Hunt for Red Shirts over alleged attack on bikers
PETALING JAYA • Police are tracking down the "Red Shirt" protesters involved in alleged assaults on two motorcyclists wearing Bersih T-shirts in the Sabak Bernam district last Saturday.
A widely shared online video shows the two motorcyclists being pelted with eggs by the Red Shirts, members of a pro-Malay rights group, as they rode into a street filled with Red Shirt supporters, reported the New Straits Times.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin criticised those behind the attack. "Anyone involved in violent acts must be condemned. I hope the police will take appropriate action against those responsible," Bernama quoted him as saying.
3 Chinese cities to limit private-hire car drivers
BEIJING • Three of China's largest cities plan to limit the pool of drivers for online ride- sharing services, dealing a blow to Didi Chuxing, the firm that agreed to acquire the Chinese business of Uber Technologies.
Draft rules issued by Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen last Saturday said that only holders of local residency permits - called hukou - would be able to apply for permits to be drivers for private car-hailing services.
Less than 3 per cent of 410,000 drivers on Didi's platform in Shanghai have local hukou, the firm said last Saturday. Plans for tighter vehicle standards - including specifying a minimum wheelbase width - would rule out over 80 per cent of the service's cars in the city, Didi said.
BLOOMBERG
Ailing Thai King's health not stable, says palace
BANGKOK • Doctors treating Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej placed the ailing monarch on a ventilator last week, the palace has said, adding that the 88-year-old's health was "not stable".
In recent months the palace has been issuing regular updates on the King's health that point to a string of major issues, including renal failure.
The latest statement issued by the Royal Household Bureau yesterday evening said a ventilator was deployed after the monarch's blood pressure dipped following procedures to prepare him for dialysis and to change a tube that helps drain fluid from his spine.
King Bhumibol is the world's longest-reigning monarch and beloved by many in Thailand.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Girl's death after 68-day fast sparks outcry
NEW DELHI • A children's rights group has called for Indian police to arrest the parents of a 13-year-old girl from the minority Jain community who died last Monday after observing a religious fast for 68 days.
Family members have publicly denied forcing the girl to fast during the holy period of Chaumasa, observed by the Jain community from July.
The tragedy made the national headlines at the weekend, and raised new questions about whether India's tradition of religious tolerance is failing to protect the most vulnerable.
REUTERS
