SINGAPORE: Three Indians were among 25 foreigners who were sentenced up to four weeks in prison by a Singaporean court for submitting forged documents to obtain work permits.
The city state’s manpower ministry said yesterday that all of them submitted forged academic certificates to apply for work passes, as they did not possess required university degree. The group includes chefs, a hairstylist and a dance choreographer.
12 prisoners break out of jail
JAKARTA: Riau Islands Police reported a jail break by 12 detainees on yesterday morning. The detainees gained access to the gate after they assaulted prison guards and broke through windows and doors.
Police have distributed photographs of the fugitives to all possible exit points in Batam. Teams of field officers have already been deployed to recapture them. The police are investigating whether they had some inside help in their escape.
Nepal to tame blaring horns
KATHMANDU: Traffic police in Nepal have declared a war on high-decibel honking, penalising erring drivers and seizing more than 1,000 shrill horns that have made life unbearable on often gridlocked streets.
In a nation where drivers tend to honk as easily — and constantly — as they breathe, police launched a drive earlier this month to tame the noisemakers, charging vehicles with blaring horns fines of up to 5,000 Nepali rupees ($53).
23 injured as train derails
BANGKOK: More than 23 people, including 18 foreign tourists, have been injured after an overnight sleeper train derailed in Thailand.
Seven carriages of the Bangkok-Chiang Mai express service jumped the tracks in the Den Chai district of Phrae province at about 4am local time yesterday.
Tourists from Australia, France, and Spain are among the injured.
Railway officials said poorly maintained tracks may have been to blame.
Protests over film festival
COLOMBO: Hundreds of government supporters protested outside the French embassy in Colombo yesterday over a film festival which included a local movie considered by Sri Lanka’s military to be insulting.
Demonstrators chanted anti-French slogans, denouncing the Sinhalese-language movie Flying Fish and the embassy for showing it at the French film festival organised to coincide with Bastille Day celebrations.
The festival was stopped on Saturday by the management of its state-owned venue.
China detains rights lawyer
BEIJING: Chinese police have detained a human rights lawyer who called for the release of activists arrested for demanding that government officials disclose their assets, a lawyer said yesterday.
Xu Zhiyong, a lecturer at a Beijing university, was held by police on Tuesday for “disturbing order in a public place”, his friend and fellow lawyer Teng Biao wrote on a Twitter account.
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