Indonesian man stabs friend to death over chicken or egg debate
A man in Indonesia allegedly stabbed his friend to death over the classic disagreement: which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The suspect, identified as DR, stabbed Kadir Markus, 47, from Muna Regency in Southeast Sulawesi province, 15 times after they got into an argument over the riddle on 24 July, investigating officer La Ode Arsangka said.
DR invited Markus, who had come to repay a debt, for a drink and began posing a series of riddles, local media reported.
Markus left when the argument started, but DK grabbed a dagger and chased him on his bike and then on foot before stabbing him multiple times, police said.
The suspect has been arrested, Tongkuno police chief Iptu Abdul Hasan was quoted as saying by the Strait Times.
“The suspect has been charged with murder and faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted,” Mr Hasan said.
DK reportedly used a badik, traditional dagger of southern Sulawesi’s coastal tribes like the Bugis and the Makassarese, to commit the murder.
Dogs locked up in Bangkok house without food eat body of dead owner
More than two dozen dogs that ate their dead owner’s body to survive for days in a locked house were finally rescued over the weekend from a Bangkok suburb.
The dogs were trapped for at least a week after their owner Attapol Charoenpithak, 62, died inside the house of medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, police said.
Thai police found the man’s body on Saturday after his neighbour told police his car had not moved for several days. Sompong Phasuksri said Attapol usually drove his car to the local market every day.
The neighbour grew suspicious when he rang Attapol’s bell but got no response even though the lights were on, The Nation reported.
When police went in, they found the house littered with garbage and dog excreta. The police then contacted an animal rescue group, the Voice Foundation, to rescue the dogs.
The foundation rescued 28 dogs but two had died from lack of food.
“Initially, it was reported that there were about 15 dogs surrounding the uncle’s body. But when the team and doctors arrived to the area they found them scattered around the house and two dead bodies were found,” the charity said on Instagram.
A video shared by the charity showed the petrified canines, a mix of chihuahua and Shih Tzu breeds, being rescued from around the house.
“All the 28 siblings have been rescued at the hospital. To get checked, treated and spayed before proceeding to find a home,” the foundation said.
The dogs reportedly survived by “eating the left leg of the owner”.
Supawadee Srithassanakarn of the Voice Foundation, who led the rescue work, said Attapol had agreed to hand over the dogs to the charity following complaints.
He has been seen driving the dogs around in cages, which alerted animal charities to the potential exposure of his pets to heat.
In another post on Sunday, the charity said the dogs were weak due to lack of food and water and asked for donations to “take care of these children”.
US woman found chained to tree and left to die in India jungle
A 50-year-old American woman was found chained to a tree and left to die in a forest in India, police said.
The woman, identified as Lalita Kayi Kumar, was rescued after a shepherd heard her cries on Saturday evening in Sonurli village, located about 450km from India’s financial capital of Mumbai in the south-western state of Maharashtra.
Police registered a case of attempted murder against Ms Kumar’s former husband based on a note scribbled by her at the hospital.
The authorities ascertained her identity and residential address from photocopies of a US passport and a national identity card recovered from her.
”Based on the note written by the woman at the hospital, a case has been registered against her former husband on charges of attempted murder, act endangering life or personal safety of others and wrongful confinement under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS),” Saurabh Agrawal, superintendent of police of Sindhudurg district, said. BNS is India’s official criminal code.
She was transferred to a hospital in the neighbouring state of Goa, Mr Agrawal told the wire agency Press Trust of India. She is “weak” and “not in a position to give her statement”, he said.
Officials do not yet know how long she was left tied to the tree. “The area where she was found had experienced heavy rain,” Mr Agrawal said.
“We have found that the woman, who appears to have been born in the US, had also resided in Goa for some time. We are trying to find out whom she was in touch with in the past few months,” he added.
Police say she appears not to have eaten for several days. The husband, whose name was not disclosed by officials, allegedly hails from Tamil Nadu. Forest inspector Vikas Padve told The Hindu newspaper that while doctors told the authorities she was doing “fine”, Ms Kumar was “suffering from psychiatric issues.
“She is unable to speak and remains under observation,” Mr Padve said.
“She reportedly left her husband after a quarrel,” a police official was quoted as saying by the outlet.
The victim was believed to be living in India for the past ten years, reported the Hindustan Times, quoting officials from the local police station. The authorities have sent a team of investigators to Tamil Nadu and Goa to trace her relatives.
North Korea could launch nuclear test during US elections, South says
North Korea’s much-speculated seventh nuclear test could happen around the US presidential elections in November, South Korea’s defence minister has warned.
Shin Wonsik arrived in Tokyo on Sunday to lock a deal with Japan and the US for the tracking of North Korean missiles and share real-time data among the three countries.
Concerns about Pyongyang’s nuclear programme have grown in recent years as the North performed a slew of provocative missile tests and openly threatened to use nuclear weapons preemptively in potential conflicts with its adversaries.
South Korean intelligence agencies have been claiming that North Korea has finished all preparations to conduct a nuclear missile test which would be its seventh since its last tested one in September 2017.
But Mr Wonsik said Kim Jong-un’s regime could pull the trigger around the US presidential elections in November to raise its profile.
“North Korea has completed preparations to conduct a nuclear test when a decision is made,” Mr Shin said. “We cannot rule out the possibility of that decisive moment being right before or after the US presidential election to raise its leverage against the US”.
North Korea conducted six nuclear tests at the key site of Punggye-ri so far, in October 2006, May 2009, February 2013, January 2016, September 2016 and September 2017.
The last test at the site involved a powerful atomic bomb with an estimated yield of between 120-250 kilotons, according to experts.
The site has been shut down since North Korea’s self-imposed moratorium on nuclear weapons tests in 2018. However, satellite images and intelligence gathered by South Korea have suggested construction in the area.
Earlier this month, North Korea’s defence ministry threatened to boost its nuclear fighting capability and warned that the US and South will pay “an unimaginably harsh price” after Seoul and Washington authorized the signing of new joint nuclear deterrence guidelines.
US president Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol adopted the guidelines as part of efforts to enhance their capabilities to cope with North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal.
Mr Shin met his American and Japanese counterparts Lloyd Austin and Kihara Minoru respectively to sign the agreement for “trilateral cooperation” which included joint exercises between the countries as well as information sharing.
“The three defence leaders will further develop trilateral cooperation to effectively address regional challenges, provocations, and threats,” read a joint press statement.
North Korea is known for timing its provocative tests around crucial political events.
It comes after North Korea delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump for flaunting his supposedly friendly relations with Kim Jong-un, saying “we do not care” about the Republican.
It rejected the idea that Mr Trump’s first presidency had a substantial impact on US-North Korea relations, and said personal connections and diplomacy should be looked at separately.
Woman’s viral ‘happy divorce’ party sparks debate on taboo topic
A viral video of a woman celebrating the end of her marriage with a party has sparked a debate on divorce among people from South Asian communities where the topic still carries stigma.
In the video she shared on her Instagram page, Shehrose Noor Mohammad, 32, is seen dancing happily to a Bollywood song at a “divorce party” presumably in the US, with balloons in the background spelling out “Divorce Mubarak (congratulations on your divorce)”.
The clip was reposted on a Facebook page called My Home Islamabad, with a majority of comments criticising Ms Mohammad for celebrating her divorce.
“Divorce should not be celebrated at all. Yes, it frees you from a toxic relationship. Yes, it liberates you from a narcissist. Yes, it is good for your mental health,” the admins of the page wrote.
“If we start celebrating divorce, people will be afraid to get married. Number of proud single mothers is already on the rise. Absent father for children is trauma,” they wrote.
“Many congratulations to the man who left her,” commented one user. “What a lucky guy who got rid of her,” wrote another.
Ms Mohammad, who won the Miss South Asia World 2024 pageant according to her Instagram bio, reportedly owns a store in the US and has never been to Pakistan.
She posted a series of stories on her Instagram in response to the criticism, calling out the culture of impunity that allows men to commit violence against women with little consequence.
“It is funny that this comment section is coming from men in a country that applauds killing their wives, sisters, and daughters in the name of Islam,” she wrote in response to comments by Pakistani users.
“You guys would literally rather see a woman miserable, get beat up, used, abused, tortured, all the things.”
The video was also posted on an Indian social media account on X, where many comments speculated on the alimony she received while some had concerns about the institution of marriage.
“Giving freedom to women was an absolute mistake,” said one user.
Another said, “The institution of marriage has lost all sanctity.”
Cultural attitudes toward divorce in South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan still come attached with stigma. While divorce is legally recognised in both countries, there is a strong emphasis on the concept of “honour” that often places the burden on women to uphold the appearance of an undivided family in front of society.
While younger generations are increasingly challenging patriarchal norms, dissolution of a marriage often leads to social ostracism for women.
The The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Pakistan says, “A staggering 32 per cent of women have experienced physical violence in Pakistan and 40 per cent of ever-married women have suffered from spousal abuse at some point in their life”, adding that these numbers are under reported since one in two Pakistani women who face violence never seek help.
Honour killings in Pakistan are still frequently reported, according to local news reports. Human rights groups in Pakistan have said the majority of “honour killings” take place when a woman refuses to enter an arranged marriage or has been sexually assaulted, reported Pakistani news daily The Nation.
Data from the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan shows that there were 520 honour killings in 2022, of which 323 were women. In 2023, till June, there had been 215 deaths, of which 145 were women.
Sakina Muhammad Jan, an Afghan Hazara refugee who migrated to Victoria with her five children in 2013, became the first person jailed under Australia‘s forced marriage law for coercing her divorced daughter into a marriage that led to the 21-year-old’s murder.
Her 21-year-old daughter, Ruqia Haidari, had expressed a desire not to remarry until she was 27 or 28, wanting to pursue her education and career. But in her community’s eyes, she had lost her value due to the divorce, a court heard.
Despite the negative comments, Ms Mohammad also received support and solidarity from women.
“To see my girl Shehrose get bashed for finally getting a divorce after some bum a** dude took so much advantage of her and stole her money, then left to fend for herself and disappeared to another country,” posted one user on Instagram.
“This hits home for me, because people assume women are just divorcing left and right. Not seeing how these filthy, disgusting, abusive men who don’t protect nor provide nor do anything good for anyone but boost their ego and have hatred for women are the reason behind why women are choosing to divorce nowadays.”
Ms Mohammad said that she has moved past the backlash and hopes that her video encourages more women to come out of abusive marriages.
“I think thoughts of this kind can be changed if more people started celebrating getting out of negative situations, whether that is a relationship, a job or a marriage. This is a first of its kind and I did receive backlash, but I hope other people come out and participate in this kind of a movement,” she told The Print.
“More people need to come out and support things that are ‘out of the norm’ and know that it’s okay to move out of anything that’s not serving your higher self.”
Japan says tourists must have driving licence to use electric suitcase
Japan is cracking down on travellers arriving with rideable motorised suitcases and will require them to carry a valid driver’s licence amid safety and overcrowding concerns.
Two major airports in Japan have asked travellers to not ride electric suitcases that double as a scooter. Recently, several foreign travellers landed in trouble after they were seen riding their luggage on the sidewalks.
Motorised luggage have become increasingly popular among travellers for providing ease of mobility at airports and train stations. The three-wheeled luggage is powered with lithium-ion batteries and looks similar to a children’s scooter.
Under Japanese laws, these suitcases are classified as “motorised bicycles” that can be “ridden on roads only with the required safety equipment and a driving licence”. They fall under the same category as mopeds and some of them could be driven for up to 13km an hour.
A Chinese woman studying in Japan in June became the first person to be referred to prosecutors for driving the luggage on sidewalks of Osaka without a licence.
Earlier that month, an Indonesian boy alarmed authorities after he was seen riding the suitcase in Osaka’s Dotonbori district, one of the busiest shopping areas in Japan. The family of the boy was reportedly surprised after they were told riding such devices on roads is illegal in Japan, even if they could be driven anywhere in Indonesia.
The Narita airport near Tokyo said some people in the terminal building complained about the travellers moving around riding their suitcases.
The Chubu Centrair International Airport in Aichi Prefecture and Kansai International Airport in Osaka also advised travelers not to ride them in their facilities.
Police have urged domestic retailers to warn customers against its use without completing the legal requirements to use it.
The checks over electric luggage are the latest attempt of the country to control overtourism as a record number of tourists arrived in Japan causing several issues.
As the travellers took advantage of the weak yen, the first six months of 2024 saw 17.7 million foreign tourists, eclipsing the previous six-month record of 16.63 million in 2019.
To address the issue, Japan capped daily visitors to Mount Fuji to 4,000 hikers and a ticket of Rs 2,000 yen ($12.40) per person from 1 July.
It was after the Japanese town of Fujikawaguchiko constructed a large black screen on a stretch of a sidewalk to block the view of the mountain and put off unruly tourists taking part in a social media phenomenon known as “Mt Fuji Lawson.”
The popular Itsukushima Shrine near Hiroshima also began charging an entry fee for the first time in its history.
Mother first person jailed under Australia’s forced marriage law
An Afghan mother has become the first person jailed under Australia‘s forced marriage law for coercing her daughter into a marriage that led to the 21-year-old’s murder.
Sakina Muhammad Jan, in her late 40s, was found guilty of forcing her 21-year-old daughter, Ruqia Haidari, to marry 26-year-old Mohammad Ali Halimi in 2019 in exchange for a small payment.
Six weeks after the wedding, Halimi murdered Haidari, eventually getting sentenced to life in prison for the crime.
On Monday, Jan was sentenced to three years in jail under the law, becoming the first person to be sent to prison under the law. Australia’s forced marriage law, introduced in 2013, carry a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.
The judge cited the “intolerable pressure” she placed on her daughter before announcing the verdict.
Jan, who pleaded not guilty, expressed her grief over her daughter’s death but maintained her innocence throughout the trial. The prosecution argued that societal pressure led to Jan coercing her daughter into getting married.
Jan, an Afghan Hazara refugee, fled Taliban persecution and migrated to Victoria with her five children in 2013. Haidari, her youngest child, had been first forced into an unofficial religious marriage at 15, which ended in divorce when she was 20.
She had expressed a desire not to remarry until she was 27 or 28, wanting to pursue her education and career. But in her community’s eyes, she had lost her value due to the divorce, the court heard.
The court was told this is the reason why the mother coerced her daughter into a second marriage to restore her family’s reputation. The pair was wedded in a religious ceremony in November 2019 without official registration. In the wedding, Jan received a bride dowry of $14,000.
Although the mother may have believed she was acting in her daughter’s best interests, the judge said that she had repeatedly ignored Haidari’s wishes and abused her power as a mother.
“She wanted to pursue study and get a job,” Judge Fran Dalziel said during sentencing.
Several people close to Halimi told the court that she said she did not want to get into an arranged marriage, she wanted to study and marry for love.
During the husband’s sentencing for Haidari’s murder in 2021, a court in Western Australia heard that he had been violent and abusive towards her, forcing her to do household chores.
The day before the murder, Halimi sent a video to her family, complaining that she would sleep in late and refused to cook or clean. She also rejected his attempts at sexual intimacy.
“Haidari would have known that not taking part in the marriage would raise questions about you and the rest of the family,” the judge said.
“She was concerned not only about your anger, but your standing in the community.”
Judge Dalziel said that Jan “abused” her position as the mother, as the person with her daughter “loved and respected”.
“While you believed you were acting in her best interests, you were not in fact doing so,” he said, adding that she could also face deportation back to Afghanistan, which would be a “very grave thing” for a Hazara woman.
Jan was sentenced to three years in jail but could be released after 12 months to serve the remainder of her sentence in the community. After the sentencing, she expressed her refusal to accept the judge’s ruling before being taken away.
Attorney general Mark Dreyfus, in a statement on Monday, described forced marriage as “the most reported slavery-like offence” in Australia, with 90 cases reported to federal police in 2022-23 alone, according to AFP.
“Everyone in Australia should be free to choose if, who and when they marry.”
Surfer posts image after losing leg to shark: ‘Spot something missing’
A 23-year-old Australian surfer who survived having his leg bitten off by a suspected great white shark has vowed to be back in the water “in no time”.
Kai McKenzie was attacked off the mid-north coast of New South Wales last week, and his severed leg later washed up on the beach. The limb was placed on ice and taken to a hospital about 200km away from the place where the attack took place, with the hope that it could be reattached.
It’s not clear if doctors attempted surgery to reattach the leg, but an Instagram post by Mr McKenzie on Monday confirmed that he had lost the limb.
“Spot something missing? Hahah,” Mr McKenzie quipped in a caption alongside an image showing him standing arm-in-arm with a group of friends.
Mr McKenzie was taken to Port Macquarie Base Hospital and later flown to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle after last Tuesday’s attack. He was riding the waves off the shore of New South Wales when a 10ft shark attacked and nearly killed him.
After fighting off the shark, he was able to paddle himself to the shore, with severe blood loss and a chunk bitten out of his surfboard.
He was aided by a passerby, a retired police officer who used a dog leash as a makeshift tourniquet to save the 23-year-old’s life.
In an earlier post on Instagram on Saturday he detailed the incident and thanked people for the support he received.
“To be here right now just to f****** be able to hold my beautiful Eve and my family is everything to me,” he wrote.
“A few days ago I went through a crazy shark attack, biggest shark I’ve ever seen, which was a very crazy scene and scared the living f*** out of me.
“But to all you f****** kind-hearted people, all you legends, to anyone and everyone all your support has meant the absolute world to me.
“It’s so cool to see so many beautiful people support me.”
Mr McKenzie, a sponsored athlete, vowed that he will be back in the water “in no time”.
“I can tell you now if you know my personality this means f*** all.
“I’ll be back in that water in no time, big f*** off to that shark and big thanks to Steve for saving my life.”
In a statement on Thursday, the McKenzie family also thanked all of the “medical staff … bystanders and first responders” who had worked to save the surfer’s life.
An online fundraiser has raised more than $160,000 (£81,432) to support Mr McKenzie’s rehabilitation and recovery as of Monday morning.
Australia sees more shark attacks than any other country except the US, but fatal incidents remain very rare. Of the 10 fatal attacks globally in 2023, four occurred in Australia – three in South Australia and one in Western Australia.