Snake bought online kills Chinese woman

BEIJING • A Chinese woman hoping to make traditional snake wine died after being bitten by a venomous serpent which she had ordered from an online shopping portal, sparking a heated debate on the sale of live animals through e-commerce platforms in China.

The 21-year-old unidentified woman from the northern province of Shaanxi died last Tuesday, eight days after being bitten by the many-banded krait.

XINHUA

Birthday surprise for Najib in Parliament

KUALA LUMPUR • Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, who marked his 65th birthday yesterday, probably did not expect to get cake in Parliament.

MP Najib was presented with a cake that had a picture of his face on it, and he was fed a slice by his wife Rosmah Mansor in an unexpected public gesture of affection.

Najib is the eldest son of Malaysia's second prime minister Tun Razak Hussein.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Search for escaped Indonesian inmates

JAYAPURA • The Indonesian authorities are searching for two dozen inmates who escaped from a prison by sawing through the iron bars of a ventilation window, police said yesterday.

While six inmates were quickly apprehended after the Sunday escape, a further 25 are still on the run from Doyo prison, an institution for drug offenders in eastern-most Papua province.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE