BANGKOK – Toyota Motor Corp’s Thai unit has launched a voluntary redundancy programme aimed at cutting around 800 subcontractors in Thailand due to economic problems in the southeast Asian country and abroad.

Thailand’s economic slowdown, along with uncertainty over the global economy, have affected both the domestic automotive industry and exports since the beginning of the year, it said in a statement.

That has caused a reduction in production volume, overtime hours and monthly income offered to employees, it said.

The company has offered the redundancy package to around 800 subcontractors but more workers have applied for the scheme, Phuphal Samata, the president of Toyota Thailand Worker’s Union, told Reuters.

“There isn’t overtime payment anymore, so many subcontractors may want to find other work and take this compensation package,” he said.

Toyota commands about a third of the local auto market and has 18,000 workers in Thailand, 40 percent of whom are subcontractors, he said.

Thailand is a regional production and export hub for the world’s top carmakers. The sector accounts for around 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Domestic auto sales have declined almost every month on a yearly basis since May 2013 following the ending of a government car subsidy scheme in 2012.

In January, Toyota forecast Thailand’s total domestic car sales would fall 10 percent in 2016 from a year ago to 720,000 units. It sees its own annual auto sales falling 9.8 percent from last year.

Job cuts at Toyota are unlikely to spread to other automakers as the firm has hired many workers since the car subsidy scheme, said Surapong Paisitpattanapong, spokesman for the Federation of Thai Industries’ Auto Industry.

“I don’t think others will immediately follow suit because May’s auto production, exports and domestic auto sales are growing. There’s still hope,” he said.

Warning: This article contains images and footage some readers may find disturbing.

CHENNAI – Police in southern India have arrested two medical students, an inspector said Wednesday, after video of one flinging a stray dog from the balcony of a two-storey building went viral, sparking outrage.

The footage shows one of the students beaming as he lifts the dog by the scruff of the neck to the ledge and finally tosses her over. The other student is thought to have filmed the incident.

An animal rights activist later found the dog injured but alive.

According to police, the students said during questioning that they threw the dog and filmed it “just for fun”.

Police in Tamil Nadu state arrested the pair, who are final-year students at a medical college in the state capital Chennai, and a local court on Wednesday granted them bail.

“The court has granted bail to the students. As per the bail order, they paid 10,000 rupees (S$200) each,” local police inspector, Frank D. Ruben, told AFP.

Police began searching for the students on Tuesday following a complaint filed by an activist from the government’s Animal Welfare Board of India.

Activist Shravan Krishnan found the dog and posted a photo on Instagram late Tuesday of him holding the injured animal, who has now been checked by a team of veterinarians.

One said the puppy had fractured her right leg but seemed otherwise unscathed by her ordeal.

“It seems to be a puppy of around five months old and presently the conditions and vital (statistics) seem ok,” said R. Jayaprakash.

Earlier, the Indian branch of the Humane Society International offered a reward of 100,000 rupees to anyone who could provide information for the students’ arrest.

Others called for stronger animal cruelty laws in the country.

“Med student smiles as he throws a terrified dog off a roof. Animal cruelty #law in India is a joke. #dogs#justice,” Twitter user B. Jorgensen said.

In 2007, animal rights supporters created uproar when municipal workers in the southern Indian high-tech city of Bangalore culled thousands of street dogs after a child was mauled to death by a pack of neighbourhood strays.