Category: Uncategorized

A comprehensive review of the “governance, impact and powers” of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the UK’s regulator of auditors, accountants and actuaries and guardian of the UK Corporate Governance Code, has been announced by the government.

Hundreds of noisy protesters greeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he arrived in London on Wednesday, demonstrating over a rising tide of sexual violence at home including two particularly brutal rapes.
Holding placards reading “Modi go home” and “we stand against Modi’s agenda of hate and greed,” they gathered outside Downing Street and parliament as Modi arrived for talks with Prime Minister Theresa May.
Sexual violence against women is a highly…

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he ordered the investigation into a 71-year-old Australian nun for “disorderly conduct”, justifying it as a legal move against “undesirable” foreigners.
Sister Patricia Fox, a coordinator of a Philippine congregation of Catholic nuns called Notre Dame de Sion, was taken from her house this week and detained at the immigration bureau in Manila for almost 24 hours.
She was released on Tuesday pending further…

South and North Korea are discussing plans to announce an official end to the military conflict that has existed between the two countries since 1950, the South Korean Munhwa Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified South Korean official.
At next week’s summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the two neighbours may release a joint statement saying they will seek to ease military tension and to end confrontation, according to the…

Plans to create a new European database of more than one million sequenced human genomes have been outlined by 13 EU countries.

A luxury yacht linked to allegations that US$4.5 billion was looted from Malaysia’s state investment fund 1MDB must be returned to its wealthy owner, an Indonesian court ruled on Tuesday, citing missteps by police in seizing the vessel.
The decision comes about six weeks after Indonesian authorities, acting on a request from the FBI, seized the Cayman Islands-registered Equanimity, reportedly worth some US$250 million, which was moored off the Indonesian tourist island of Bali. Its three…

A Philippine domestic worker has been taken to hospital in Saudi Arabia after her employer allegedly forced her to drink household bleach, Manila’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
Domestic worker Agnes Mancilla underwent emergency abdominal surgery after she was taken, unconscious, to a hospital in Saudi’s southwestern Jizan city on April 2, the ministry said.
“We are working closely with authorities in Jizan to make sure that justice will be given to Agnes Mancilla,”…

ANALYSIS: Split construction contracts are often used in certain Asian countries by developers to reduce their tax exposure.

By Jessica Lin
Public sentiment can take on a life of its own in the age of social media.
One man in Singapore, who allegedly refused to pay for the full cost of petrol mistakenly pumped into the car he was driving, is now facing the heat caused by his actions.
According to Facebook user ‎Kelly Yeo, the driver of a BMW Series 5 had claimed that a petrol station attendant had misheard request to pump just S$10 (US$7.62) worth of petrol into the car.
As a result, he refused to pay the full S$…

The whereabouts of a 27-year-old prison escapee remained unknown on Sunday, with a week-long search involving some 6,600 police officers on a small forested western Japan island failing to arrest the convicted thief.
Hiroshima and Ehime prefectural police have been pursuing Tatsuma Hirao on Mukaishima Island in the Seto Inland Sea since his escape on April 8 from a prison in the city of Imabari.
Police searchers have come up empty despite Hirao leaving clues of his whereabouts including…