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…
Tackling slavery in the Thai fishing industry, one victim at a time
In 2009, as the financial crisis swept the world, Samart Senasuk, now 44, lost his job as a security guard in Bangkok. Unable to find work, he was preparing to return to his hometown, in Isaan, an impoverished region in the northeast of Thailand, when a friendly man invited him for a drink, to talk about a job on a fishing vessel. Samart turned down the job but, after a few sips of his drink, he says, he passed out. When he woke, he was on a boat off Singapore – how he got…
Iberia drops pregnancy test requirement for new employees
Iberia has dropped a requirement for potential employees to take pregnancy tests after being sued for discrimination by a Spanish court.
Japan’s ‘Black Widow’ confesses to killing husband number four
A one-time millionairess dubbed the “Black Widow” over the untimely deaths of lovers and a husband, admitted poisoning her last partner at her trial this week in a multiple murder case that has gripped Japan.
Chisako Kakehi, 70, has become notorious over accusations she dispatched a number of elderly men she was involved with, drawing comparisons with the spider that kills its mate after copulation.
Kakehi is on trial for the murders of three men – including a husband –…