New proposals by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are expected to empower UK retail investment, but manufacturers and distributors of financial products will need to consider how the changes will affect retail risk-taking more broadly, experts have said.
‘Could go extinct here’: orangutans at risk as Indonesia floods devastate habitat
Before the deadly landslides and floods hit Indonesia about two weeks ago, Amran Siagian, 39, frequently met Tapanuli orangutans on a hill in the region of Sipirok, North Sumatra province.
Siagian, who has been working as a ranger to protect the endangered animal at the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) for at least five years, remembers how the orangutans were fond of eating durian and other fruits from farms in the area.
But after the landslides hit Sipirok, the orangutans are nowhere to be…
Could ICC warrants against Duterte allies alter Philippines’ balance of power?
A former spokesman for Rodrigo Duterte has claimed that the International Criminal Court is preparing to arrest two of the ex-Philippine leader’s closest allies over his administration’s bloody war on drugs.
Harry Roque told This Week in Asia that President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr intended to use such arrests to “destroy the [political] opposition”, arguing that clearing Duterte-allied senators from the chamber would secure the votes Marcos needed to oust Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio – his…
Ruling confirms ‘arbitral award’ is defined strictly in France
A recent ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal has confirmed that the notion of ‘arbitral award’ is defined strictly in France, confirming a ruling on an issue that has been the subject of debate among practitioners in the field.
Myanmar teen to be first foreigner deported under Singapore’s new Kpod law
A 15-year-old girl from Myanmar is the first foreigner to have their Singapore long-term immigration status revoked for possessing an e-vaporiser pod containing etomidate, or a Kpod.
A vape pod containing the drug was found in her possession during a routine check by police officers on November 14, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said in a joint press release on Monday.
She has been issued a Special Pass to allow her to remain in Singapore to assist with…
How the law is changing on ‘fire and rehire’
The Employment Rights Bill (ERB) will introduce measures in 2026 which will make it even harder for employers in Britain to dismiss workers and rehire then on different terms – known colloquially as ‘fire and rehire’.
‘Everyone gets a cut’: why Southeast Asia’s scam industry refuses to die
Taking a short cut through Pattaya’s “Scammer Alley”, a neon maze of bars, hotpot restaurants and 24-hour Korean barbecue joints, taxi driver May shakes her head.
The money washing around this Thai resort is so thick with fraud that even her own bank account has been frozen.
“They pay with QR codes linked to mule accounts,” she said, referring to bank accounts legally registered under Thai names but secretly controlled by the foreign cybercriminals who have turned this part of Southeast Asia…
Lee Kuan Yew’s pain and his deputy’s resolve in Singapore-Malaysia separation
In the tumultuous days before Singapore’s separation from Malaysia in 1965, founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew clung to the hope that the city could still be part of the federal government under a looser arrangement, but his deputy had no desire to pursue this ideal.
While Lee was conflicted and even wavered at the eleventh hour when he asked then Malaysian prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman if he was certain there was no alternative, Goh Keng Swee, widely regarded as the architect of modern…
Can Japan find space for Muslim burials? Not if right-wing rhetoric prevails
Japan’s struggle to accept outsiders has been exposed once again after a video of a right-wing lawmaker arguing against Muslim burials went viral.
The video showed Mizuho Umemura, a House of Councillors member from the populist Sanseito party, objecting to the burial of Muslim residents during a parliamentary debate late last month.
She argued that cremation was a vital national custom practised by more than 99 per cent of Japanese people and said that approving new burial grounds for Muslims…
Air strike in central Myanmar kills at least 18
Eighteen people were killed in an air strike on a town in central Myanmar, according to a local official, a rescue worker and two residents who spoke to Agence France-Presse on Saturday.
Myanmar has been rocked by civil war since the military snatched power in a 2021 coup, and its battles with numerous anti-coup fighters have brought frequent air strikes that often kill civilians.
Two bombs were dropped on Tabayin township in Sagaing region on Friday evening, with one hitting a busy teashop,…