BEIJING: Workers at a Chinese home renovation company who failed to complete their tasks had to drink urine, eat cockroaches or get whipped by a belt.

Others had to shave their heads or drink water from a toilet bowl and had their salaries withheld by a month, according to images and videos on Chinese social media cited by state media.

The punishments were all publicly meted out in the presence of other staff, state media said, citing workers who had quit the company in the southwestern province of Guizhou.

Forgetful staff who did not wear leather shoes to work or failed to turn up in formal attire were given 50 yuan ($7.20) fines.

Their misdemeanours were duly recorded in little, white slips.

But most staff chose to stay despite the punishments, which started this year, state media said.

Three managers at the company were jailed from five to 10 days on the charge of humiliating others, according to a social media post by the local public security bureau.

Labour conditions in China have often been described by activists as harsh and unforgiving, with workers having to work excessive hours and live in cramped quarters on meagre wages.

At the Guizhou company, many of the punished showed little outward sign of unhappiness, according to state media, choosing instead to accept their fate.

Courtesy: www.ndtv.com

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Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi (PTI): Flights to the Middle East resumed early Tuesday morning from Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, following the reopening of airspace in the region after a brief closure, according to airport sources.

Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Air Arabia were among the first to resume operations.

Flights bound for Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah operated by the three carriers landed and departed in the early hours without disruption, airport sources said.

However, several scheduled services were cancelled earlier in the morning as the situation stabilised, they said.

Affected services included Air India Express flights to Muscat, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Dammam, and Dubai.

Qatar Airways' Doha-bound flight, Kuwait Airways' service to Kuwait, and IndiGo's flight to Sharjah were also cancelled, they said.

To manage the passenger backlog and assist those affected, airport authorities have set up additional seating arrangements and service counters at Terminal 2.

Extra staff have been deployed to support passenger handling and provide on-ground assistance, they added.

Several flights were delayed, cancelled or diverted at Cochin International Airport also late Monday night, after the closure of Qatar's airspace amid the rising tensions in the West Asia, authorities added.

As per the CIAL advisory issued at 3.00 am, the operation of at least 17 flights was affected due to the situation.