Three people stabbed in random attack near Japan ski resort
A man died and two were injured in a stabbing attack at a train station in Nagano, a popular ski resort in central Japan, police said.
The incident, suspected to be a random attack with no one targeted in particular, occurred near JR Nagano Station at around 8pm local time on Wednesday.
The suspect, an unnamed middle-aged man, remained at large, the Kyodo News agency reported.
He used a blade-like object to attack three people waiting for a bus near the station, police said. One of them, Hiroyuki Maruyama, a 49-year-old man, was pronounced dead in a hospital. A 37-year-old man was wounded but stayed conscious, while a 46-year-old woman suffered a head injury from falling during the attack.
Maruyama was stabbed on the left side of the abdomen and went into cardiac arrest.
He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after 10pm.
One of the survivors told investigators the suspect was a man of slim build in his 40s who wore pants, a jacket and a white scarf on his head.
Police said they were actively searching for the suspect in connection with charges of murder and attempted murder. A dedicated hotline had been established at the Nagano Central Police Station to provide information about the suspect’s whereabouts.
A witness said the suspect “appeared to be searching for his next target” as he moved around the train station after the attack, the Japan Times reported.
“I was with my child, and for a moment, the suspect pointed the knife in our direction. I was completely focused on protecting my family,” he said.
Stabbing attacks are more common than other violent crimes in Japan due to strict gun control laws. The country has witnessed a number of cases involving random knife attacks and arson on subways in recent years.
In response, a company said last year it was introducing blade-resistant umbrellas on Japanese trains to enhance passenger safety.
The stab-proof umbrellas are about 20cm longer than standard umbrellas, with reinforced canopies and thicker handles for better defence.
12 dead after false fire rumours cause passengers to leap from train
Twelve people died and 15 others were injured when they got off a train after hearing rumours of a fire, only to be hit by another passing train in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
The incident took place at around 4.50pm local time on Wednesday. Passengers on the Pushpak Express panicked after a rumour spread that the train had caught fire and they pulled the emergency chain, bringing it to a stop.
Several of the passengers who disembarked from the right side were hit by the Karnataka Express coming from the opposite direction on a parallel track.
“Passengers from a coach of Pushpak Express disembarked and at the same time, a Karnataka Express train hit those people,” Central Railway spokesperson Swapnil Nila said.
Railways officials said there was no fire.
“Our preliminary information is that there were sparks inside one of the coaches of Pushpak Express due to either ‘hot axle’ or ‘brake-binding’, and some passengers panicked,” a senior Railways official told the news agency Press Trust of India.
A video posted on social media showed passengers screaming and crying after witnessing horrific scenes of dead bodies lying on the tracks.
Prime minister Narendra Modi said he was anguished by the tragic incident.
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and pray for the speedy recovery of all the injured. Authorities are providing all possible assistance to those affected,” he said.
The railways ministry and the Maharashtra state government announced compensation of Rs500,000 (£4,698) and Rs150,000 (£1,410), respectively, to the families of each of the deceased.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is in Davos for the World Economic Forum, said his colleagues in the government and the “entire district administration is working in coordination with the railway administration, and immediate arrangements are being made for the treatment of the injured”.
“The tragic incident of the loss of lives in a very unfortunate incident near Pachora in Jalgaon district is deeply distressing. I pay my heartfelt tributes to them,” he said.
Among those killed were three people from Nepal, The Indian Express reported.
The Indian government has been trying to modernise its extensive railway network, built during the British colonial era. However, frequent train accidents have raised questions over safety.
There were more than 100,000 train-related deaths in India from 2017 to 2021, according to a 2022 report published by the National Crime Records Bureau.
These included people falling off, dying in collisions, and getting mowed down by speeding trains on the tracks.
In 2023, more than 280 people were killed in one of the deadliest rail accidents in decades after two passenger trains collided in eastern India.
Japan’s Masahiro Nakai retires after sexual misconduct allegations
Japanese television presenter Masahiro Nakai, who is currently embroiled in a sexual assault scandal, announced on Thursday that he was retiring from the entertainment industry.
The former member of the boy band SMAP was accused of sexual misconduct by a woman last year, which was then followed by news of a ¥90m (£471,960) out-of-court settlement, all reported by weekly magazines Josei Seven and Shukan Bunshun.
“I, Masahiro Nakai, am retiring from show business as of today,” Nakai, 52, said in his statement, according to a translation by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
He added that conversations regarding the suspension of any television programme he was on, as well as terminating contracts with broadcasters and sponsors, had “all ended”.
“I in no way feel that I have fulfilled all my responsibilities. I will continue to face my problems and will respond in good faith. I take full responsibility. I am deeply sorry for the distress and pain I have caused so many people,” he said.
“Once again, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies to the other party as well,” he said, likely alluding to the woman in the sexual misconduct case.
Nakai also said he will close his management company as well, once remaining procedures are completed.
“The details of the trouble are protected between the parties involved,” a lawyer representing Nakai said in a statement, reported Asahi Shimbun.
Nakai was a member of the five-member boy band SMAP, created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa. After debuting in 1991, SMAP quickly became one of the most successful boy bands in Asia, often referred to at the time as a “national treasure” by the Japanese.
After the group disbanded in December 2016, Nakai continued working in the entertainment industry as a television presenter.
The alleged assault reportedly took place at a dinner organised by a Fuji TV executive. The broadcaster denied their employee’s involvement in setting up the dinner, and a statement from Nakai acknowledging that he had “gotten into trouble” also stated that there “was no involvement of parties other than those concerned in this case”.
After one of Fuji TV’s shareholders demanded an investigation, the company held a press conference on 17 January to announce that a third-party committee had been established to do so. However, according to media reports, the broadcaster was heavily criticised after president Koichi Minato admitted the network knew about the allegations at least six months before the reports on Nakai’s alleged assault were published.
At least 50 companies, including Toyota Motor Corp, East Japan Railway Co, Shiseido Co, and Nippon Life Insurance, have suspended their advertising on the channel.
Japan’s entertainment industry has come under fire recently, with several drawing parallels between how allegations of sexual assault by both Nakai and late music mogul Kitagawa were handled.
The Independent has reached out to Nakai and Fuji TV for comment.
Taiwan sets bounty on heads of 120,000 iguanas
Taiwan is planning to cull up to 120,000 green iguanas wreaking havoc on the island’s agricultural sector.
Around 200,000 of the reptiles are believed to be in the island’s southern and central areas, which are heavily dependent on farming, according Chiu Kuo-hao of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency.
Specially recruited hunting teams killed about 70,000 iguanas last year, with bounties of up to $15 each. Local governments have asked the public to help identify iguana nests and they recommend fishing spears as the most humane means of killing the animals.
Green iguanas have no natural predators in Taiwan and have moved into areas that can be difficult to access, mostly forests and the edges of towns.
Males can grow to 2 feet (6.6 feet) long, weigh 5 kilograms (11 pounds) and live up to 20 years, while females can lay up to 80 eggs at a time.
“A lot of people bought them as cute little pets, not realizing how big and long-lived they would become, so they set them free in the wild, where they’ve really taken to the Taiwanese environment,” said Lee Chi-ya of the agricultural department in the southern county of Pingtung. “That’s allowed them to reproduce at a considerable rate, necessitating us to cull them and restore the balance of nature.”
Mainly native to Central America and the Caribbean, they are not aggressive despite possessing sharp tails and jaws and razor-like teeth. The reptiles subsist on a diet of mostly fruit, leaves and plants, with the occasional small animal thrown in.
Though popular as pets, they are difficult to keep healthy in captivity and many die within a year.
Hsu Wei-chieh, secretary general of the Reptile Conservation Association of Taiwan, said his group wants to teach farmers how to stay safe, protect their property and treat the iguanas in a humane manner.
“We’re here to help see that this project is carried out smoothly,” said Hsu.
Tsai Po-wen, a vegetable farmer in Pingtung, said the training was paying off.
“We used to attack them, but it wasn’t any use. Now we’re learning more effective, safer methods,” Tsai said.
Thousands line up for Sydney’s putrid corpse flower
A rare blooming of a corpse flower, affectionately nicknamed Putricia, has drawn thousands of visitors to Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden.
The plant, known scientifically as amorphophallus titanum, emits a pungent odour reminiscent of rotting flesh, gym socks, and garbage.
This unusual fragrance, however, hasn’t deterred the plant’s devoted fans, or “Putricians,” who lined up to witness the momentous bloom.
Putricia, a portmanteau of “putrid” and “Patricia,” stands tall and pointed against a gothic purple backdrop, enhanced by a misting humidifier.
This is the first corpse flower blooming at the garden in 15 years. In the wild, these plants bloom only every seven to 10 years, making this a truly special event.
Over 13,000 admirers have already filed past to experience Putricia’s unique, if somewhat unpleasant, presence.
“The fact that they open very rarely, so they flower rarely, is obviously something that puts them at a little bit of a disadvantage in the wild,” said garden spokesperson Sophie Daniel, who designed Putricia’s kooky and funereal display. “When they open, they have to hope that another flower is open nearby, because they can’t self-pollinate.”
There are thought to be only 300 of the plants in the wild and fewer than 1,000 worldwide — including those in cultivation. Among them is Putricia, which arrived at the garden seven years ago.
When her flower was spotted in December she was just 25 centimeters (10 inches) high. By Thursday, she was 1.6 meters (5 feet 3 inches) tall -– and her flower spike was slowly opening like a pleated skirt around a majestic central tuber, the yellow-green outer curling to reveal a burgundy center.
As excitement grew in Sydney about the moment of her bloom, garden staff erected crowd barriers, giving the Victorian greenhouse the air of a rock concert. Fans trod a red carpet to view Putricia from behind velvet ropes in a display inspired by Queen Victoria’s funeral, the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the oeuvre of the late director David Lynch.
Inside, fans took selfies and leaned in for a sniff — an increasingly perilous prospect as Putricia’s odor developed. One young woman raised her hands and bowed as though in worship. On social media, garden staff performed a viral dance to Chappell Roan’s summer hit HOT TO GO! against a backdrop of the stately plant.
It was difficult to say why the regal, mysterious and stinky flower had attracted such a following -– but perhaps the answer lay in the “reverence” viewers felt in the presence of “such an amazing living being,” Daniel said.
Along with her real-life visitors, Putricia’s online fandom has been rapid, global and deeply strange -– if much less smelly. A 24/7 live stream established by the botanic garden drew close to a million views in less than a week and a shared language of memes and inside jokes sprang up.
Frequently deployed acronyms included WWTF, or we watch the flower, WDNRP — we do not rush Putricia – and BBTB, or blessed be the bloom. “Putricia is a metaphor for my life,” wrote one poster, who did not elaborate.
Commenters on social media made plans to hurry to the garden as the plant opened. In just 24 hours, Putricia’s bloom -– and her stench -– would be gone.
As she unfurled, Putricia would heat to 37 degrees Celsius (100 F) to better spread her scent, Daniel said, attracting flies and carrion beetles to burrow inside and lay eggs. Then, work will begin to hand-pollinate the plant in efforts to ensure the species’ diversity and survival.
But first, thousands of Putricians will attempt to get as close as they can to their hero of a week.
“We did have a few conversations early on about whether or not we should have vomit bags in the room,” said Daniel, adding that garden staff ultimately decided against it. “I haven’t heard of anyone actually being harmed.”
Hundreds wed in Thailand on historic first day for same-sex marriage
Hundreds of same-sex couples in Thailand tied the knot on Thursday as a landmark legislation took effect, making it the first nation in Southeast Asia to recognise marriage equality.
Thailand’s LGBT+ community has spent decades advocating for the right to equal marriage. On Thursday, hundreds of same-sex marriages were registered at district offices nationwide – marking a historic step for the country, which is only the third nation in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal, to recognise marriage equality.
Under the marriage legislation passed by Thailand’s parliament and endorsed by the king last year, same-sex couples can now register their marriages with full legal, financial, and medical rights, including adoption and inheritance rights.
“Today, the rainbow flag is proudly flying over Thailand,” prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said in a post on X.
A mass LGBT+ wedding, organised by the campaign group “Bangkok Pride” in collaboration with city authorities, was held at Siam Paragon Mall in Bangkok. Local reports said that similar celebrations took place nationwide, with organisers estimating at least 1,000 same-sex marriages on Thursday.
Ploynaphas Jirasukhon, 33, and Khwanphorn Kongphet, 32, were the first to arrive at Paragon Hall on the fifth floor of the shopping centre at 6.15am on Thursday. They received their marriage certificate when the event officially began at 8am.
“Today we feel secure and safe and happy,” Ms Ploynaphas told The New York Times. “We are happy that we have played a part in the equal marriage law reaching this point.”
At the Siam Paragon event, another couple, Rungtiwa Thangkanopast and Phanlavee Chongtangsattam, reflected on their first attempt to marry 12 years ago during a mass wedding organised by Bangkok authorities on Valentine’s Day.
Although officials initially welcomed them, they were turned away at the registrar’s desk after presenting their identity cards, both marked as female. They were told that marriage between two women was not allowed, The Bangkok Post reported.
On Thursday, they finally had the opportunity to wed.
“I am delighted and excited because we have been waiting for this day for a very long time,” Ms Rungtiwa said. “For 20 years, we have loved each other and have had to hide from society’s disapproval. But now we can stand proudly.”
Thai actors Apiwat Apiwatsayree (Porsch) and Sappanyoo Panatkool (Arm) held an unofficial wedding ceremony two weeks ago and on Thursday, had their union officially recognised.
Thailand is considered one of the more open countries for LGBTQ+ people, but it took over a decade of campaigning to legalise same-sex marriage. While many in this predominantly Buddhist society, especially older citizens, remain conservative, the country is seemingly becoming more tolerant.
Siritata Ninlapruek, an LGBT+ activist, said: “I am extremely happy, but my fight for the community continues.” Marriage equality law is expected to be followed by legislation recognising gender identity. “Whether male, female or non-binary, people should have the right to identify as they wish.”
To mark the new law, Thailand’s prime minister hosted a photo shoot last week with dozens of couples preparing to marry. “23 Jan 2025 will be the day that we all record history together, that the rainbow flag has been planted gracefully in Thailand,” she posted on her Instagram account. “Everyone’s love is legally recognised with honour and dignity.”
Former prime minister Srettha Thavisin also congratulated the newlyweds on Thursday and said on X that “equal marriage has truly become possible with the power of all”.
“From now on, there will no longer be a ‘man’ and a ‘woman’, but ‘individual’ and ‘individual’ who are equal ‘spouses’,” he said in a post on X. “I congratulate you wholeheartedly on your love.”
“I am so excited,” Warin Kheanpikul told BBC on Thursday. She and her partner Aki Uryu have “dreamed for so long” of this day. “It is like I have started my new life,” Aki says.
Aki, who is Japanese, relocated to Bangkok to be with Warin. Describing life in Japan, where same-sex marriages are not recognised, Aki said it can be challenging for the LGBTQ+ community.
“In Thailand, I can hold hands with my partner, walk together. No one says anything. It’s just different. It feels right.”
Thailand’s Matichon newspaper reported that a couple from Phetchabun travelled 400km through thick smog to register their marriage at the Bang Rak district office in Bangkok.
Sumalee Sutsainet, 64, and Thanaporn Sutsainet, 59, were the first to arrive, three hours after starting their journey. After receiving their marriage certificate, they announced plans to begin organising a wedding.
Last year, when Thailand took the “historic” step, Amnesty International’s Thailand researcher Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, said: “This landmark moment is a reward for the tireless work of activists, civil society organisations and lawmakers who have fought for this victory.”
For Nina Chetniphat Chuadkhunthod, a transgender woman who had been unable to marry her boyfriend of 22 years due to her inability to legally change her gender identity, the recognition of same-sex marriage feels long overdue. With same-sex marriage now being recognised, they can tie the knot.
“I feel like, wow, my dream is close to coming true,” the 42-year-old told CNN earlier. “I felt the proudest moment of my life that I could do this and let people know, let the industry and friends around me know that I could do it.”
Rights advocate Hua Boonyapisomparn, from the Foundation of Transgender Alliance for Human Rights, said that the next step for Thailand is to allow transgender people to legally change their gender identity. The country is home to an estimated 314,000 trans individuals, according to the Asia Pacific Transgender Network.
“We should use marriage equality as an opportunity to open another door for gender recognition,” Ms Boonyapisomparn said.
India scrambles to appease Trump amid fears over worker visas
India has expressed readiness to collaborate with the US to identify and repatriate thousands of its citizens reportedly living illegally in America.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio and India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar discussed “irregular migration” on Tuesday after president Donald Trump took office, according to the US State Department.
India has committed to helping repatriate as many as 18,000 Indians living illegally in the US, Bloomberg News reported, a move which is being interpreted as an attempt by India to placate the new US president and avoid a trade war.
In one his first actions as president, Mr Trump said he would prioritise tackling illegal immigration and issued an executive order to declare an emergency and station troops along the US-Mexico border.
India hopes the Trump administration will safeguard legal immigration pathways for its citizens, including student visas and the H-1B programme for skilled workers. H-1B visas are for highly skilled immigrants typically working in tech, healthcare, engineering and finance. Official data shows that Indian citizens made up nearly three quarters of the 386,000 H-1B visas issued in the US in 2023.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump weighed in on the H-1B visa issue saying: “I like both sides of the argument, but I also like very competent people coming into our country, even if that involves them training and helping other people that may not have the qualifications they do.”
India is also keen to preserve avenues for student visas, which allow a large number of its nationals to pursue higher education in the US.
Sources told Bloomberg that 18,000 people of Indian origin living in the US illegally have been identified, though the actual number is likely to be much higher. The Pew Research Center estimates there are approximately 725,000 undocumented Indian immigrants in the US, making them the third-largest group after migrants from Mexico and El Salvador.
The Indian government has not confirmed any figures but Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry, said that “as part of India-US cooperation on migration and mobility, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration”.
He added: “This is being done to create more avenues for legal migration from India to the US.”
“The latest deportation of Indian nationals from the US by a chartered flight is a result of this cooperation,” he added, referring to a flight in October.
India’s concerns over the prospect of a trade war with the new US administration are not unfounded. Mr Trump has repeatedly singled out India for criticism of its high import taxes, claiming they harm American businesses, and has pledged to impose reciprocal duties on India.
Nonetheless, Mr Trump enjoyed good personal relations with India’s prime minister Narendra Modi during the Republican’s first term in office, with the two hosting rallies for each other in Ahmedabad and Houston respectively. Trade issues aside, India’s ruling BJP has talked up Mr Trump’s November victory as being good news for the two countries’ ties.
Relations between the US and India continued to deepen during the Biden administration, despite India being accused of organising the attempted assassination of a separatist leader on American soil and its refusal to sever ties with Russia over the Ukraine war. The US sees India as an important counterbalance to China in the Asia-Pacific region, and both are members of the four-country Quad grouping.
It was also reported that repatriating illegal migrants could play into Mr Modi’s objective of curbing secessionist movements abroad, such as the Khalistan movement, which advocates for an independent Sikh state in India. India has been cracking down on this movement, and officials have indicated that some of its supporters in the US and Canada could be residing there illegally.
Imran Khan aide says he was pressured to testify against former PM
Days after Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 14 and seven years in prison respectively in a real estate corruption case, one of Khan’s closest aides says he was offered a lucrative deal to testify against the former Pakistan prime minister.
Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari is Khan’s international media adviser, and is based in London due to fears that – like many other officials in Khan’s Pakistan Threek-e-Insaf (PTI) party – he could be detained if he returns to Pakistan.
He is also one of the named defendants in the case that saw Khan and his wife convicted on Friday of obtaining land worth billions of rupees from powerful property tycoon Malik Riaz, in a deal that allegedly cost the national exchequer about Rs 50bn (£190m).
The allegations surfaced after Riaz made an agreement with the UK’s National Crime Agency in December 2019 to hand over assets, including properties, in a case linked to money laundering. Instead of depositing the funds into Pakistan’s treasury, Khan’s government allegedly used them to pay fines related to a separate land acquisition case in Karachi.
The case is arguably the most significant in dozens that have been filed against Khan since he was ousted as prime minister in 2022. In Pakistan it is known as the Al-Qadir Trust case after the welfare organisation founded by Khan and his wife that was said to have received land from Riaz. Prosecutors accused Khan, Bushra Bibi, Bukhari and others of a key role in the illicit transfer of state funds for private gain.
Khan denies any wrongdoing and says all the charges against him are designed to keep him and his party from power. Convictions in three other major cases have all either been overturned or suspended by higher courts.
Bukhari tells The Independent he faced “lots of pressure” from the authorities to turn witness against Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case. “Anybody whose name is involved in this case was offered all sorts of deals (to testify) against Imran Khan. Luckily, none of them took that offer – not the businessman, not myself,” he says.
As well as the offer of lucrative deals, Bukhari says he faced various forms of harassment back home in Pakistan, “from kidnapping family members, destroying homes, businesses, blocking bank accounts, stripping me of all my land… no pressure tactic was left”.
“It was a two-pronged attack – carrot and a stick.”
Riaz is said to have provided land in Jhelum, Punjab and the capital Islamabad, including 458 kanals (roughly 57 acres) that was acquired to set up the Al-Qadir University, run by the trust of the same name.
“The Al-Qadir Trust case centres around the establishment of Al-Qadir University, which currently educates over 300 students… this is a nonprofit organisation… Imran Khan and his wife are not any form of beneficiaries of it. They don’t receive any wages, salaries or retainers from this trust. It is simply non-profitable at the moment,” Bukhari says.
Bukhari argues that the case does not involve personal financial gain as the funds in question remain in the Supreme Court’s custody. “The £190m, which was sent from businessman Malik Riaz, is sitting with the Supreme Court of Pakistan. That money is actually earning interest in the Supreme Court’s account. That interest benefits the government and the judicial system,” he says.
“So this whole narrative that is being spread that that money has been used or put into Mr Malik Riaz’s account, or Imran Khan’s, or his wife’s, or anyone else’s for that matter, is absolute rubbish.”
Khan told the media at Adiyala prison in Rawalpindi, where he has been detained since 2023, that Bukhari was offered a lucrative deal to testify against him “in cases like Al-Qadir Trust, but he outrightly refused”, which he said has resulted in “business destroyed, family members displaced”.
“He’s always been a key player of my team,” Khan said.
He said that Bukhari “had requested to appear in this case via video link or embassy because if he came to Pakistan, the court would not protect him and like the rest, he would be arrested or kidnapped and tortured. Zulfi Bukhari’s house was illegally raided and vandalised, the family was harassed and deals were offered.”
Bukhari says he was only added to the case as a defendant because he refused to travel to Pakistan to appear as a witness in court.
Pakistan’s authorities have consistently denied that the allegations against Khan are politically motivated. In 2023 Marriyum Aurangzeb, the minister of information and broadcasting, told BBC News: “You have to be accountable for your deeds in law. This has nothing to do with politics. A person who has been proven guilty by the court has to be arrested.”
Prime minister Shahbaz Sharif, whose party orchestrated Khan’s ousting in 2022 through a vote of no confidence in parliament, has called Khan a “fraudster” and the “biggest liar in Pakistan’s history”.
On Friday, speaking about the corruption conviction from inside his jail cell, Khan said: “Today’s verdict has tarnished the reputation of the judiciary. In this case, neither I benefited nor the government lost. I don’t want any relief and I will face all cases.”
He claimed “a dictator is doing all this”. “My wife is a housewife, who has nothing to do with this phoney case and she has been given this sentence to infuriate me,” Khan said. “Dragging housewives into politics is shameful and against our traditions. Bushra Begum is a woman with strong nerves, she is not my weakness but my strength.”
PTI said Khan’s legal team planned to file an appeal against the Al-Qadir case judgement in the Islamabad High Court later this week. On Tuesday they issued a statement warning that if the PTI founder and his wife were not released promptly, and if prime minister Sharif and his associates persisted in their “stubbornness”, a new political crisis would grip the nation.