A court has confirmed that the English sentencing guidelines for health and safety cases should also be applied when sentencing fire safety cases in Scotland.
India glacier collapse: rescuers search for hundreds missing in disaster’s wake
Rescuers searched for more than 200 people missing in the Indian Himalayas on Monday, including some trapped in a tunnel, after part of a glacier broke away, sending a torrent of water, rock and dust down a mountain valley.Sunday’s violent surge below Nanda Devi, India’s second-highest peak, swept away the small Rishiganga hydro electric project and damaged a bigger one further down the Dhauliganga river being built by state firm NTPC.Eighteen bodies have been recovered from the mountainsides,…
Malaysian-Chinese see red over Lunar New Year reunion dinner policy flip-flop
The Malaysian government’s hasty policy U-turn regarding an important Lunar New Year family dinner event has done little to mollify its ethnic Chinese citizens, who have criticised not just the measures but also the government’s policy inconsistency on the matter.The government on Sunday loosened its policy regarding the so-called reunion dinners, which are held on Lunar New Year’s eve, saying that as many as 15 people, all of whom must live within 10km of the dinner venue, could attend any…
Coronavirus: Malaysia to move migrant workers to hotels; Japanese doctors warn of long-lasting aftereffects
Malaysia’s government has kicked off a plan to temporarily house migrant workers in near-empty hotels across the nation to tackle the worsening spread of Covid-19 cases due to workplace clusters.Malaysia’s Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry said in a statement that the programme will help curb the virus outbreak and indirectly assist hotel operators hurt by the pandemic.“The initiative is the best alternative at the moment,” the ministry said. The plan is a collaboration between the ministry…
Red tide in Indonesia as flooding hits batik dye centre
An Indonesian village was inundated by crimson-coloured water after flooding hit a fabric dyeing centre in central Java, sparking a social media frenzy.Residents of Jenggot, near the town of Pekalongan, were seen wading through blood-red water on Saturday and many shared images of the rare phenomenon online.Officials later confirmed the unique colour came from harmless fabric dye used by several batik factories in the area.Pekalongan itself is well known for its batik textiles industry, with…
Indonesia’s coronavirus vaccine roll-out complicated by mistrust, broken fridges and fears of a ‘global Antichrist conspiracy’
Indonesian President Joko Widodo received the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine live on television last month, but despite the fanfare, his ambitious inoculation campaign is already facing glitches from refrigeration, distrust and disinformation.Meanwhile, infections and deaths are rising faster than ever. Even if the vaccination programme goes smoothly, it will be months before the general population starts to be inoculated, health experts say.“Disaster,” said Pandu Riono, a University of…
Hong Kong kingpin’s arrest in Thailand tightens screws on US$70 billion Asia-Pacific drug trade
A second senior leader of a vast drug syndicate has been arrested, a Thai narcotics official said, as a transnational dragnet tightens on the Sam Gor group, which police say dominates the US$70 billion annual Asia-Pacific drug trade.The October arrest of Hongkonger Lee Chung-chak in Bangkok preceded last month’s high-profile arrest in the Netherlands of Tse Chi Lop, a China-born Canadian national who police suspect is the top leader of the syndicate, also called “The Company”.Lee, 65, a former…
Business interruption insurance ruling favours Irish hospitality businesses
Businesses whose operations have been disrupted by the impact of Covid-19-related restrictions in Ireland will welcome a new ruling by the country’s High Court, an expert in financial services litigation has said.
SFO’s foreign investigatory tools curbed by UK Supreme Court
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) cannot rely on powers it holds under the Criminal Justice Act 1987 to compel foreign companies to disclose documents held overseas to aid its investigations into serious or complex fraud, the Supreme Court has ruled.
Indonesia flags unease over Beijing’s South China Sea actions in comments from maritime security chief, army staff college
The chief of Indonesia’s Maritime Security Agency has warned that China’s new coastguard law has heightened the risk of a “spillover conflict” into Indonesia’s territorial waters around the Natuna Islands, the site of past sea skirmishes between the two countries.“With China becoming more assertive in the South China Sea, and considering the responses from major countries with interests in those waters, there is a risk of conflict escalation,” Vice-Admiral Aan Kurnia, the head of the agency,…