While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 21
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The court decided that the work relationship of 139 Uber drivers should have been qualified as employment contracts.
PHOTO: AFP
French court orders Uber to pay some US$18m to drivers, company to appeal
French court on Friday ordered Uber to pay around 17 million euros (S$24.34 million) in damages and lost salaries to a group of drivers who argued they should have been treated like employees rather than self-employed, both parties to the case told Reuters.
“This is a huge victory after a long legal battle which started in 2020“, said lawyer Stephane Teyssier who represented the 139 drivers that had brought the case before the Conseil des Prud’hommes labour court in Lyon.
The court decided that the work relationship of his clients should have been qualified as employment contracts, which means that Uber should have reimbursed them for professional expenses like the purchase of a car, fuel and overtime, he added.
US deports suspect in abducted students case to Mexico
REUTERS
US authorities have deported to Mexico a former police officer accused of involvement in the disappearance of 43 college students in 2014 – one of the Latin American country’s worst human rights tragedies.
Alejandro Tenescalco Mejia, 41, was handed over to Mexican authorities after he entered the United States illegally by climbing over the border wall, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday.
“Tenescalco Mejia is one of several individuals wanted in the case (of the abducted students), according to a Mexican court document,” it said in a statement.
Surge of gang-related bombings, shootings rocks Stockholm
AFP
A restaurant blown to bits and a grenade tossed into an apartment building: Stockholm, long plagued by gang violence, has seen a surge of bombings and shootings since the start of the year.
Four shootings and three bombings occurred in the Swedish capital this week, police said Friday, with a total of 21 such incidents and two deaths since December 25.
Stockholm police have deployed a special crisis group to try to end to the violence, Stockholm’s interim police chief Mattias Andersson told a press conference.
Dutch to ban unhealthy designer pets
The Netherlands wants to ban pets such as flat-faced dogs and cats with folded ears, which look sweet but suffer “miserable” health problems, the government said on Friday.
Dutch Agriculture Minister Piet Adema said he would seek to outlaw the ownership of the designer breeds and to ban photos of them in advertising or on social media.
“We make life miserable for innocent animals, purely because we think they are ‘beautiful’ and ‘cute’,” Adema said in a statement.
Tennis: Murray, Djokovic to defy aches and pains at Australian Open
MELBOURNE - Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic will have to rev their bodies into action when both attempt to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday.
It remains to be seen how much the 35-year-old Murray has left in the tank after he made round three by winning a five-set marathon which ended at 4:05 am on Friday.
The unseeded former world number one, who also played five sets in his opener at Melbourne Park, will need to defy tiredness and his metal hip against 24th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
