Author: viking

It was a hot, clear day. The kind of day when, a few months ago, the beach here would have been crowded with tourists deciding whether to drink a US$1 beer or a US$1 fresh coconut juice.
Instead, the beach was almost deserted. Women wandered with trays of fresh lobsters perfectly balanced on their heads or carrying kits for performing pedicures, touting in vain for customers.
Men lounged on chairs at their restaurants offering barbecued squid and local curries. But the only patrons were stray…

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published its draft code of practice for master trusts, ahead of the entry into force of the new authorisation and supervision regime on 1 October 2018.

Commercial tenants holding leases entered into since land and building transaction tax (LBTT) was introduced in Scotland are subject to additional obligations to submit regular returns to Revenue Scotland to ensure that they pay tax in line with the actual rent paid.

Australia’s independent infrastructure advisory body has updated its pipeline of planned projects for 2018, which contains 96 priority projects and initiatives with a combined value of AU$55 billion (€34.1bn).

India on Thursday vowed to strengthen its online security after high school exam papers were leaked ahead of crucial tests, forcing millions of students to resit their finals.
Education Minister Prakash Javadekar said an investigation was underway into how the mathematics and economics papers were accessed and spread via WhatsApp before the exam.
“The criminals who did this won’t be spared. I am sure police will catch these people soon. Let me assure that we will further improve the…

Online marketplaces, online search engines and cloud computing service providers operating in the UK can expect new guidance to be issued to help them comply with the EU’s Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive, the UK government has said.

A Pakistani TV channel has put the country’s first transgender news anchor on the air, a watershed cultural moment for the marginalised community in the deeply conservative country.
Marvia Malik, a former model who appeared on the Lahore-based private broadcaster Kohenoor for the first time last Friday, said she has received “unprecedented love and support” since landing the job.
“My family never accepted or owned me,” she said, adding that the rift drove her to…

ANALYSIS: The eye-watering increase in claims recorded by the latest employment tribunal statistics provides confirmation that the now-abolished fee regime deterred the bringing of thousands of cases.

Six men were sentenced to death on Wednesday for the massacre of a Thai village headman and seven members of his family, including three children, over a land dispute.
The execution-style murders, which caused widespread public horror, saw the masked gunmen storm into the local leader’s compound in the southern province of Krabi in July 2017 and take his family hostage with handcuffs and blindfolds.
They held the group for several hours while waiting for village chief Worayuth Sanlang to…

Bangladesh security forces have seized nearly 9 million methamphetamine pills in less than three months as a massive influx of Rohingya refugees brings increased smuggling from Myanmar, officials said on Tuesday.
Increased raids on fishing boats on the Naf river, which divides the neighbours, have reaped the massive haul of yaba pills which are snapped up by Bangladesh youth.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops in the border town of Teknaf have seized some 5.16 million of the caffeine-laced…