Asia in 3 minutes: Welcome to 'the Philippines, China'; Indian man cuts short his world record
Shridhar Chillal displays his newly cut fingernails at Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in New York. Photo: Reuters
They took 66 years to grow but only a couple of minutes to chop off. On Wednesday, Shridhar Chillal (right) from Pune, India, who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest fingernails ever recorded on a single hand, finally cut his nails. Or rather, a technician wearing a face mask and wielding a power tool removed them during a "nail clipping ceremony" in New York. The 82-year-old has been growing the nails on his left hand since he was 14, having been inspired to do so after a teacher told him off when he accidentally broke a very long nail the teacher had grown. The teacher told Chillal that he would not understand the kind of care it took not to break a long nail unless he did it himself.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, centre. Photo: AP
Sri Lanka will start hanging drug dealers, ending a near-half century moratorium on capital punishment as officials promised to "replicate the success" of the Philippines drug war. President Maithripala Sirisena had told the cabinet he "was ready to sign the death warrants" of repeat drug offenders, government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said on Wednesday. "From now on, we will hang drug offenders without commuting their death sentences," he said. Sri Lanka has commuted death sentences for serious crimes to life in prison since 1976, when the last execution took place. Authorities say a tougher approach is needed to combat what they say is an increase in drug-related crime.
Japan's Princess Kako. Photo: AFP
Japan's royal family may be keeping a stoic silence after it was learned that a Chinese company that makes nappies was slapping the trademarked "Princess Kako" label on its products. But Japan's netizens are not holding back after it was reported that the company in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, was cashing in on interest in the Japanese royal family by using the name of Princess Kako, 23, a granddaughter of Emperor Akihito. One poster on the News Seven website said: "This is terrible," while another added the more aggrieved "This is war!" Yet another commentator added: "This is about as insulting as it can get". Others have suggested that the Japanese government should sue the company for royalties, while there were several suggestions that Japanese firms retaliate by producing toilet paper named after China's leaders.
Boys from a Thai soccer team recuperate in hospital after 18 days in a cave. Photo: EPA / Handout
The boys are out of the cave. Now Hollywood wants in. The producers behind Christian films such as God's Not Dead are already in Thailand with plans to develop a film about the 18-day saga of the soccer team (left) trapped in a flooded cave. Though the drama of headline-grabbing rescues often does not carry over the big screen, Pure Flix Entertainment co-founder Michael Scott believes the story about the 12 boys and their 25-year-old coach is ripe for film adaptation. "We realised that this would make an incredibly inspiring movie," Scott said on Wednesday.
Compiled by Thomas Sturrock
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2018. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
