Public servants win £57,000 overtime payout for 5-miunte early start

A Japanese town has been ordered to pay 10.9m yen (£56,581) in overtime to public servants made to start work five minutes early each day.

On 26 February 2021, all 146 government employees in Ginan, in Gifu prefecture on the island of Honshu, were told to clock in at 8.25am, five minutes earlier than the standard start time. The directive, issued by then mayor Hideo Kojima, came into effect on 1 March that year.

Kojima, who took over as mayor in late 2020, was known for having a strict management style. He resigned in 2023 after an investigation found he had committed 99 acts of sexual harassment against employees.

He denied the allegations even though some of the incidents had reportedly been witnessed by other people. “I didn’t do it,” he said in televised comments. “The report lacks neutrality, and I want them to investigate more carefully.”

Kojima would apparently get unduly angry at employees he didn’t like and regularly threatened them with “disciplinary action” and “dismissal”.

After his resignation in 2023, the early clock-in policy was discontinued.

The employees, however, maintained that the additional five minutes per day they had worked all those years should qualify as overtime and lodged a formal complaint with the Japan Fair Trade Commission, seeking compensation for the three-year period during which the policy was enforced.

In November 2024, the commission ruled in favour of the employees and ordered the town to pay them compensation.

On 28 February 2025, a supplementary budget proposal addressing the compensation issue was presented to the town’s assembly.

The payment is yet to be made.

The case has sparked intense debate in the country, not least because Japan has long grappled with the problem of “karoshi” (death from overwork).

“In the company I work for there is a mandatory 10-minute meeting during the noon break every day. I think this is obviously illegal. Should we also talk to the Fair Trade Commission?” one person commented online.

“Some companies want employees to have morning meetings, clean up the office, and even do exercises before starting work, but they are all overtime under the law,” said another.

The Japanese government last year launched a “work-style reform” campaign promoting shorter hours and other flexible arrangements as well as overtime limits and paid annual leave in an effort to encourage citizens to have a better work-life balance.

“By realising a society in which workers can choose from a variety of working styles based on their circumstances, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution and enable each and every worker to have a better outlook for the future,” a government website says about the “hatarakikata kaikaku” campaign, which translates to “innovating how we work”

Inmates filmed rushing out of Indonesian jail in mass prison break

At least 52 inmates escaped from an overcrowded prison in the westernmost Aceh province of Indonesia after breaking through the main facility doors.

The inmates escaped from the Kutacane Penitentiary on Monday during the evening meal distribution as inmates queued to receive food to break their fast during Ramadan.

The prison break was captured on camera by the locals with footage showing inmates running amok in the busy streets as stunned residents watched.

Many of them were seen running over the roof of the facility to escape and some of them were chased by the jail officials.

Local vendors and residents in the area witnessed the chaotic escape and many panicked at the sight of a large number of inmates jumping from the main gate. Several people were seen capturing the dramatic moment on their phones.

The inmates broke through three locked security doors and fled through the main prison entrance, while many also escaped from the roof.

The spokesperson of the directorate general of corrections, Rika Aprianti, said on Wednesday that police have launched a search for 28 people while 24 have been captured.

“As of the latest update, 28 inmates are still being pursued,” the statement said.

As the search continues, authorities are calling on the escaped inmates to turn themselves in, warning that any attempts to resist arrest will be met with strict action.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the mass jailbreak.

Aceh regional police commissioner Joko Krisdiyanto said more police have been deployed around the jail to avoid further disturbance as several areas are being combed to find the fugitives.

“We call on the public to immediately report if they spot any of the escapees,” Mr Joko said.

The prison break has been blamed on the overcrowding of the jail where over three times more inmates are being housed, causing chaotic conditions in the facility.

Minister of immigration and corrections, Agus Andrianto, said the Kutacane prison has the capacity of 100 people, but it’s now occupied by 368 inmates.

“We want to know whether food was indeed the trigger, or other problems as a result of the officers’ behaviours,” said Mr Agus.

According to reports, it happened in the evening as inmates had queued up to receive food for breaking their fast. However, as the meals were being handed out many became impatient.

By 6.25pm local time, the inmates forced their way through the iron gate of the jail and dozens of prisoners rushed to the main exit, running into the bustling market.

Prison breaks are, however, not uncommon in Indonesia where many jails are grappling with poor conditions, inadequate security, and the sheer number of inmates exceeding facility capacities.

In 2019, at least 100 inmates escaped from a prison in Sumatra island of Indonesia following rioting and fire at the detention centre. By late morning, authorities had recaptured 115 inmates, but dozens remained at large. The prison, designed to hold approximately 650 inmates, was operating at full capacity at the time of the incident.

In 2018, 113 prisoners escaped from the Lambaro prison in Banda Aceh city. It was after more than 400 inmates broke out at an overcrowded prison in Riau province in the same year.

In 2013, about 240 prisoners fled a prison in Medan in the capital of North Sumatra province during a deadly riot. The unrest began on 11 July when inmates, frustrated by power outages that disrupted water supplies, set fires and rioted. The facility, designed for 1,054 inmates, was housing approximately 2,600 at the time. During the chaos, 240 prisoners escaped, including individuals convicted of terrorism.

Woman faces three years in jail for killing cat that crossed her path

A woman and her friends in the northern Indian city of Moradabad have been charged under the Wildlife Protection Act for allegedly capturing and burning alive a feral cat after it crossed their path.

The incident came to light after Delhi’s Wildlife Crime Control Bureau received a complaint about a video being shared online.

Police identified the suspect by only one name, Priya, and said she lived in Laluwala village in Uttar Pradesh. They said the woman and her friends filmed the act and shared the video on a social media platform.

Priya, who is reportedly in her early 30s, and her friends caught and killed the cat after it crossed their path in Moradabad’s Bhojpur area, police said on Tuesday. There is a widespread superstition in India that a cat passing one’s path brings bad luck.

A group of people can be seen in the video beating the animal, dousing it in petrol, and setting it on fire.

Police said Priya and an unspecified number of other suspected had been charged under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison and a hefty fine for such acts of animal cruelty.

“We traced Priya after verifying the bike’s registration number seen in the video,” Moradabad divisional forest officer Suraj Kumar told The Times of India.

India has reported many cases of animal cruelty that led to police action.

A pregnant wild elephant died in the southern state of Kerala in 2020 after eating a pineapple planted with a firecracker that exploded. The wild animal ran into a nearby river after the blast and stayed there for hours, seemingly seeking relief for its severely injured mouth and tongue in the cool water.

In January this year, a man in Andhra Pradesh state’s Nellore region allegedly set a pet dog and a scooter on fire to settle a dispute over a damaged phone. The dog received severe injuries but survived.

In another incident of animal cruelty from 2023, a young man irritated by a stray dog’s barking in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura Sadar Bazaar poured petrol on the animal and set it on fire.

US influencer sparks outrage after taking baby wombat from its mom

A US influencer has sparked backlash and calls for her deportation from Australia after she grabbed a baby wombat from its mother.

Sam Jones, who claims to be a “wildlife biologist and environmental scientist” posted a video to Instagram showing her taking the marsupial and then running across the road dangling the joey, while its mother gives chase.

An Australian man in the since-deleted video can be heard laughing and says, “Look at the mother, it’s chasing after her!”

“I caught a baby wombat!” Jones says in the video, as the baby makes distressed noises.

“OK mama’s right there and she is p***ed, let’s let him go,” she adds, before walking across the road to release the baby.

Australian radio station 2GB reported that she captioned the video: “My dream of holding a wombat has been realised! Baby and mom slowly waddled back off together into the bush.”

While she added in the caption that “the baby and mum were safely united”, the video drew swift condemnation. Jones, who has more than 100,000 followers combined on TikTok and Instagram, has since deleted the clip, and has made both her social media accounts private.

Australian native animals are protected by law, and wildlife rescue organisation Wires confirmed to News.com.au that such an act was illegal.

WIRES Wildlife Vet Dr Tania Bishop told the news outlet that the joey looked about eight months old, an age where it would be relying on its mum’s protection “at all times”.

Dr Bishop said the situation would have been distressing for both mother and joey, but Jones could have also injured the baby by the way she carried it.

“When she’s running, it’s not supported underneath, and wombats are incredibly solid, especially in their back end, so there’s every chance she could have fractured the upper humerus, or the top of the arms, or caused damage to the shoulders,” she said.

The vet also pointed out the influencer potentially put the mother in harms way, as she could have been hit by a car running across the road.

In a Reddit thread on the video, users said they were “depressed” and angry to see this behaviour.

One pointed out that if the wombat was a Northern Hairy-nosed wombat, it would be on the protected species lists and she could face even tougher penalties for handling it, including a fine of up to $330,000 (£160,500).

“Every Aussie knows. You see baby wildlife with its family you leave it alone. They aren’t toys for your amusement,” one user said in the subreddit thread on r/Australia.

“It’s not just the entitlement it’s the disrespect. That her first instinct is not awe and gratitude to see this animal in the wild but to rush in to greedily exploit the moment for personal gain no matter the trauma it causes to anything and anyone else, it’s such an indictment on her character. Absolutely shameful,” another said.

A third said: “Oh my god. Why do people feel the need to just insert themselves in nature and desecrate it? Leave them be! This poor mother is trying to protect her young. Disgusting behaviour.”

Other users called for her to be deported and banned from Australia.

“Arrest. Fine. Deport. Ban.” One user said.

Another added: That poor wombat. Australia needs to do more to kick these morons out.”

Iran says it will begin nuclear talks with China and Russia

Iran will hold nuclear talks with Russia and China on Friday in Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry has confirmed.

This comes as Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian rejected US negotiations over its nuclear programme while being threatened, telling Donald Trump to “do whatever the hell you want”, according to state media.

“It is unacceptable for us that they [the US] give orders and make threats. I won’t even negotiate with you. Do whatever the hell you want,” Iranian state media quoted Mr Pezeshkian as saying.

His stance aligns with Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who warned against being bullied into talks. Iran denied receiving a letter from the US president seeking a new nuclear deal and responded with a series of statements.

China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the talks on the nuclear issue with Russia and Iran will be chaired by vice foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu. Even though the details of the agenda were not disclosed, the meeting in Beijing is expected to revive ways to explore diplomatic efforts as the Trump administration pushes for a new nuclear deal, Iranian media reported.

According to the UN’s monitor, Iran has made rapid advances in its nuclear programme in recent years.

Mr Trump has stated his desire to negotiate a new deal with Iran to curb its nuclear programme. On Friday, he warned that Iran could either engage in talks or face the risk of its nuclear programme being targeted.

“I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,” Mr Trump told Fox Business. “There are two ways Iran can be handled – militarily, or you make a deal,” Mr Trump said. “I would prefer to make a deal, because I am not looking to hurt Iran.”

While signalling openness to a deal with Tehran, Mr Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign from his first term, aiming to isolate Iran economically and cut its oil exports to zero.

On Monday, he escalated pressure further by ending a sanctions waiver that allowed Iraq to purchase electricity from Iran. The US State Department said on Sunday that the decision to end Iraq’s sanctions waiver was made to “ensure we do not allow Iran any degree of economic or financial relief”.

Iran supplies one-third of Iraq’s gas and electricity, generating significant revenue for Tehran.

A spokesperson for the US embassy in Baghdad on Sunday urged Baghdad “to eliminate its dependence on Iranian sources of energy as soon as possible”. The spokesperson added: “The President’s maximum pressure campaign is designed to end Iran’s nuclear threat, curtail its ballistic missile program, and stop it from supporting terrorist groups.”

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi lashed out at Mr Trump’s nuclear deal offer and said that Tehran would “not negotiate under pressure and intimidation”.

He wrote on X: “We will NOT even consider it, no matter what the subject may be. Negotiation is different from bullying and issuing diktats.”

He said: “Iran’s nuclear energy programme has always been – and will always remain – entirely peaceful. There is fundamentally therefore no such thing as its ‘potential militarisation’”.

Mr Khamenei, without naming the US, said that “some bully governments insist on negotiations”. He said: “Their negotiations are not aimed at solving problems, they aim at domination.”

He continued: “The issue is not just the nuclear issue. They are setting new expectations that these new expectations will definitely not be met on the part of Iran.”

Meanwhile, Mr Pezeshkian’s comments come in the wake of China, Iran, and Russia’s joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz – showcasing military cooperation amid regional tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and Houthi threats.

The exercises, called “Maritime Security Belt 2025”, included live-fire drills and drew observers from several countries. While China and Russia don’t regularly patrol the Middle East, both have strong ties to Iran – China as a major buyer of Iranian oil and Russia as a recipient of Iranian drones for its war in Ukraine.

Seven men arrested for raping daughters and posting about it

Police in Japan have arrested seven men for allegedly raping their minor daughters and sharing video of the abuse on chat rooms.

The men from Aichi Prefecture, aged between 30 and 50 years, have been accused of sexual assault as well as violations of laws pertaining to sexual exploitation of children, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Four of the men are accused of raping their biological or foster daughters and sharing the abuse videos on a social media group. Three other men, who were part of the same chat group, were arrested for allegedly owning obscene images of child abuse. The survivors were between the ages of six and 14.

The accused allegedly shared details of their abuse on the chat and how they “trained” the children since they were as young as three years old. The Aichi police believe the accused regularly sexually abused their daughters and other children.

The chat room was discovered after one of the men was arrested in November 2024 for raping a minor. A subsequent probe of the man’s phone revealed the group where photos of child abuse were shared.

The men met each other through an online website and began sharing information, photos and videos around December 2023, according to the Japanese daily. The police are on a lookout for other possible past members of the group.

Japan police in 2023 alerted child welfare centres of a record-high 122,806 suspected abuse victims amid growing concern about the rise in abuse of minors. A cabinet survey revealed that one in 14 women in Japan had experienced forced intercourse, according to reports.

‘Disgusting’ flight photo provokes debate about plane travel etiquette

A passenger’s conduct on a flight has sparked a furious debate around travel etiquette on aeroplanes.

Reddit user PepperLunchies shared a photograph of the offending passenger on the popular forum website, in a thread dedicated to the travel company Singapore Airlines. The photo shows the person sitting next to them with their shoes and socks removed, and their bare foot touching the seat in front.

“Just wondering, if a passenger is rude next to you, like this example here. Can I request to change seats or get him to put on his stupid shoes?” the Reddit user asked.

“He was like [that] throughout the flight except for meal times at which he kept asking for whisky and only after confirming that it was a Johnny Walker red label….. for the life of me. Why did I have to put next to this heathen?”

The question prompted a wave of responses, with many offering differing verdicts on how to handle the situation.

“Ask him nicely. Then ask the crew nicely. Nothing else you can do,” one prominent response read.

“Omg I swear there are so many disgusting people in this world that i feel like i have to pay 4x the price to sit business so that I can avoid this kind of situation,” wrote another commenter.

“Disgusting, if you want to take out your socks and air your feet I suggest booking a business class ticket instead,” someone else remarked.

Others suggested escalating the situation with a more confrontational approach.

“Quite simple actually. Just use your feet and touch his feet, you’re wearing shoes, he isn’t,” one person said.

“I would accidentally tilt beverage all over and say sorry,” another wrote.

After being asked what the original poster’s response was to the etiquette infraction was, they explained: “No, [I didn’t ask him to cover his feet]. I was afraid cos he seemed partially drunk. I mean, I just wanted no drama if possible. Yah sadly I can be a pushover lol.”

Australia rules out reciprocal move after Trump proceeds with tariffs

Prime minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that Australia will not impose reciprocal tariffs on the US despite Donald Trump’s decision to apply 25 per cent tariffs on all imported steel and aluminium.

Mr Albanese called the move “entirely unjustified” and harmful to the US-Australia relationship but ruled out reciprocal tariffs, saying they would raise prices and fuel inflation in Australia.

The PM said on Wednesday that Mr Trump’s move went “against the spirit of our two nations’ enduring friendship, and fundamentally at odds with the benefits that our economic partnership has delivered over more than 70 years”.

Mr Trump had earlier suggested he might exempt Australia from the 25 per cent tariffs, which take effect on Wednesday.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told ABC News: “He considered it, and considered against it. There will be no exemptions.” When questioned about the reason, she responded: “America First steel”, adding “If they want to be exempted, they should consider moving steel manufacturing here”.

Meanwhile, Mr Albanese added that he would continue lobbying for an exemption.

“Our government will continue to put forward a very strong case for an exemption, noting that the last time this occurred it took months for that exemption to be granted … Australia will work hard for a different outcome and discussions with the Trump administration are ongoing.”

He said: “Australia has a close relationship with the United States. Friends need to act in a way that reinforces, to our respective populations, the fact that we are friends.

“This is not a friendly act. But it is imposed on every country, that is important.”

Mr Trump previously exempted Australia during his first term.

Experts warn the tariffs will negatively impact Australian metal producers and miners, though the direct economic effect is limited since steel and aluminium exports to the US make up a tiny fraction of Australia’s trade.

Last month, hopes for a tariff exemption rose when Mr Trump promised “great consideration” after a cordial call with Mr Albanese. However, they were later crushed when Mr Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro accused Australia of “killing” American aluminium.

“There were many country exemptions given, not just to Australia but to many other countries, and every single country abused those exemptions,” he said.

On Wednesday, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said that the tariffs were “not good for the American economy and it’s not the the way to treat a friend and partner”.

“Tariffs and escalating trade tensions are a form of economic self-harm and a recipe for slower growth and higher inflation. They are paid by the consumers. This is why Australia will not be imposing reciprocal tariffs on the United States. Such a course of action would only push up prices for Australian consumers and increase inflation,” Mr Albanese said.