India’s biggest Bollywood stars led a triumphant celebration of dance, music and fashion at the International Indian Film Academy awards on Saturday, cheered by thousands of ecstatic fans just outside New York.
The five-hour show at an American football stadium in New Jersey, where the glittering Manhattan skyline was visible from the parking lot, was a riot of colour, glitz and stunning dance routines. Best picture went to Neerja, a thriller based on the true story of a purser who…
Three inmates killed as 14 escape Philippine jail in restive south
Three inmates were killed on Sunday and another was wounded after escaping from jail in a southern Philippine island that is the stronghold of Islamist militants, police said.
The casualties were among 14 prisoners who escaped from a police station jail in war-torn Jolo, authorities said.
Jolo is a base of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group and some of the inmates were linked to the militants, according to provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Mario Buyuccan.
“They cut the…
Singaporean protesters call for inquiry over claims PM Lee abused his power
In an unprecedented show of public anger, hundreds of protesters gathered at Singapore’s Speakers’ Corner on Saturday to call for an independent inquiry into whether Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong abused his power in a battle with his siblings over what to do with their late father’s house.
The heirs of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s long-serving first prime minister who died in 2015, are bitterly divided over whether to demolish the family home at 38 Oxley Road, or allow the…
Why Indonesia’s Widodo had to throw Ahok under a bus
Amid the din of a few hundred protestors that he helped assemble in front of the main gate of Indonesia’s parliament, Cecep Supriyanto struggled to make himself heard by a visiting reporter.
With the help of no fewer than eight megaphones, the demonstrators belonging to the Silent Majority, an activist group he founded, screamed their support for the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as legislators inside mulled a censure motion that could defang the watchdog panel….
Germany introduces law permitting automated vehicles
The German federal government has approved a Bill changing the country’s Road Traffic Act to allow the use of automated vehicles on public roads.
Banks face new record keeping duty under UK regulator’s PSD2 regime
Banks and building societies will be obliged to keep a record of the volume of account information services and payment initiation services they provide under new payment services laws due to come into force in the UK early next year, according to new proposals.
St Albans loses legal challenge over ‘duty to cooperate’
St Albans District Council has lost a legal challenge to a planning inspector’s decision that it did not meet its duty to cooperate with neighbouring planning authorities when drawing up its draft Strategic Local Plan (SLP).
Philippine ex-president Aquino faces charges over botched raid
The Philippines’ anti-graft agency ordered on Friday the filing of criminal charges against former president Benigno Aquino over a botched raid two years ago on a militant hideout that led to the deaths of 44 police commandos.
The mission to arrest two al-Qaeda-linked militants on the southern island of Mindanao went disastrously wrong when police Special Action Force commandos were ambushed and outnumbered by rebel gunmen, in what was the biggest crisis of Aquino’s 2010-2016…
CMA raises concerns over London to Exeter rail competition
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is concerned that the award of a new South Western franchise to FirstGroup and MTR may lead to higher fares or worse service for passengers travelling between London to Exeter.
Father arrested in Thailand at drug party with year-old son
Police raided a drug party in the southern Thailand business hub of Hat Yai and arrested six partygoers, including a man who had his baby son with him. Police Capt Thanarak Borriraknarakul, chief of the anti-drug operation, said methamphetamine pills and crystal meth were found in the room at the Pink Resort, in the municipal area, during the pre-dawn raid. Police detained six people after their urine samples tested positive for the drugs. They were charged with possession of illegal…