A 7-meter-long (23-foot-long) python has swallowed a woman in central Indonesia, a village official said Saturday.

The victim, 54-year-old Wa Tiba, went missing while checking her vegetable garden near her village on Muna island in Southeast Sulawesi province on Thursday evening, according to the village chief, Faris.

On Friday, her family went to look for her at the garden but found only her belongings, including sandals and a flashlight, said Faris, who uses a single name.

The family and villagers launched a search for the woman, and found the snake with a bloated belly about 50 meters (yards) from where her belongings were found.

The villagers killed the snake and carried it to the village.

“When they cut open the snake’s belly they found Tiba’s body still intact with all her clothes,” Faris said. “She was swallowed first from her head.”

Videos posted on some websites showed villagers slicing open the python’s carcass to reveal the woman’s body.

Faris said the victim’s garden, about 1 kilometer (half a mile) from her house, is located in a rocky area with caves and cliffs believed to contain many snakes.

Reticulated pythons, which are widespread in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, grab onto their prey with dozens of sharp curved teeth and then squeeze it to death before swallowing it whole.

Reports of humans being killed by pythons are extremely rare. In the wild they are known to eat monkeys, pigs and other mammals.

It was the second python attack on a human in Indonesia since March last year, when a 25-year-old man was swallowed whole by a python…

A couple in eastern Germany have gotten married in a swing dangling from a motorcycle atop a tightrope, 14 meters (46 feet) above the ground.

The German news agency dpa reported that a pastor standing in a cage atop a fire service ladder presided over the wedding of Nicole Backhaus and Jens Knorr in the town of Stassfurt on Saturday. The couple exchanged rings in the air but, for safety’s sake, waited until they were back on the ground to kiss.

More than 3,000 people watched the wedding in the sky, which took place during a local festival.

The tightrope was stretched between the town wall and a tower, and the motorbike was ridden by Falko Traber, a member of a family of artists.

Source: Associated Press

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A suicide bomber blew himself up in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday as mostly Taliban fighters gathered to celebrate a three-day cease fire marking the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, killing 21 people and wounding another 41, said the Nangarhar provincial Police Chief Ghulam Sanayee Stanikzai. Most of the dead and wounded were believed to be Taliban, he said.

The devastating explosion came as previously unthinkable scenes of unarmed Taliban fighters celebrating Eid, often alongside Afghan security forces, played out in cities throughout the war-shattered country on Friday and again on Saturday.

Within hours of the explosion President Ashraf Ghani announced he would extend a nine-day cease-fire that was to expire on Sunday and which he had unilaterally announced last week. The cease-fire was to end at the conclusion of the Eid holiday, which follows the monthlong fasting month of Ramadan.

Ghani offered no details of the extension, including how long it would be in effect. The Taliban’s leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada, on Monday separately announced a three-day truce to mark the Eid holiday. The Taliban cease-fire took effect at midnight on Thursday.

Ghani in his statement announcing the extension called on the Taliban to reply in kind. He also said that a cease-fire could be accompanied with visits to their prisoners and treatment for their fighters at hospitals in Afghanistan.

Ghani also repeated his promise that everything could be on the negotiation table, including the presence of foreign forces.

Earlier this week Taliban leader Akhundzada said he wanted direct talks with the…

France allegedly has special forces on the ground in Yemen, according to the French daily Le Figaro.

Saturday’s article, written by Middle East specialist Georges Malbrunot, quoted two unnamed military sources as saying special forces were present in the war-torn country. It didn’t provide details except to say that they are “beside United Arab Emirates” forces in Yemen.

Defense Ministry officials couldn’t be reached for comment on the report, though any information concerning special forces is most always kept under wraps.

However, a Defense Ministry statement on Friday to the newspaper Ouest-France said Paris is studying sending minesweepers to clear the entrance of the Hodeida port “after the end of military operations.” The aim would be to help humanitarian aid get to the city.

The Saudi-backed coalition backing Yemen’s government-in-exile is fighting to retake Hodeida from the Shiite Houthi rebels.

Source: Associated Press

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