Indo-Nepal border. Image used for representative purpose only
| Photo Credit: ANI

A 49-year-old Chinese woman was arrested near the Sunauli India-Nepal border crossing in Uttar Pradesh on June 26 for allegedly entering India without any documents, an Uttar Pradesh police official said.

The woman identified as Cai Xiaohong alias Hellen was apprehended by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) when she was trying to enter India from Nepal without a passport and visa. She had been staying in Nepal since April and was alone at the time of arrest.

The police official said a case was registered and the woman was arrested under provisions of the Foreigners Act.

“She was not entering India through the authorised checkpoint on the border; instead she was using one of the side tracks near Sunauli border when she was spotted by the SSB personnel. Prima facie it appears that she came her here for tourism but agencies are investigating,” said the police official.

The official said there have been many occasions when foreigners, including those from China, were caught while entering India without a visa. “Every month, we get 2-3 cases where foreigners who have been staying in Nepal are caught at the land border while coming to India for tourism,” the official said.

On June 17, the Chinese Embassy in India said that “recently, there have been a number of cases of Chinese citizens being arrested for entering Indian territory from Nepal.”

In a statement, it reminded Chinese citizens “to pay attention to the Indian border signs to avoid entering the Indian territory due to personal negligence, misleading or fluke, so as to avoid legal consequences and personal losses” while engaging in tourism, business and other activities on the Nepalese side of the India-Nepal border area.

“If you really need to go to India, please apply for the Indian visa in advance as required, and after checking your passport and visa at the Indian immigration checkpoint, enter India from the open port of India,” the Chinese Embassy said.

“If you go to the Indian border areas, please do not take pictures of Indian border facilities, vehicles, etc., so as not to cause unnecessary trouble,” it added, while cautioning Chinese citizens from visiting protected areas.

In 2022, the chance arrest of two Chinese nationals at the Bihar-Nepal border by SSB led the police to an illegal club run by a Chinese national on the outskirts of Delhi.

India and Nepal share 1,751 kilometres of open border guarded by the SSB. The movement of Indian and Nepalese citizens across the border is governed by the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, 1950.

A 31-year-old Chinese woman died after falling off the edge of a crater while posing for a photo on an Indonesian volcano known for its popular “blue fire” phenomenon. According to the New York Post, the woman, identified as Huang Lihong, was with her husband on a guided tour when the incident took place on Saturday. The couple, in their bid to watch the sunrise, had climbed to the edge of the crater of Ijen – a volcano tourism park in the region – cops said.  

According to the police, the woman plummeted from a height of 75m and died from the impact of her fall. The death has been marked as an accident, per The Post.

The tour guild later told authorities that Ms Lihong kept a safe distance from the edge of the crater after being repeatedly warned of the dangers while posing for snaps. However, she then started walking backwards to inch closer and then accidentally stepped on her long clothing, tripped and fell into the mouth of the volcano. It is not clear if the 31-year-old was wearing a skirt or a dress.   

According to the officials, it took rescuers around 2 hours to retrieve Ms Lihong’s body.

Notably, the Ijen volcano is known for its “blue fire” caused by the blue light emitted from the combustion of sulfuric gases. According to The Independent, in 2018, scores of people were forced to evacuate their homes and at least 30 people were hospitalised after the volcano started to emit toxic gases. Mount Ijen regularly releases small amounts of noxious gases but the site stays open to the public.

Indonesia is home to around 130 active volcanoes. Recently, a remote Indonesian volcano sent a tower of ash spewing into the sky, after nearly half a dozen eruptions forced thousands to evacuate when molten rocks rained down on their villages. Mount Ruang in Indonesia’s outermost region of North Sulawesi started erupting on April 16, stirring a spectacular mix of fiery orange lava, a towering ash column and volcanic lightning. The country’s volcanology agency said the eruption sent a plume of smoke 400 metres (1,312 feet) above the peak.

A Chinese mother became so irate with her son’s homework that she tried to kick him, however, she ended up breaking her toe instead. The woman, who goes by the surname Zhang, from Nanjing in the southeast Chinese province of Jiangsu, could not control her emotions and attacked her child while wearing slippers, as per a report in South China Morning Post.

“His homework was dragging on, and I got so angry that I wanted to kick him, but I ended up kicking the wall instead. My little toe broke instantly. My son was quite scared and immediately called his father,” she said.

Images shared by the outlet show the woman’s right toe turned outwards, almost at a 45-degree angle. After X-rays confirmed the fracture, her right foot was wrapped while she was checked and treated in the hospital. After the scary event, Ms Zhang got her kid into a tuition class. 

Many parents who have had similar experiences related to it called this frustrating emotion “Fear of Tutoring Syndrome.” “Helping children with homework has become a high-risk job. It’s like a modern form of torture,” one person wrote online.

Another said, “Seeing this X-ray makes my toes hurt. It is very easy to get annoyed while supervising homework, so now I choose to watch dramas in the living room. My child calls me to check his work after he has completed it.”

“As a parent, I totally understand that feeling of going crazy and breaking down, but we still need to control ourselves. Sending them to after-school classes to do their homework is like spending life-saving money,” said a person.

A woman in Fujian province in southern China was arrested after she bit and chewed an anti-theft cable at an Apple store to steal an iPhone 14 Plus priced at $960 (Rs 79,414), as per a report in South China Morning Post. The woman surnamed Qiu, was caught by police half an hour after leaving the shop with the device.

In the video of the CCTV camera going viral on Chinese social media platforms, Ms Qiu is seen standing in front of the display stand of smartphone. She then leans on the counter and places her right hand on a phone. After a brief examination of the gadget, she nibbles on the security cable multiple times before placing the phone in her bag and leaving the store.

The store manager, Wang, stated that an alarm was activated during the incident. However, the employees that investigated found nothing strange.

Police officer Zhang Jinhong was quoted as saying by SCMP that Ms Qiu acted cautiously and attempted to disguise her tracks by appearing to be scrolling through the phone’s screen like any other customer at a gadget store. However, as soon as she left, store employees found the chewed cord and missing phone and called the cops. Further, security camera footage was checked and showed what had occurred. The police then arrested Ms Qiu outside her house. 

As per the outlet, Ms Qiu informed police that after losing her phone, she planned to buy a new one at a store, but when she saw the cost, she decided to steal it. She has been held until the completion of the inquiry.

The video has left many people surprised. “Doesn’t she know there are security cameras everywhere?” said a person.

Another user remarked, “She has strong teeth.”