Hailed by the plaintiffs — a Spanish taxi association — as “a social victory”,  the case is yet another thorn in the side for US-based Uber, which has drawn the fury of taxi drivers and officials for flouting local regulations.

It also comes the same week as one of its drivers admitted to the attempted rape and murder of a British embassy worker coming home from a night out in Beirut, Lebanon.

“The service provided by Uber connecting individuals with non-professional drivers is covered by services in the field of transport,” said the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice.

“Member states can therefore regulate the conditions for providing that service.”

Uber, the biggest name in the growing gig economy, claims it is a mere service provider, connecting consumers with drivers in more than 600 cities.

Uber has run into huge opposition from taxi companies and other competitors who say this allows it to dodge costly regulations such as training and licensing requirements for drivers and vehicles.

The case was brought by a taxi drivers’ association in the Spanish city of Barcelona, where belief runs high that Uber is a taxi company that should be subject to rules governing such vehicles.

“This will truly represent a social victory, and the whole of society will benefit from this,” Ivan Esma, spokesman for the Elite Taxi association, told reporters, adding that “the road will be long” for the ruling to be enforced.

Ruling ‘won’t change things’

Uber said the ruling would make little difference in practice.

“This ruling will not change things in most EU countries where we already operate under transportation law,” an Uber spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“However, millions of Europeans are still prevented from using apps like ours.”

In a dense legal judgement, the ECJ said that Uber was a service that connects “by means of a smartphone application and for remuneration non-professional drivers using their own vehicle with persons who wish to make urban journeys.”

That means it is “inherently linked to a transport service and, accordingly, must be classified as a ‘service in the field of transport’ within the meaning of EU law.”

The EU court’s senior adviser had said in a legal opinion in May that Uber was indeed a transport company.

Uber has had a rough ride in Spain, where a judge ruled in 2014 that its UberPop service risked breaking the law, leading to the Barcelona submission to the ECJ.

Early last year it decided to only operate a limited a version of its UberX service in Spain which uses licensed, professional drivers instead of the amateurs who had previously worked via the UberPop application.

Uber has already had problems with the law in several European countries, particularly France where the company was forced to overhaul its business model.

In November a labour court in London, where the company is threatened with losing its license, said it had to pay the drivers a minimum wage and give them paid leave.

Uber does not employ drivers or own vehicles, but instead relies on private contractors with their own cars, allowing them to run their own businesses.

Licensed taxi drivers meanwhile often have to undergo hundreds of hours of training, and they accuse Uber of endangering their jobs by using cheaper drivers who rely only on a GPS to get around.//AFP

The Thai People in Eight Mekong Provinces Network working group met in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district yesterday, with participants concluding that the Mekong was under imminent threat of irreversible damage by proposed hydropower dam projects on the main tributary in China, Laos and Cambodia. The discussion also highlighted that there were still no effective legal tools to regulate projects.

China’s potential cancellation of the Mekong River navigation channel improvement project was also a major discussion topic. The working group considered whether the move was because the Chinese government had recently passed a new law forcing the Chinese investment board to respect the laws of destination countries and ensure that investments did not affect the environment or violate human rights.

On Tuesday, Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai said China would change the scope of the project or cancel it in order to relieve the concerns of Thai people over the adverse impacts to the environment and people’s livelihoods.

Community Resources Centre coordinator Sor Rattanamanee Polkla said China’s adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights was good news, resulting in a more positive trend of development on the river.

The network members also concluded that Chinese project owners in the region had become more active working with local people about their projects.

However, Sor Rattanamanee emphasised the need for an international law to safeguard the environment and human rights in the Mekong River region, given the current lack of oversight and existing projects generating problems for the environment and riverside residents.

“Even though Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam signed the Mekong Agreement 1995, there has been no real enforcement of the regulations in the agreement,” she said.

“Moreover, we have found that there have been many attempts to wrongly interpret projects’ scope to avoid the enforcement of the regulations in the Mekong Agreement, such as in the Khong-Loei-Chi-Mun water diversion project and the Mekong River navigation channel improvement project.”

She said everyone had a duty to demand and campaign for legal tools for environmental and human rights protections.

Meanwhile, Somkiat Keuanchiangsa, coordinator of the Network for Preservation of Natural Resources and Lanna Culture, also said strategic environmental assessments should be conducted before environmental impact to assess the value of projects in all aspects weighed against the cost to the river ecosystem.

Somkiat also asked the governments of Mekong countries to review the damage to the river over the past two decades, as people who depend on the region’s natural resources were suffering due to the degrading ecosystem resulting from development projects.

    Victoria state police said they had arrested the driver of the car after it “collided with a number of pedestrians” in downtown Melbourne at a busy intersection just before 5pm local time (0600 GMT).

Police did not immediately say whether the driver had acted deliberately.

Paramedics were “treating and transporting to hospital” 13 people, with some seriously injured after the collision on Flinders Street between Elizabeth and Swanston streets, Ambulance Victoria added.

Sky News Australia reported that a pre-school child with a head injury was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

Citing witnesses, Sky said a white Suzuki SUV with two men inside drove into the crowd, with no signs the vehicle made an effort to slow down, but later crashed into a bollard.

In a tweet, police appealed to members of the public to upload any images they might have of the incident to a cloud address to help assist with their investigation.

A witness, Sue, told Melbourne radio station 3AW that she heard screams and saw “people flying everywhere”.

“We could hear this noise, as we looked left, we saw this white car, it just mowed everybody down,” she said.

“People are flying everywhere. We heard thump, thump. People are running everywhere.”

Another witness, John, told ABC Radio Melbourne that he saw a “SUV coming at high speed”.

“(I) really just heard the collision with people with bags and what must be shopping trolleys – and I hope not prams,” he said.

“I’ve really never seen anything like this before and I haven’t stopped shaking.”

The incident came months after a car mowed down pedestrians in Melbourne’s busiest mall in January, killing six people.

The driver, whose case is still being heard in court, had been pursued by police prior to the rampage after he had allegedly stabbed his brother.//AFP

    UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee had been due to visit Myanmar in January to assess the state of human rights across the country including in Rakhine, which was plunged into crisis by a military crackdown on the Rohingya minority Muslim community in late August.

Some 655,000 of them have fled for Bangladesh since then, with accounts of arson, murder and rape at the hands of soldiers and vigilante mobs in the mainly Buddhist country.

The UN has accused troops of ethnic cleansing and possible “elements of genocide” against the Rohingya — charges the government vigorously denies as it faces intense global outrage.

“I am puzzled and disappointed by this decision by the Myanmar government,” said Lee, who is required to go to the country twice a year in order to report to the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly.

“This declaration of non-cooperation with my mandate can only be viewed as a strong indication that there must be something terribly awful happening in Rakhine, as well as in the rest of the country,” she added.

The South Korean academic said she was told the decision was based on a statement she made after her last visit to Myanmar in July, in which she sharply criticised the government’s rights record and its treatment of the Rohingya.

At the time the government criticised the statement as “biased and unfair”.

The UN confirmed Myanmar had withdrawn all cooperation for the duration of Lee’s tenure.

Myanmar’s government spokesman Zaw Htay said Lee had been barred because she was not unbiased.

“She is not impartial and objective while conducting her work. There is no trust on her,” the spokesman said.

But Amnesty International described the ban as “outrageous”.

“It is a further indication that authorities will do anything they can to avoid international scrutiny of their human rights record,” said James Gomez, the rights group’s director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

“The Myanmar military claim they have done nothing wrong during the past months. If so, the authorities should have nothing to hide — why are they denying access for independent and impartial investigators?” he said in a statement.

Lee, who has visited Myanmar six times since 2014, has consistently sounded the alarm over the persecution of the Rohingya.

The stateless group has been targeted by bouts of violence and systematically stripped of legal rights in recent decades.

But the latest crisis is the worst to rip through Rakhine state in years.

Myanmar has blocked journalists and investigators — including a UN fact-finding team — from independently accessing the conflict zone.

Last week two Reuters reporters were arrested for allegedly possessing documents relating to the security forces in Rakhine, raising fears that fragile press freedoms are being further eroded.

The journalists’ families, lawyers and colleagues have not been told where the two are, and have not been allowed any contact with them.

The pair could face a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.//AFP

More than 35,000 pangolins — docile, ant-eating mammals with a thick armour — were seized by Indonesian authorities between 2010 and 2015, exposing the scale of the illegal business, the study by wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic said.

Indigenous to parts of Southeast Asia and Africa, the pangolin is prized as an edible delicacy and ingredient in traditional medicine, especially in China and Vietnam, and is the world’s most trafficked mammal.

Rampant poaching is putting Indonesia’s indigenous manis javanica species at an “extremely high risk of extinction”, the group said.

“Indonesia’s wildlife is being drained on an industrial scale to feed the global illegal trade,” Kanitha Krishnasamy, acting regional director for Southeast Asia, said in a statement.

“While the relatively high number of seizures speaks to Indonesia’s commitment in tackling the problem, it also highlights the relentless poaching.”

The study found at least 127 suspects had been arrested in connection with the trade over six years in Indonesia.

Sumatra was identified as a hotspot and served as a key link to smugglers in Malaysia and Singapore, where the animals were most often sent on to China and Vietnam.

Indonesia’s government said it could not halt the illegal trade alone and urged recipient countries to crack down on importers.

“Don’t just blame Indonesia. It takes two to tango,” Bambang Dahono Aji, the conservation director at Indonesia’s Environment Ministry, told AFP.

“We are huge archipelagic nation with limited resources to monitor all the sea routes.”

In October, more than 100 live pangolins were seized in a fishing boat off the east coast of Sumatra. Two people were arrested for attempting to smuggle the scaly mammals to Malaysia.

That came after more than 223 live pangolins as well as nine large bags of pangolin scales were discovered in a warehouse near Medan, North Sumatra, in June.

Many of these Penang hawkers, who have started to get paid via the China-based cashless payment platform that uses a smartphone app and QR code, are making more money too.

Durian seller Mike Chuah, 54, said his business improved after he started accepting Alipay, known as Zhifubao in Chinese.

Chuah, who operates a stall in New Lane here, likened Alipay to a credit card, saying it is easy and safe to use.

“This is because they do not need to use up their remaining cash (before they leave for home) and they won’t feel the pinch,” he said.

Karen Yeoh, 51, who run a jiu hu eng chai (cuttlefish salad with water convolvulus) stall, said the Alipay platform can also help advertise their business.

“Alipay is currently used only by Chinese tourists.“When they see our Alipay signboard, they will order the dish.

“For example, if the bill is RM28, I only need to open the app, key in the amount and scan the barcode for the transaction to complete. The sum will be deposited into my bank account within two days.

“They don’t even have to convert their money. This digital form of payment allows more people to continue spending after they run out of local currency,” she said.

Yeoh said she was hesitant at first about the new app but jumped on the bandwagon after being encouraged by her daughter.

“She told me to start or I would be left behind. Once I got started, I found it quite easy to use. What’s more, the app is free,” she added.

But market pressures are driving innovation of the beloved holiday tradition — not least in Luebeck, the charming port city in northern Germany that is arguably the world capital of marzipan.

Marzipan “has a frumpy, slightly dowdy image,” said Janine Judetzki, a spokeswoman for the German marzipan firm Lemke.

“We are anxious to make the image a bit younger and also cater to other target groups.”

The delicacy was, according to Luebeck lore, invented in the 15th century and has been savoured by Prussian emperors and praised by cherished writers such as local son Thomas Mann, whose visage carved in marzipan can be seen at a museum on the city’s high street.

However, the rising price of almonds has also put a strain on the venerable family businesses that make the product, several of which have gone bankrupt in the past few years.

The Luebeck firm Niederegger, founded in 1806, is one of the oldest German candy companies and occupies a central place in the city, where its products are sold on seemingly every corner.

Part of marzipan’s charm is that it can be formed into countless shapes such as snowmen, Christmas trees and pigs.The industry is in the process of widening the variety further in order to remain competitive.

Two years ago, Niederegger launched a successful line of marzipan for men called “Man Stuff” in which the marzipan is tinged with “bitter” flavours like cashews and whiskey and comes in virile packaging like toolboxes.

– Eight generations –

“Women buy marzipan, but men also like to eat it,” Kathrin Gaebel, a Niederegger spokeswoman, explained in the company’s bustling factory, where smashed almonds are caramelised in copper pots at a temperature kept secret.

The company even installed a 3-D printer to make little marzipan figures in its packed store in downtown Luebeck, though the machine cannot replicate the delicate shapes crafted in the factory, where replicas of fruit and animals are handmade to order.

Niederegger hopes that such changes may help expand its sales, 60 percent of which occur around Christmas.

Two sisters, Antonie Strait and Theresa Mehrens-Strait, now run the company as the eighth generation of the Niederegger family.

But rising costs of nuts have made their work difficult.

“The hazelnut industry and almond industry have both been suffering,” Marcia Mogelonsky, a food specialist at the market research firm Mintel, told AFP.

When the cost of almonds rises, as it does after periods of drought in California, the company must bear far higher costs.

“When you think that we have 2/3 almonds and only 1/3 sugar, you have to think that the price (of the marzipan) would need to double at least,” when the cost of almonds quadruples, said Gaebel.

Niederegger refuses to further sweeten its marzipan, even though doing so could cut costs and attract more customers abroad, who currently account for only 20 percent of sales.

– Gift for children –

Marzipan from Luebeck is protected by the European Union under the same category as Czech beer and French poultry, and companies must adhere to strict rules about the contents of the almond paste.

The rising price of foodstuffs has affected all of the German sweets industry with sales stagnating for the past several years.

But they especially hurt small companies like Niederegger, which employs around 750 people.

Last year the state of Schleswig-Holstein gave Niederegger and another local marzipan company 885,000 euros ($1.04 million) to help promote new and quicker forms of production.

Traditional companies need support to be competitive worldwide, said Harald Haase, spokesman for the regional economy ministry.

A number of small confectionery companies in Germany have been sold to larger corporations or are bankrupt, according to business newspaper Handelsblatt.

Gaebel declined to comment on Niederegger’s profits but said “we are lucky that we are a family company.”

Starting in January Niederegger will sell an ice cream line throughout Germany and the company, which said it develops 15 new products a year, has experimented with new flavours such as cheesecake and maple syrup.

And despite all the innovation, when it comes to marzipan it may just be its central place in German culture that helps it survive.

“As a child, you get it as a gift,” said Eva Mura, another Niederegger spokeswoman.,”and you give it to children as a gift.”

South Koreans drink copious amounts of alcohol so much so that no other country comes close to their per capita consumption. The reason for this unparalleled liquor consumption is ascribed to country’s liking for Soju- the fermented rice drink.

Vietnam is second to South Korea in alcohol consumption. The country has seen a rising level of alcohol consumption. Thailand is close to Vietnam at third place in Asia.

Mongolia and China are at close fourth and fifth position in Asia respectively.   In China the rising consumption is attributed to the culture of drinking where “drinking with colleagues is seen as vital to career advancement.”

Japan, The drinkers’ paradise has seen a decline in the consumption.

Laos shares sixth place with Japan with equal per capita consumption of alcohol. Though ranked lower than other countries Cambodia’s drinking habits are on the upswing. With the increased urbanization the drinking culture has seeped in Philippines that also been seeing growing local breweries.

Singapore has stringent laws for drinking and thus the low alcohol consumption.

India and Sri Lanka are at a close tenth and eleventh position in Asia. While a high number of people in Nepal drink, it is still one of Asia’s least drinking countries.

Despite being an integral part of Bhutanese culture, alcohol consumption is low in Bhutan.

And the most abstinent countries? Unsurprisingly, they are mostly Muslim states where the sale and consumption of alcohol is restricted. In Indonesia ​and Bangladesh ​the average citizen drinks hardly a bottle of wine in a year. The lowest alcohol consumption is reported in Pakistan at nearly 0.

If you go by the chorus of tweets out there ranging from puzzled to horrified, the facial likeness of the animatronic figure unveiled Tuesday is a botch job.

The robotic figure stands on a stage alongside life-size models of Trump’s predecessors.

It can speak and move its hands, but was widely derided by friends and foe for its fleeting resemblance to the 45th president.

Twitter users said the figure, dressed in a dark suit, looked more like Hillary Clinton or Hollywood actor Jon Voight, a Trump supporter.

Others compared it to veteran US actress Angela Lansbury or the character Biff Tannen from the film “Back to the Future.”

“The more I see of Disney’s ‘Hall of Presidents’ Trump, the more I’m convinced they made a Hillary one first and had to redo it” said Twitter user Maplecocaine.

“It looks like Jon Voight and Hillary had a man-baby,” said another Twitter account under the handle Tyree.

The comedy website Funny or Die quickly dubbed over the official recording on Trump’s voice, in which he talks about “the achievements of the American spirit,” with some of his more lurid proclamations, such as the “Access Hollywood” tape in which he boasts of sexually grabbing women.

With a nod to the special prosecutor’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russian election meddling, Twitter user Rex Hupke said that “the best part of Donald Trump being in Disney’s Hall of Presidents will be when they move him … and put him in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride’s jail.”

Singer and movie star Bette Midler recalled the president’s sensitivity to criticism that he has small hands, joking that “they had to use an old pair of hands from one of the ‘It’s a Small World’ kids.”

There was no immediate reaction from the president himself, a prolific user of Twitter.

    He was found on Monday in a hotel room in the South Korean capital Seoul in what police said was suicide.

Rolling Stones founding member Brian Jones, guitarist Jimi Hendrix, singer Janis Joplin, The Doors singer Jim Morrison, Nirvana singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, and British soul singer Amy Winehouse are the other major “members” of the notorious club.

– Amy Winehouse –

Winehouse, one of Britain most famous soul singers, was found dead in her bed at her London flat on July 23, 2011 after years of drug and alcohol addiction.

The singer of “Back to Black” and “Rehab”, won six Grammy awards, one of them posthumously. She died of alcohol poisoning.

– Kurt Cobain –

Cobain, who died on April 5, 1994, had a well-documented struggle with heroin during his brief career with US grunge rockers Nirvana. But it was not drugs that claimed his life, but his own hand.

Just weeks after taking an overdose of tranquilisers in Rome, Cobain, who was married to troubled rocker Courtney Love and best known for the hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, killed himself with a shotgun at his house in Seattle.

– Jim Morrison –

On July 3, 1971, the US Doors singer of the hits “Light My Fire” and the brooding masterpiece “The End” died in his bathtub in his Paris flat, alcoholic and obese, after suffering a heart attack.

His grave is one of the most visited at the Pere-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

   – Janis Joplin –

On October 4, 1970, US singer Joplin, known for her bluesy vocal style, dies of a suspected heroin overdose. Her album “Pearl” was released posthumously and became her biggest seller.

– Jimi Hendrix –

Hendrix, the pioneering US guitar wizard whose whose hits included “Purple Haze” and “Hey Joe”, died on September 18, 1970.

He choked on his own vomit in a hotel in London after swallowing sleeping pills and drinking red wine.

– Brian Jones –

Jones, who left the Rolling Stones after disagreements with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, had problems with drugs and alcohol.

He drowned in the swimming pool on his estate in Sussex, southern England during the night of July 2-3, 1969 and was found by his girlfriend. An inquest recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.//AFP