Malaysia's "Snake King" Ali Khan Samsuddin, who broke records by living with thousands of scorpions and hundreds of snakes, has died after a cobra bit him, reports said yesterday.
Ali Khan, 48, who wrangled with snakes for over 25 years, was bitten on his left hand by the six meter-long King Cobra during a snake show in the capital on Tuesday, and died on Friday.
"He had been bitten by snakes many times before, including three times by King Cobras ... so we didn't think anything would happen," his son, Amjad Khan, 21, was quoted as saying in the Star daily.
The snake charmer had been given outpatient treatment at a Kuala Lumpur hospital and had told his family not to worry before taking a turn for the worse, said Khan.
Ali Khan won fame after making it into the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records for living in a glass enclosure with 6,000 scorpions for 21 days. He also broke a Malaysian record seven years ago for living with 400 cobras for 40 days, the state Bernama news agency said.
Amjad Khan, also a snake handler who was trained by his father to play with various types of snakes from the age of three, said he planned to continue in Ali Khan's footsteps.
"This is a trade that has been passed down for five generations," he was quoted as saying in the Star.
"It's our way of life and we can't imagine doing anything else," he said.
Ali Kahn, who also performed in Thailand and Singapore, left behind a widow and five children.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the