Asian Legal Review

Britain is launching an investigation into medical gloves used by its health service after reports of forced labour, forced overtime, debt bondage, withheld wages and passport confiscation in Malaysian factories where they were made.
“In line with the government’s policy and leadership on modern slavery, we take any allegations of this kind incredibly seriously,” said a spokeswoman for Britain’s health department, adding that the issue would investigated “as a…

A 26-year-old man will be charged with the murder of the missing British backpacker Grace Millane, New Zealand police have said.
Millane, 22, disappeared a week ago. Police said the 26-year-old man would appear at Auckland district court on Monday morning.
Earlier on Saturday, New Zealand police said they were treating Millane’s disappearance as a murder inquiry. “Grace is no longer alive; this is now a murder investigation,” said Detective Inspector Scott Beard of Auckland…

Rebels in Indonesia’s Papua province have demanded that the government hold negotiations on their territory’s self-determination and warned of more attacks following a raid on a construction site that left at least 16 dead.
An insurgency has simmered in Papua since the early 1960s, when Indonesia annexed the region that was a former Dutch colony. It was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that was widely regarded as a sham. Sebby Sambom,…

Tens of thousands of banner-waving Muslims dressed in white rallied in the Malaysian capital on Saturday demanding protection of their rights, at a time of growing racial tensions in the multi-ethnic country.
The event was billed as a celebration of the refusal by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s government to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination last month.
Big crowds gathered in downtown Kuala Lumpur, chanting “God is great” and waving banners that read…

The government and rail industry have agreed a plan to increase efficiency of the UK’s railways, improve journeys and increase the capability of the sector to trade internationally, with a focus on more and better use of technology.

Student wellbeing should be factored into the design of student accommodation, student housing charity Unipol Student Homes and the National Union of Students (NUS) have said.

Sri Lanka’s highest court Friday banned President Maithripala Sirisena from sacking the legislature until it decides on the legality of his move last month to call snap elections.
The Supreme Court concluded hearing 10 petitions against Sirisena’s move as part of a bitter power struggle with his erstwhile prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, but reserved judgment for an unspecified date.
The courts reopen on Monday.
Sirisena plunged the country into crisis on October 26 when he…

A Cambodian labour activist faces deportation home from Thailand over his role in making a sex-trafficking documentary that angered the Southeast Asian nation’s government, which dismissed it as fake, his wife said on Friday.
The ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen has launched a crackdown on those it says are critics of the government, including human rights advocates and opposition politicians.
Rath Rott Mony, 47, was arrested in Bangkok on Friday as he attempted to travel to the…

Action taken by a UK regulator to seek compensation for care home residents shows the intense scrutiny that care home contracts are coming under and the regulator’s willingness to fully enforce consumer law in the sector, an expert has said.

An in-depth investigation into PayPal’s acquisition of Swedish mobile payments start-up iZettle will be carried out by the UK’s main competition authority.