Chinese man loses $116k compensation after he was fired for travelling to Hainan while on 'bed rest' - The Straits Times

A Chinese employee of a high-tech company has lost the compensation of more than 600,000 yuan (S$116,000) he received for being fired after he was spotted at China’s holiday island, Hainan, while he was supposed to be on medical leave for about two weeks.

In mid-April, a court in Beijing upheld that the decision to fire him was befitting, following a long saga that started in 2019.

The man, surnamed Xu, had originally applied for annual leave in 2019 from end-July to mid-August as he planned to take his child to Hainan, according to a report in National Business Daily.

But his request was rejected because a vital project needed manpower, reported The South China Morning Post.

Subsequently, he took medical leave between July 18 and 31 for a headache and a serious back condition that hindered his mobility, according to a medical note, which also recommended Mr Xu to be on “bed rest” and perform neck exercises.

However, during his time off work, Mr Xu’s colleague spotted him at an airport in Hainan.

In August 2019, Mr Xu’s manager called him to ask where he was during his medical leave. In the conversation’s recording, Mr Xu was heard to say he remained at home in Beijing.

Two days later, Mr Xu was dismissed from his job due to his dishonesty and fraud.

At first, a labour tribunal ruled that the high-tech company should compensate Mr Xu more than 600,000 yuan for flouting labour laws.

In response, the employer filed an appeal at the Chaoyang District Court, which quashed the previous ruling.

Mr Xu then submitted an appeal at the Third Intermediate People’s Court, saying he had not cheated his former employer because he was the owner of a flat in Hainan, and hence went there to recover from his illness.

But the court pointed out Mr Xu had disregarded medical advice to rest and had travelled.

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2023-04-24 03:20:59Z
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Australia plans major overhaul of defences as China rises - CNA

China’s military buildup “is now the largest and most ambitious of any country” since the end of World War II, the review said. And it "is occurring without transparency or reassurance to the Indo-Pacific region of China’s strategic intent”, the review added.

The strategic circumstances during the current review were “radically different" than those in the past, said the review authored by former Australian Defense Force Chief Angus Houston and former Defense Minister Stephen Smith.

The United States, Australia’s most important defence treaty partner, was “no longer the unipolar leader of the Indo-Pacific”, a region that had seen the return of major power strategic competition, it said.

“As a consequence, for the first time in 80 years, we must go back to fundamentals, to take a first-principles approach as to how we manage and seek to avoid the highest level of strategic risk we now face as a nation: the prospect of major conflict in the region that directly threatens our national interest,” the review said.

For the past five decades, Australia’s defence policy had been aimed at deterring and responding to potential low-level threats from small or middle-power neighbours.

“This approach is no longer fit for purpose,” the review said.

Australia’s army, air force and navy needed to focus on “delivering timely and relevant capability” and abandon its “pursuit of the perfect solution or process” in its procurements, it said.

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2023-04-24 04:06:00Z
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Ukraine war spurs record global spending on military, Stockholm think-tank says - CNA

STOCKHOLM: Global military spending rose to a record last year as Russia's war in Ukraine drove the biggest annual increase in expenditure in Europe since the end of the Cold War three decades ago, a leading conflict and armaments think-tank said on Monday (Apr 24).

World military expenditure rose by 3.7 per cent in real terms in 2022 to US$2.24 trillion, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a statement.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which began in February last year following years of growing tensions, has prompted European countries to rush to bolster their defences.

Moscow says its "special military operation" was necessary to safeguard it against what it sees as a hostile and aggressive West. Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia is waging an unprovoked war aimed at grabbing territory.

European military spending shot up 13 per cent last year, primarily due to increases by Russia and Ukraine, but with many countries across the continent also ramping up military budgets and planning for more amid the surging tensions.

"This included multi-year plans to boost spending from several governments," SIPRI senior researcher Diego Lopes da Silva said. "As a result, we can reasonably expect military expenditure in Central and Western Europe to keep rising in the years ahead."

Ukraine's military spending rose 640 per cent in 2022, the largest annual increase recorded in SIPRI data going back to 1949, with that total not including the vast amounts of financial military aid provided by the West.

SIPRI estimated that military aid to Ukraine from the United States accounted for 2.3 per cent of total US military spending in 2022. Though the United States was the world's top spender by far, its overall expenditure rose only marginally in real terms.

Meanwhile, Russia's military spending grew by an estimated 9.2 per cent, though SIPRI acknowledged figures were "highly uncertain given the increasing opaqueness of financial authorities" since its war in Ukraine began.

"The difference between Russia's budgetary plans and its actual military spending in 2022 suggests the invasion of Ukraine has cost Russia far more than it anticipated," said Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, Director of SIPRI's Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.

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2023-04-23 23:55:37Z
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Woman in Taiwan pours boiling soup on another's face during fight over $870 debt - The Straits Times

A fight over an alleged debt of NT$20,000 (S$870) left one woman with serious burns to her face and neck after another used boiling soup as a weapon against her on Friday morning at a karaoke lounge in Taiwan.

A video circulating on social media shows two women trading blows in a room in an entertainment venue while a seated man watches, as the music video for Taiwanese group MJ116’s Hot Chick plays on a screen.

Another man is seen getting involved by pulling the hair of one of the women – dressed in a white top – and dragging her across the room. He kicks her repeatedly, while she in turn pulls the hair of the other woman, who is wearing a grey crop top.

As the woman in grey manages to break loose, she picks up a pot of visibly steaming soup off a portable stove and pours its contents over the woman in the white top. The aggressor then flings the empty vessel at the victim’s head, causing the latter to scream as the woman in grey takes the opportunity to land more blows.

Police in central Taiwan’s Taichung city said they received a report at around 4.20am on Friday about an incident at a KTV lounge in Xitun district.

The chief of Taichung’s sixth-division police department said the fight started over a dispute related to a personal debt, and added that one woman was taken to hospital.

Another woman and two men were arrested for aggravated harm and the obstruction of freedom and later released on bail. The amount set for the 28-year-old woman, surnamed Chen, was the highest among the three suspects at NT$300,000. Investigations are ongoing.

The injured woman, 29, surnamed Sun, had burns to her face and neck and was hospitalised in the intensive care unit overnight owing to the severity of her injuries, the local media reported.

A separate video circulating online shows her standing outside the lounge, surrounded by police, with blisters on her face, while another woman alleged to be Chen tries to goad her to take a urine test.

Both women were working in the “Big Eight” services industry, according to the local media, referring to “special service” professions in Taiwan that include jobs at bars, dance clubs and saunas, among other entertainment venues.

Ms Sun was alleged to have taken a payment of NT$20,000 that was meant to be returned to an entertainment venue after an assignment.

Leaked messages between her and Chen revealed that their dispute had been simmering, with the two arranging to meet at the KTV lounge to sort out their disagreement, which then escalated into the fight and scalding.

Another leaked exchange indicated that Ms Sun had first hit out at Chen, who is pregnant, before one of the men got involved.

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2023-04-23 08:08:49Z
1976192650

US embassy evacuated as Sudan fighting enters second week - CNA

"STENCH OF BLOOD"

On Saturday, heavy gunfire, loud explosions and fighter jets were heard in many parts of the capital, according to witnesses, despite the army announcing an agreement to a three-day ceasefire a day earlier.

Two 24-hour ceasefires announced earlier in the week were also ignored.

The RSF added in its Sunday statement that "we renew our commitment to a ceasefire during the declared truce, to open up humanitarian corridors and ensure the safety and wellbeing of the citizens".

Daglo said in a statement he had "discussed the current crisis" with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and was "focused on the humanitarian truce, safe passages, and protecting humanitarian workers".

Five humanitarians, including four from UN-linked agencies, have so far been killed.

In Khartoum, a city of five million people, the conflict has left terrified civilians sheltering inside their homes. Many have ventured out only to get urgent food supplies - stocks of which are dwindling - or to flee the city.

While the capital has seen some of the fiercest battles, they have occurred across the country.

Battles have raged in Darfur, where Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the city of El Fasher said their medics had been "overwhelmed" by the number of patients with gunshot wounds, many of them children.

CRISIS MEETING

More plans are being made to evacuate foreigners, with South Korea and Japan deploying forces to nearby countries, and the European Union weighing a similar move.

The German ministers of defence and foreign affairs held a crisis meeting on Saturday on a possible evacuation, after three military transport planes had to turn back on Wednesday, according to German weekly Der Spiegel.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said more than 420 people had been killed and over 3,700 wounded in the fighting across Sudan, but the actual death toll is thought to be higher.

More than two-thirds of hospitals in Khartoum and neighbouring states are now "out of service", and at least four hospitals in North Kordofan state were shelled, the doctors' union said.

The World Food Programme said the violence could plunge millions more into hunger in a country where one-third of the population needs aid.

Burhan and Daglo's dispute centred on the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army, a key condition for a deal aimed at restoring Sudan's democratic transition after the military toppled Bashir in April 2019 following mass citizen protests.

In October 2021, Burhan and Daglo joined forces to oust a civilian government installed after Bashir's downfall.

Daglo now says the coup was a "mistake", while Burhan believes it was "necessary" to include more groups into politics.

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2023-04-23 03:54:01Z
1965440032

Duped into taking a 'business development' job, he was ill-treated, forced to scam by a syndicate - CNA

I don’t know what they said, but she was upset. “Why did you give our information to outsiders?” she asked me. She said she was afraid to talk to me, and that was the last time I heard from her.

She has blocked me. When I tried using my father’s phone to contact her, she blocked him too. When I reached out to her parents, her father said she wanted a divorce.

Our relationship had lasted for seven years — that’s not a short period of time.

I hope she’ll see this interview and understand what happened to me in Cambodia. I can swear to the gods that I didn’t do any disservice to you. Please give me a chance to explain, even if it’s for just five to 10 minutes. 

In November, I got help from an NGO, the Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation. At the request of its adviser, former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan, the police assigned an officer in a specialist anti-trafficking unit to take my statement.

Last month, the officer in charge of the case told me investigations were ongoing. He didn’t give me any more details.

I’m now relying on donations from the public to fight my case in court. I’m really worried as I’m up against a large organisation.

I’d thought the people who were scammed into going to Cambodia were dumb, but it turns out that I’m just like them. I never thought this would happen to me, but it did.

(Editorial note: Many of the details of Tan’s story could not be independently verified by CNA Insider. However, his account matches the experiences of many other job scam victims put to work by scam syndicates.)

Text: Lianne Chia, Ray Yeh 

To read more first-person accounts by scam victims and former scammers, explore our microsite: Scammers Exposed.

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2023-04-22 22:00:00Z
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Thai authorities issue extreme heat warnings for dozens of provinces - CNA

BANGKOK: Thai authorities on Saturday (Apr 22) warned residents across large swathes of the country, including the capital Bangkok, to avoid going outdoors due to extreme heat.

Parts of Asia are reporting extreme heat this month, with record-breaking temperatures seen in some countries. In Bangladesh and parts of India, extreme heat is leading to surge in power demand, causing power cuts and shortages for millions of people.

In the Bagna district of Bangkok, the temperature reached 42 degrees Celsius, while the heat index - which includes relative humidity and measures what the temperature feels like - hit a record 54 degrees Celsius, according to the meteorological department.

Authorities warned residents to avoid outdoor activities and be wary of the danger of heat stroke.

"Sometimes, I take refuge in the 7-11 convenience store ... to escape the heat," Amporn Supasert, 67, a grilled chicken vendor in Bangkok, said.

Thailand's department of disaster prevention and mitigation said that temperatures will exceed 40 degrees Celsius in at least 28 provinces on Saturday.

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2023-04-22 08:47:00Z
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