Month: February 2021

Indonesia has banned schools from forcing girls to wear headscarves after the case of a Christian pupil pressured to cover up sparked outrage in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.The move was applauded on Friday by rights activists, who say non-Muslim girls have been forced for years to wear a hijab in conservative parts of the country.State schools across the Southeast Asian archipelago of nearly 270 million will face sanctions if they fail to comply with the edict from Education…

As ‘first responders’ on the scene when a dispute arises, in-house counsel have an important role to play in preserving and ensuring the accuracy of witness evidence.

AC Energy, part of Philippines business group Ayala, has acquired a 97.6% stake in Solar Philippines Central Luzon (SPCLC) from Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings to form a joint venture to develop solar power projects in central Luzon, Philippines.

An ammonia leak from an ice plant in the Philippine capital region left two dead and more than 90 others injured or sickened while hundreds of residents fled to safety, an official said Thursday.Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco said an employee of TP Marcelo Ice Plant died after exposure to ammonia fumes on Wednesday and the body of a second worker, the plant’s electrician, was found in the building on Thursday.More than 90 residents and workers were taken to hospitals after being exposed to the…

Asia’s meme-laden pro-democracy movement, the #MilkTeaAlliance, has welcomed a new member in Myanmar after the country’s military removed the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup.The anti-authoritarian hashtag began as a form of solidarity for activists during the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. It quickly found sympathisers in Taiwan, then blossomed in military-dominated Thailand as young demonstrators flooded the streets last year. India has also been occasionally included in the…

Universities and other higher education institutions should commission an independent third party audit of their compliance with consumer protection laws to satisfy the demands of the regulator in England, legal experts have said.

Japanese and British foreign and defence ministers on Wednesday began a meeting via videoconference to affirm stronger security cooperation amid China’s growing assertiveness in the East and South China seas.In the so-called two-plus-two meeting, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi, and their British counterparts Dominic Raab and Ben Wallace were expected to discuss ways of ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region based on the rule of law, according to…

The crashing of yet another meteorite on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island has reverberated through social media and put an alien space rock in the spotlight once again, but this time for its “magical” healing power rather than its purported monetary value.Local residents in the area where the meteorite fell last week in Lampung, the southernmost province of Sumatra, apparently found the still-hot stone, placed it in a tub of water, then took bottles of the water home to drink or pour over their…

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has told companies that collaboration for the achievement of sustainability goals can be justified provided businesses take care not to infringe competition law.

India on Tuesday said it expected Sri Lanka to honour its agreement to allow it to operate a major port terminal following Colombo’s decision to pull out of the deal.The East terminal of Colombo port will be 100 per cent owned and operated by the state-owned Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA), minutes of a cabinet meeting released on Tuesday said.Sri Lanka had previously said the port would be 49 per cent operated by India and Japan, with SLPA retaining the majority stake.India and Japan would…