities, and that it could be worth more than US$2 billion.

Manus, created by startup Butterfly Effect, can sift through and summarise resumes or create a stock analysis website, according to its website.

Alleged shooter, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, charged with three federal crimes in White House press gala attack

The suspected gunman who tried to storm the White House correspondents’ dinner appeared in federal court on Monday and was charged with three federal crimes, including attempting to assassinate the president.

The alleged shooter, identified by law enforcement agencies as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from Torrance in southern California, was charged with attempting to assassinate the US president, transportation of firearms to commit a felony, and unlawful discharge of a firearm during violence.

The Buildings Department (BD) did not conduct flammability tests on the scaffold nets covering Wang Fuk Court before the housing estate was struck by a deadly fire last year, an official has told a public inquiry into the blaze.

The BD’s assistant director for mandatory building inspection, Karen Cheung, testified on Monday that her department “mainly” relied on fire retardancy certificates submitted by contractors and did not conduct on-site or laboratory tests, local media reported.

“In terms of scaffolding nets, we really had not conducted tests before,” Cheung said.

In response to questions from Victor Dawes, lead counsel for the inquiry, she said that the department would check where the certificates originated and whether they were recognised in Hong Kong.

Substandard scaffolding nets have been identified as one of the key factors contributing to the rapid spread of the fire in November. In the wake of the blaze, the authorities imposed lab testing requirements before the nets can be used on worksites.

Wang Fuk Court was undergoing major renovation when the fire broke out, killing 168 people and displacing thousands.

The independent committee tasked with investigating the blaze earlier heard that residents lodged complaints about possible fire hazards to authorities before the tragedy struck.

The complaints involved wooden boards installed to replace fireproof windows at emergency staircases so workers could access bamboo scaffolding, foam boards used to shield windows from falling debris, non-flame-retardant scaffold nets, and workers smoking.

Cheung also confirmed that both the registered inspector and the contractor were responsible for submitting certificates and laboratory reports to ensure the nets meet flame-retardancy standards.

Purviews

The Building (Construction) Regulation empowers the BD to take action against works that cover windows with opaque materials, including foam boards, for long periods, the official also said, but government housing complexes like Wang Fuk Court are outside its purview.

As a government-subsidised housing complex, Wang Fuk Court fell under the remit of the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU), Cheung told the hearing.

However, senior ICU surveyor Andy Ku said in a written submission presented at a hearing last week that the unit had no power to regulate “temporary construction materials.”

At the same hearing last week, Michael Yung, assistant director of fire safety at the Fire Services Department, said that fire hazards such as substandard scaffold netting, flammable foam boards, and workers smoking on site fell outside the FSD’s purview.

Under a secondment mechanism to ensure consistency, the BD can send senior staff to the ICU to assist with inspections, according to a document shown at Monday’s hearing.

But Cheung told Dawes that the BD did not conduct any inspections on Prestige Construction & Engineering Company, the maintenance contractor at Wang Fuk Court, and Will Power Architects, the consultancy firm overseeing the works at the estate.

APRIL 27 — We usually explain crime in familiar ways such as poverty, opportunity, peer pressure. But there is a deeper issue we are not talking about enough: what happens when people stop believing that anything matters.

This is where nihilism becomes important.

Nihilism is not just a philosophical idea. It reflects a condition where meaning, value, and moral limits begin to fade. When people no longer see life as valuable or rules as binding, the internal barriers that prevent harm weaken. Crime does not just become easier to commit; it becomes easier to justify.

We are already seeing this in practice. In scams, victims are reduced to numbers. Retirees losing their life savings to phone scams, or young Malaysians recruited as “account mules”, moving illicit funds without fully understanding the consequences. The harm is real, but for the offender, it feels distant and impersonal. In violent crimes, the level of harm often goes far beyond what the situation calls for. For example, snatch thefts that escalate into serious injury or death, road rage incidents turning fatal over minor disagreements, or assaults where the violence continues even after the victim is no longer a threat. 

These are not always calculated acts; they often reflect a deeper detachment from the value of human life. In some cases of extremism, violence is not only strategic but also expressive. The Christchurch mosque shootings, for example, were carried out in a highly performative way, livestreamed to maximise visibility and impact, suggesting a desire not just to achieve an ideological goal, but to assert presence and significance in a way that forces the world to pay attention.

This is not about offenders consciously embracing nihilism. It is about a gradual shift. Disconnection, frustration, and loss of purpose can slowly erode how individuals see consequences, responsibility, and even other people. By the time crime occurs, the damage has already been done.

For the Royal Malaysia Police, this raises a critical challenge. Policing cannot rely only on reacting to offences or identifying clear threats. The real issue often begins earlier with disengagement, indifference, and a growing detachment from social norms.

The digital environment makes this worse. Violence, fraud, and exploitation are constantly visible online. Over time, this normalises harm and dulls emotional response. The line between watching and doing becomes thinner.

The digital environment makes this worse. Violence, fraud, and exploitation are constantly visible online. — Picture by Hari Anggara

At the same time, some individuals turn to crime not because they believe in something, but because they believe in nothing. Offending becomes a way to assert control, visibility, or even existence. This is why some crimes feel senseless: they are not driven by gain alone, but by disconnection.

The law plays its role by drawing firm boundaries. Courts make it clear that responsibility does not disappear simply because someone feels detached or lost. But law operates after harm has occurred.

If nihilism is part of the pathway to crime, then prevention must go deeper. It must address meaning, belonging, and connection, not just behaviour.

Because when nothing matters, crime is no longer a big step. It becomes a small one.

* The author is a Criminologist and Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya, and may be reached at haezreena@um.edu.my 

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.

Questions raised about political violence, security and gun control after brazen attack at event attended by top officials

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A stunned Washington faced searching questions about political violence and gun control on Sunday after shots were fired at a prestigious media gala attended by Donald Trump and senior White House officials.

A man targeted a Secret Service agent at a security checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel the previous night before being tackled and arrested. Trump and Melania Trump were rushed out of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner as guests dived for cover under tables.

Staff are handing over sandwiches from behind a theft-proof counter as the high street fights back

Greggs has axed self-service display cabinets in bakery stores that have been most severely hit by shoplifters.

The move is the latest aimed at combating a problem plaguing the high street. Last year official figures revealed annual shoplifting offences in England and Wales had passed half a million offences for the first time, and since then many retailers have reported high levels of crime in their shops.

Acting attorney general says suspect was believed to have been targeting top Trump administration officials

• White House press dinner shooting aftermath – latest updates

The gunman who tried to breach the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington DC on Saturday night is believed to have been targeting Donald Trump and senior members of his administration, the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, said on Sunday, although his exact motive has not yet become clear.

The suspect, who is in custody after being subdued by members of law enforcement as he rushed through the hotel venue, could be charged with trying to assassinate the US president, Blanche said.

Law enforcement agencies name Cole Tomas Allen as Trump posts video of man sprinting through checkpoint

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The suspected gunman in the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner that has roiled Washington has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from southern California.

Allen, of Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles, has no record of criminal charges or a civil court history in Los Angeles county, according to a records search.