Buddhist Facebook users in the North have called on authorities to investigate and find a man believed to be a Buddhist monk who has been exposed in a leaked chat allegedly arranging to buy sex from a teenage boy.

The chat has been widely shared on Facebook. The chat purportedly records a conversation between the teenager and the man, who is believed to be a monk from a temple in Nan.

The boy sent a naked photo to the man and offered sexual services for Bt1,000 (S$41.50). The chat was conducted in the northern dialect of Thai.

The man told the boy to park his car outside a pavilion, but when the boy told him that his friend would bring him to the temple and pick him up later, the man asked whether he could also buy sexual services from the friend.

When the boy said no, the man replied he would have sex with them both.

NEW DELHI – India’s federal government on Wednesday urged Delhi and the surrounding northern states to immediately tackle dangerous levels of pollution in the national capital that forced schools to close and sparked criticism of authorities.

Thick smog swathed Delhi, where pollution readings in some places peaked at 500, the most severe level on the government’s air quality index measuring the number of poisonous particles.

“Every possible step required to tackle the situation has been already identified, and the need of the hour is to put them into action,” Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said in a message on social network Twitter.

Using the hashtag “#DelhiSmog”, Vardhan urged the state authorities to rein in pollution, even if that meant deploying helicopters to spray jets of water across the capital.

Delhi has become a “gas chamber”, its Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, as his government ordered schools closed until Sunday.

Anti-pollution measures adopted by the Delhi state government in recent years include limiting car use and taxing trucks that pass through the city, but few have succeeded.

Last November, the city struggled with its worst pollution in nearly 20 years, which forced about a million children to miss school, while thousands of workers reported sick and queues formed outside shops selling face masks.

Residents are worried this year as well. The Indian Medical Association has urged organisers to call off Delhi’s biggest race set for Nov. 19, to protect runners and volunteers.

If pollution increases, emergency measures, such as the suspension of construction activity, will kick in, the Delhi government has said.

The state government must adopt long-term anti-pollution measures, such as improving public transport and banning the use of dirty industry fuel, said Anumita Roychowdhury of New Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment.

“Without the systemic changes, the scope and impact of the emergency measures will be limited,” she added.

A community head in Nontaburi’s Bang Bua Thong district has been charged with animal cruelty for repeatedly beating two dogs until they fell unconscious, with one appearing to have been killed.

Jinda Kanchan, 46, was hit with the charge after he turned himself in to Bang Bua Thong Police Station at 11pm on Tuesday (Nov 7) night.

He surrendered after CCTV footage from the front of Ban Ua-Arthon Bang Bua Thong 2 housing estate was posted on Facebook, prompting users to strongly condemn the act.

In the distressing clip posted by “Ae”, 37, Jinda hit the first dog seven times with a wooden stick and then turned on the second dog, which ran to the scene, and beat it until it fell unconscious.

Jinda was then seen putting the two dogs onto his motorcycle and repeatedly beating them again. He then drove the motorcycle away.

Ae said in his post that he had learned that the man had dumped the two dogs in a canal about two kilometres away.

He added that the incident happened at 10.30pm on Monday night.

Ae said he had posted the clip so Facebook users would help demand justice for the two dogs, adding that he had never seen the dogs bite anyone at the housing estate.

Jinda admitted to police that he had beaten the two animals while angry because he had been bitten by stray dogs in the neighbourhood. He also claimed stray dogs in the area caused a lot of trouble for residents of the community.

Piraboon Charoenwai 49, chairman of animal-protection society The Hope Thailand, rescued one of the dogs and sent it to Samut Sakhon Animal Hospital.

Pirabboon said the dog was called “Suay” and about eight years old. He added that his team could not find the other dog.

Police said Jinda had been freed on bail because he had surrendered and police would pass the case on to public prosecutors to schedule an arraignment.

Shortly after giving birth to a baby, a young woman in Pattaya threw her child out the window of her 17th-floor condominium.

Natechanok Nokyung, 20, was devastated after her Korean boyfriend left her to return to his wife in his home country, according to media reports.

The 40-year-old man was reported to have broken up with Natechanok after learning of her pregnancy.

The baby’s fall on Monday (Nov 6) was witnessed by a man who was installing curtains in a unit on the fourth floor at the time.

He found the infant’s body in a plastic bag at the foot of the building and immediately alerted a security guard, Bangkok Post reported. The baby is believed to have died from severe head injuries.

Police arrested Natechanok the following day after reviewing surveillance footage and finding blood-stained clothes in her toilet.

The woman confessed to the crime and claimed that she panicked after “unexpectedly” giving birth that day. 

According to The Sun, police colonel Apichai Khemphet said: ”This is a very brutal crime. The baby was born in a healthy condition. The mother did not have grief for what had happened.“

In photos circulating online, Natechanok appeared expressionless and apathetic while talking to police.

She was charged with infanticide after undergoing a medical checkup at the hospital.

minlee@sph.com.sg

While thousands of people flocked to Surakarta, Central Java, to attend the wedding of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s daughter, Kahiyang Ayu, a Jakarta restaurant held a public screening of the event for supporters who were unable to travel to the bride’s hometown.

Kahiyang is set to wed Muhammad Bobby Afif Nasution.

The screening, which started at 8am on Wednesday, was held at Agbelin Bistro & Cafe on Jl. KH Ahmad Dahlan 31 in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

“Some of our friends went to Solo themselves, while we are watching [the wedding] here together,” one participant, Peter, said as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com, referring to Surakarta’s popular moniker.

TOKYO – Four men were killed on Wednesday (Nov 8) when a private helicopter crashed in a mountainous area of Japan, officials said.

The chopper was discovered ablaze on a bridge in the small village of Ueno, around 150 km northwest of the capital Tokyo.

“Four people on board were found dead,” a transport ministry official told AFP.

The AS332-L Super Puma helicopter was operated by the Toho Air Service, which confirmed that four male staff members were on board at the time of the accident.

An official with the local emergency services said the fire was extinguished at 3.21 pm, about an hour after officials spotted the accident.