A 65-year-old Indian man died of a suspected heart attack while watching horror film The Conjuring 2 last Thursday (June 16) evening.

The Times of India reported that the man had gone to a theatre in the town of Tiruvannamalai – located in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu – with a friend.

As the film was reaching its climax, the man complained of chest pains and subsequently fainted, local police were quoted as saying.

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He was taken to the Old Government Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

But in a strange turn of events, the man’s body went missing when hospital staff directed his friend to bring his body to the Tiruvannamalai Government Medical College Hospital for a post mortem.

The friend also reportedly disappeared.

Ghostly figure on Malaysian road shocked driver

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The police are currently working to establish the dead man’s identity.

The film, the sequel to Australian filmmaker James Wan’s first instalment The Conjuring, follows the story of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren as they attempt to unravel the supernatural happenings in a house in London in 1977.

Earlier last week, Singaporean Damien Ng’s claims on Facebook that he had encountered an alleged supernatural event after watching the film in Sarawak went viral.

He said in his post that a cross was drawn on the mirror in his hotel room’s toilet and asked for a change in rooms.

The post, which was uploaded at around 11am last Saturday (June 11), garnered almost 3,000 shares.

This article was first published on June 19, 2016.
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BANGKOK – Thailand’s 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest reigning monarch, has shown signs of improvement following treatment for “water on the brain”, the Royal Household Bureau said in a statement on Sunday.

The king has been treated for various ailments during a year-long hospitalisation in the Thai capital. He was last seen in public in January, when he spent several hours visiting his Bangkok palace.

The king, who celebrated 70 years of his reign on June 9, is seen as a unifying figure in a country that has faced decades of often deadly political upheaval. On a few occasions he has stepped in when events threatened to plunge the country into crisis.

Nervousness over his health and the succession has formed the backdrop to more than a decade of political crisis in Thailand, where the military took power in a coup more than two years ago.

The royal palace said the medical examination of the king showed he had more “water on the brain”, or hydrocephalus, a build-up of the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain.

Fluid was drained from the king on Saturday with”satisfactory results”, the palace said in a statement.

In a June 12 statement, the palace said the king had shown signs of improvement following surgery for narrowing of the arteries.

News about the royal family is tightly controlled in Thailand. Laws protecting the royals from insult make it a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen, heir to the throne or regent.

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Reuters, AFP

Flash floods and landslides in central Indonesia have killed at least 35 people and destroyed dozens of homes, an official said Sunday, as searchers scoured devastated villages for survivors.

Dozens were also missing or injured following torrential rain and widespread flooding on the main island of Java, where thousands of homes have been swamped.

Areas prone to landslides across densely-populated Central Java province have been worst hit, with drivers swept off roads and dozens of homes completely destroyed by fast-moving walls of mud, rock and water.

TV footage showed villagers sitting on rooftops to escape the rising water, their cars and homes submerged in brown water.

“The number of casualties from floods and landslides in Central Java is 35 people dead, 25 people missing and 14 injured,” said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

The worst-hit area was Purworejo district on Java’s south coast, where 19 people were killed, he said.

In one incident in the district, nine people died as they tried to clear rubble from a blocked road.

“Suddenly a huge landslide struck the cars and people on the street. Nine bodies were retrieved,” Sutopo said.

Flash floods and landslides kills at least 35 in central Indonesia

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AFP / Reuters

In Banjarnegara, where six people were killed in an avalanche of mud, residents were bracing for the prospect of further floods. Emergency crews were trying to clear roads of felled trees and rocks dumped by huge landslides, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

Heavy lifting equipment was being used in the hunt for survivors in Purworejo but access to sites elsewhere was difficult, said Sutopo.

Hundreds of rescuers were being forced to shift debris with their bare hands in some areas.

Evacuation centres, equipped with temporary shelters and kitchens, have been erected near the disaster zones.

Sutopo said late Sunday that much of the flooding had subsided but he warned people to stay on alert as heavy rains could continue into the next day.

Landslides are not uncommon in Indonesia, a vast tropical archipelago prone to natural disasters and torrential downpours.

Last month 15 students holidaying at a popular tourist spot in western Indonesia were killed when a landslide swept through their camp ground.

HONG KONG – A pro-democracy Hong Kong singer Sunday staged a free concert after sponsor Lancome pulled out – allegedly due to pressure from mainland China – and urged her audience to fight repression.

Playing her guitar on an open-air stage, Denise Ho sang to hundreds of waving fans packed onto the streets of the Sheung Wan district in a 90-minute show.

The gig was originally organised by the French cosmetics giant but was axed by Lancome earlier this month citing “possible safety reasons”.

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That decision prompted protests at the brand’s beauty counters in the city and calls to boycott its products.

Many in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city believe the move was a reaction to comments in Chinese state-run media. These criticised Lancome for cooperating with the singer.

The cancellation came amid growing fears that Beijing is tightening its grip on the city.

Ho went ahead with the concert despite the lack of sponsorship and made it free of charge.

“In Hong Kong, suppression is going on… we need to resist,” she told reporters.

“Even when we don’t speak up the suppression will not go away, more will happen,” she said.

She said other brands which had been interested in partnerships with her pulled out after the controversy over the concert.

Concertgoer Venus Lau said she supported Ho for reminding Hong Kong people they are free.

“We have our freedom to speak whatever we want,” Lau said.

Hong Kong singer Denise Ho goes ahead with concert pulled by Lancome

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AFP / Reuters, Esplanade, The New Paper, EMI

Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement and enjoys much greater liberties than mainland China.

But there are growing fears its freedoms and semi-autonomous status are under threat in areas ranging from politics to education and media.

On Saturday more than 1,000 people took to the streets to protest at the detention in China of a Hong Kong bookseller known for titles critical of Beijing.

Lam Wing-kee made explosive revelations last week of his gruelling ordeal at the hands of the Chinese authorities, including being blindfolded and interrogated during an eight-month detention.