A Chinese man Thursday was sentenced to death for killing a man in a knife attack near Shanghai last summer. A Japanese mother and her child were also injured on a Japanese school bus in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

Masahiro Nakai, one of Japan's biggest boy band stars and a celebrity television host, announced his retirement on Thursday after being accused of sexual misconduct, Japanese media reported.

Dozens of companies pulled their commercials from Fuji Television amid claims that the company's staff had tried to cover up the scandal. Nakai has denied using violence against the woman, and said earlier on 9 January that he had "resolved" the matter with her through a settlement.

Masahiro Nakai, one of Japan’s top TV hosts and a former pop star, said Thursday he was retiring to take responsibility over sexual assault allegations that are part of a wave roiling Japan's entertainment industry and have triggered an avalanche of lost advertising at one of the networks where he worked.