Sri Lanka’s highest court Friday banned President Maithripala Sirisena from sacking the legislature until it decides on the legality of his move last month to call snap elections.
The Supreme Court concluded hearing 10 petitions against Sirisena’s move as part of a bitter power struggle with his erstwhile prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, but reserved judgment for an unspecified date.
The courts reopen on Monday.
Sirisena plunged the country into crisis on October 26 when he…
Cambodian government critic held in Thailand over sex-trafficking documentary, says his wife
A Cambodian labour activist faces deportation home from Thailand over his role in making a sex-trafficking documentary that angered the Southeast Asian nation’s government, which dismissed it as fake, his wife said on Friday.
The ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen has launched a crackdown on those it says are critics of the government, including human rights advocates and opposition politicians.
Rath Rott Mony, 47, was arrested in Bangkok on Friday as he attempted to travel to the…
CMA presses for compensation for care home residents
Action taken by a UK regulator to seek compensation for care home residents shows the intense scrutiny that care home contracts are coming under and the regulator’s willingness to fully enforce consumer law in the sector, an expert has said.
CMA confirms investigation into PayPal’s iZettle deal
An in-depth investigation into PayPal’s acquisition of Swedish mobile payments start-up iZettle will be carried out by the UK’s main competition authority.
India’s aviation regulator wants pilots to train in a simulator that replicates the deadly Lion Air crash
Pilots flying Boeing’s 737 MAX jets in India should be trained in a simulator that replicates the suspected scenario that led to the Lion Air crash, the country’s aviation regulator said in a statement on Thursday.
An Indonesian Lion Air 737 MAX passenger jet flying to Jakarta from Bali crashed on October 29, killing all 189 people on board.
While India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recommended more training, it said Jet Airways and SpiceJet, which operate 737…
Hong Kong urged to investigate local partners of illegal recruiters arrested in the Philippines
Experts and domestic workers are calling for Hong Kong authorities to investigate the local partners of three suspected illegal recruiters who were arrested in the Philippines last week.
Arlene Tabunot, Aaron Coronado and Robert Coronado were detained in their home country after eight victims filed formal complaints with Philippine authorities. A pre-trial hearing took place on Tuesday in Manila.
The case in the Philippines specifically refers to illegal recruitment – but there is more to…
Court of Appeal dismisses BT pension scheme uprating challenge
The wording of the pension scheme rules prevents BT from changing the rate of inflation it uses to uprate benefits payable under one of the strands of its pension scheme, the Court of Appeal has confirmed.
Cambodia frees 32 surrogate mothers after they vow to keep their babies
Thirty-two Cambodian women who were charged with human trafficking for serving as surrogate mothers have been provisionally released from detention after agreeing to keep the babies rather than giving them up as originally planned, officials said on Wednesday.
Bun Samkhan, a spokeswoman for the National Committee for Counter-Trafficking, said the women, who were charged in July with violating surrogacy and human trafficking laws, were released on bail in three groups, the last 17 on Wednesday….
Philippine taxes on sugary drinks could avert thousands of deaths, WHO study says
The Philippines could avert 24,000 premature deaths linked to diseases such as diabetes, stroke and heart failure in the next two decades after it adopted taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.
The taxes levied this year could cut consumption and avoid nearly 6,000 deaths related to diabetes, 8,000 from stroke and more than 10,000 from heart diseases over 20 years, a WHO research study showed. “The new sugar-sweetened beverage tax may…
‘Huge discovery’ as scientists develop 10-minute universal cancer test that could transform diagnosis
Scientists have developed a universal cancer test that can detect traces of the disease in a patient’s bloodstream.
The cheap and simple test uses a colour-changing fluid to reveal the presence of malignant cells anywhere in the body and provides results in less than 10 minutes. While the test is still in development, it draws on a radical new approach to cancer detection that could make routine screening for the disease a simple procedure for doctors.
“A major advantage of this…