Makassar, Indonesia:

A woman was found dead inside the belly of a snake after it swallowed her whole in central Indonesia, police said Wednesday, the second python killing in the province in a month.

Siriati, 36, had gone missing after she left her house Tuesday morning to buy medicine for her sick child, police said, prompting relatives to launch a search.

Her husband Adiansa, 30, found her slippers and pants on the ground about 500 metres (yards) from their house in Siteba village, South Sulawesi province.

“Shortly after that, he spotted a snake, about 10 metres from the path. The snake was still alive,” local police chief Idul, who like many Indonesians has one name, told AFP.

Village secretary Iyang told AFP that Adiansa became suspicious after he noticed the python’s “very large” belly. He called the villagers to help cut open its stomach, where they found her body.

Such incidents are considered extremely rare, but several people have been swallowed by pythons in recent years.

A woman was found dead last month inside the belly of a reticulated python in another district of South Sulawesi.

Last year residents in the province killed an eight-metre python, which was found strangling and eating one of the farmers in a village.

A 54-year-old woman was found dead in 2018 inside a seven-metre python in Southeast Sulawesi’s Muna town.

The year before, a farmer in West Sulawesi went missing before being found being swallowed by a four-metre python at a palm oil plantation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Zhang Zhijie, a 17-year-old Chinese badminton player, died after collapsing on the court during the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, as per a report in Marca. The shuttler was playing against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano in the opening game on June 30, which was tied 11-11 when he collapsed. He was immediately given medical treatment, however, he was declared dead at the hospital.

Badminton Asia and the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) said in a joint statement on Monday, “China’s Zhang Zhijie, a singles player, collapsed on the court during a match in the evening. He was sent to the hospital where he passed away at 23:20 local time yesterday. He was attended to by the tournament doctor and medical team. He was taken in the standby ambulance in less than two minutes and sent to hospital.”

“The world of badminton has lost a talented player,” the statement added.

Videos of the incident recently went viral on the internet, showing a 40-second wait before Zhang was attended to by emergency personnel. There has been harsh criticism directed at officials, with many questioning if prompt medical assistance might have saved his life. In the short clip, a man is seen running to help the shuttler after he collapses, however, he stops mid-way and waits for further instruction.

According to the BBC, a PBSI spokesman later said that “medical teams had to follow a rule where they needed the referee’s permission before entering the court.” He said, “That is in accordance with the regulations and standards of procedure that applies to every international badminton tournament.” Meanwhile, the Indonesian badminton body declared that he had experienced a sudden cardiac arrest.

The young player, who originally hailed from Jiaxing in the Chinese province of Zhejiang, joined the national junior squad in 2023 and won many championships, including the team and men’s titles in Group B of the China Badminton Junior Championships in 2023 and 2024.

The China Badminton Association also expressed deep sorrow and shock. “Zhang Zhijie loved badminton and was an outstanding athlete of the national youth badminton team,” they said. The statement continued, “At present the local hospital has not yet identified the cause of death.”

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu also took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her condolences. She wrote, “Absolutely heartbreaking news coming from the Junior Asian Badminton Championships about the loss of young badminton player Zhang Zhi Jie.”

Absolutely heartbreaking news coming from the Junior Asian Badminton Championships about the loss of young badminton player Zhang Zhi Jie.

I offer my deepest condolences to Zhang’s family during this devastating time. The world has lost a remarkable talent today.

— Pvsindhu (@Pvsindhu1) June 30, 2024

“I offer my deepest condolences to Zhang’s family during this devastating time. The world has lost a remarkable talent today,” she continued.

Jakarta:

Indonesia is using a weather modification technique known as cloud seeding around the site of its future capital to reduce intense rains that have hampered construction of the new city, a weather agency official said on Friday.

The planned city of Nusantara is set to begin operating on August 17, replacing traffic-clogged and sinking Jakarta as Indonesia’s new capital.

But contractors, whose work building the city has been hampered by daily rains, asked authorities to carry out a weather-modifying operation, said Tri Handoko Seto, a senior official at Indonesia’s Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical agency (BMKG).

“They submitted a request to carry out a weather modification operation so that the rain that occurred every day can be diverted to another place, eliminated in a certain area, or at least be reduced,” Seto told AFP.

Cloud seeding, which introduces tiny particles or chemicals to manipulate existing clouds, has gained popularity worldwide as a way to induce rain to combat drought or boost local water supplies.

But scientists say the technique cannot create weather — nor can it trigger rainfall at the scale observed in countries such as Germany and the United States.

The cloud seeding operation around Nusantara began last week and is due to end on Sunday, followed by an evaluation to determine whether it needs to be continued, Seto said.

It is the first time authorities have used cloud seeding around the planned city to reduce rainfall, he said.

Flooding and landslides are common during the vast archipelago’s six-month rainy season and the BMKG has forecast the downpours around Nusantara will last until August.

The Indonesian government aims to have 1.9 million people living in Nusantara by 2045, importing a wave of human and industrial activity into the heart of Borneo.

Environmentalists have warned that the planned city will speed up deforestation in one of the world’s largest stretches of tropical rainforest.

Thousands of civil servants are expected to move to the city in September to begin work but Jakarta’s plan has already been delayed by several months due to slow construction.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jakarta:

Ibu volcano in Indonesia’s Halmahera Island erupted again, sending volcanic ash as high as 5,000 metre to its peak, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said.

The eruption occurred at 11:36 a.m. local time on Monday for more than two minutes, and the thick ash column leaned towards the southwest and west, said Ibu Volcano Observation Post Officer Ridwan Djalil on Monday as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The center raised its hazardous status from level three to four, the highest, on May 16, following a significant increase in the mountain’s recent activity.

Local people are asked to avoid the danger zone within a 4 km radius and 7 km in the northern sector of the crater.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In a super rare occurrence, conjoined twins born in Indonesia have four arms, three legs and shared genitalia. Such twins are scientifically known as ischiopagus tripus and is one in a two million phenomenon. Just a handful of such conjoined twins, also referred to as ‘spider twins’, have been recorded – the case of Indonesian boys has been published in American Journal of Case Reports. The twins were born in 2018, but the case was published in the journal this week.

“The rarity of ischiopagus tripus conjoined twins complicates the surgical separation, owing to the lack of cases and high complexity,” the authors wrote in the American Journal of Case Reports.

They are defined as those who are connected by the lower half of their body instead of the upper torso.

In over 60 per cent of such cases, one of the twins dies or is stillborn. But these toddlers survived all the odds. The brothers, however, had to lie flat for their first three years as their unique body structure prevented them from sitting up.

The case report says that surgeons amputated their third leg – which is often two fused legs – and stabilised their hips and legs so the brothers could sit upright independently.

A follow-up appointment three months after the surgery revealed that the twins didn’t suffer any complications.

The twins are not separated, and it is not known if the doctors will attempt such a complicated surgery.

Still, doctors believe that the case highlights that “there is still room for surgical correction to be performed” in cases where separation is not possible.

A birth like this takes place when the embryo only partially separates to form two people due to a congenital birth defect, as per Mayo Clinic.

While the babies develop from this embryo, they remain physically joined, most “often at the chest, abdomen or pelvis”.

Denpasar:

An Australian man faces up to 20 years in prison on the resort island of Bali and a fine of more than $600,000 for allegedly attempting to sell crystal meth, police said Monday.

Indonesian police said the 49-year-old suspect — named by his initials TAS and identified by Australian media as Troy Smith — was arrested on April 30 at his hotel on the popular tourist island.

He was allegedly found with 3.19 grams of crystal methamphetamine and his wife, a foreign national only identified by her initials TIM, was also held but found not to be involved.
Smith was charged with a “drug transaction”, which means offering to sell or become a broker of narcotics, Ponco Indriyo, Bali police deputy director of drugs investigation told a news conference.

The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a fine of 10 billion rupiah ($622,000).
Smith was also charged with drug possession, which carries a lower maximum sentence of 12 years in prison and a maximum fine of 8 billion rupiah.

Authorities made him take a urine test which came back positive for meth, the police official said.
The suspect had received a package carrying the meth sent by a friend in Australia, Indriyo said.

A Bali police press statement said the package contained “one Colgate toothpaste tube containing 3.15 grams of alleged crystal meth”.

Smith did not appear at the press conference but authorities in Indonesia typically parade drug suspects to the media.

But there was no evidence his wife TIM — named as Tracy Ijusa in Australian media reports — was involved, Indriyo said.

Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws including the death penalty for traffickers.
There are dozens of traffickers on death row in Indonesia, including a cocaine-smuggling British grandmother and a Philippine woman accused of smuggling heroin.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A column of ash rises over the Gunung Ibu (Mount Ibu) volcano, in Tabaru, North Maluku province, Indonesia May 13, 2024. Screengrab
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Indonesia’s Ibu volcano erupted on May 13 morning, spewing thick columns of grey ash several kilometres into the sky, the country’s volcanology agency said.

The volcano on the remote island of Halmahera erupted at 9.12 a.m. (0012 GMT) for about five minutes, projecting ash into the sky as high as 5 km (3.1 miles), officials said. A smaller eruption was also recorded on May 10.

The alert status of the volcano remains at the second-highest level, Hendra Gunawan, head of Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre, said in a statement.

All activities within a five-kilometre radius of the volcano were prohibited, he added.

“If it starts to rain ash, we recommend people who are near the volcano to wear a mask and glasses,” Mr. Gunawan said.

Footage of the eruption shared by the centre showed clouds of grey ash billowing from the crater. The official said a booming noise was also heard. No evacuation of residents has been reported so far.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and has 127 active volcanoes, according to the volcanology agency.

In recent weeks North Sulawesi’s Ruang volcano has erupted, spewing incandescent lava as lightning flashed from its crater. The eruption prompted authorities to evacuate more than 12,000 people living on a nearby island.

In December, more than 20 people were killed after Marapi volcano, one of Sumatra’s most active volcanoes, erupted and belched grey clouds of ash as high as 3 km.

Jakarta:

An undersea quake with a magnitude of 6.5 jolted Indonesia’s West Java province on Saturday night, without triggering giant waves, the country’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

The earthquake occurred at 23:29 Jakarta time (1629 GMT) on Saturday with its epicentre located 151 km southwest of Garut Regency and a depth of 10 km, the agency said.

The tremors of the quake were also felt in nearby Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and the nearby province of Banten, as well as the provinces of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java, it said.

In West Java province, the intensity of the quake was felt at IV MMI (Modified Mercally Intensity) in Sukabumi town and Tasikmalaya town, and III to IV MMI in Bandung city, the capital of West Java province, the agency said.

There was no tsunami alert issued by the agency as the tremors would not potentially trigger giant waves, Xinhua news agency reported.

Indonesia, an archipelagic nation, is prone to earthquakes because of its position on a vulnerable quake-hit zone, called the “Pacific Ring of Fire.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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.

United Nations:

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Gita Sabharwal of India as the United Nations resident coordinator in Indonesia.

Sabharwal, who took up her post on Monday, brings close to 30 years of experience in development supporting climate transition, sustainable peace, governance and social policy, while leveraging digital technology and data to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN said in a statement.

Sabharwal has been appointed as the UN resident coordinator in Indonesia with the host government’s approval, it said.

“Just landed in Jakarta! Very honoured as I look forward to serve, as @UN Resident Coordinator (designate), the govt and people of #Indonesia through @UNinIndonesia, together with 26 UN agencies in one of the region’s largest economies, in support of #SDGs,” Sabharwal said in a post on X.

Previously, Sabharwal served as the UN resident coordinator in Thailand and as peacebuilding and development adviser for the United Nations in Sri Lanka.

Before joining the UN, Sabharwal was The Asia Foundation’s deputy country representative for the Maldives and Sri Lanka and held positions as the poverty and policy adviser for the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development in India and Vietnam.

Sabharwal holds a master’s degree in development management from the University of Wales in the UK.

The UN resident coordinator is the highest-ranking representative of the UN Development System at the country level. Resident coordinators lead UN country teams and coordinate UN support to countries in implementing the 2030 Agenda. The resident coordinator is the designated representative of — and reports to — the UN secretary-general, according to the world body.

Key duties and responsibilities of resident coordinators include representing the United Nations at the highest levels of State and, together with the relevant agency representatives, fostering engagement with the government, civil society, bilateral and multilateral partners, academia and the private sector in order for the UN development system to help address the country’s needs, priorities and challenges to fulfil the SDGs, the world body said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)