Taxi drivers in Jakatra go off the roads to protest against Uber and Grab cabs

Taxi drivers in Indonesia are up in arms against the intrusion into their territories by modern day cab operators like Uber and Grab who are snatching away the livelihood of taxi drivers who are not linked with app based cab operators. In order to show their anger, thousands of taxi drivers caused traffic chaos in the Indonesian capital in a rowdy protest against competition from ride-hailing apps like Uber and Grab.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 23 March 2016.

Long lines of taxis blocked a central expressway with the drivers setting tyres on fire and jumping on vehicles that did not want to join the protest. It seems drivers surrounded one taxi and forced its female passenger to leave the vehicle with her luggage.
This protest is the second major protest by taxi drivers in Jakarta in the current month. Ride-hailing apps do not face the same costs and rules as regular taxis, and this has severely affected and reduced their income. Many of the drivers come to Jakarta from other parts of Indonesia and rive taxis to support their families back home.
Incidentally, Uber has been trying to penetrate the markets in Asia and are intensifying competition in a region where there already was a slew of ride-hailing apps.
The protest by the taxi drivers did not get much sympathy from commuters because Jakarta is a city that is already struggling daily with massive congestion.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Some more interesting links -

Lord Shiva wants to be the King of good times (satire)

Moody gets a call from Uncle Sam and takes a trip to Mars (satire)

Narad queers the pitch for Didi & Co (satire)


Budget airline from Dubai crashes during landing in Russia - 62 killed

A 1939 Japanese Lilliput robot and Flash Gordon spaceship up for auction

Gujarat Police learn the finer points of crime from hardened criminals


Star Wars Episode VIII to get delayed till December 2017

Antonio Banderas gifted a pair of monkeys to Salma Hayek on her birthday

Frieda Pinto talks about 'Jungle Book - Origins'


Clash between people of a Roma settlement of Tula and Russian riot police

President Obama imposes tough sanctions on North Korea

Terror attack in Ankara kills at least 37 - one suicide bomber was a 22-year-old woman

Did debris of the ill-fated Malyasia Airlines MH370 reach Reunion Island

#MalayasiaAirlines #MH370 #reunionisland Malayasia Airlines flight MH370 had vanished on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew onboard as it was on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. There was no trace of the wreckage of any debris till some items have washed up on a beach of the Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
Among the debris found is a bottle of laundry detergent from Jakarta, Indonesia – this lends credence to the theory that these could be from missing Flight MH370.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 31 July 2015.

Earlier, a sea-encrusted section of a plane wing had been found to have washed up on Reunion and it is believed to most certainly be a part of the Boeing 777. This is felt to be a potentially major breakthrough in the search for the missing jet.
Items that have been found on the Saint Andre beach on the western coast of the French island east of Madagascar will be examined by a team of experts who are looking to determine if they came from the plane that has been missing since March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew onboard.
Malaysian investigators will be sending the debris to a French military laboratory near Toulouse -- the hub of Europe's aerospace industry --for examination. The wing part will also be analyzed in special defense facilities that are used for airplane testing and analysis.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

Some more interesting 'must reads'-

CBSE to check cheating in AIPMT exams – examinees can wear only T-shirt and jeans

Mamata’s TMC received hate mail before her tour of UK to woo investors

Vallauris beach closed to tourists because Saudi King Salman will holiday there in private

Good news keep pouring in – major uranium reserve found in Srisailam

Uttar Pradesh repents and repeals ban on screening of films in luxury buses


Britain’s MI6 joins Turkey to fight ISIS

Gang of 80 suspected Boko Haram men attack village in Cameroon and kill 23

Father of two, living in Liverpool, tries to buy deadly ricin powder – then, a pet to test it on


Some live years after retirement, others do not

No escape from the jaws of death