Asian Legal Review

One of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic armed opposition factions has agreed to a China-brokered withdrawal from a lucrative ruby mining hub, the group said on Wednesday.
Myanmar has been mired in a civil war since the military grabbed power in a 2021 coup, with the junta fighting an array of pro-democracy guerrillas and powerful ethnic minority armed groups.
The ragtag opposition initially struggled to make headway before organising a combined offensive in late 2023 that seized huge swathes of…

New consultations on improving workers’ access to unions plus better protection and rights for pregnant women and new mothers have been launched in the UK

Heavy rains have caused major flooding in central Vietnam, with rivers swelling and submerging homes, farmland and tourist destinations including the historic cities of Hue and Hoi An.
Rainfall in the central city of Hue reached 1,085mm (42 inches) in 24 hours by late Monday, the highest volume ever recorded in Vietnam, according to the country’s meteorological department.
By Tuesday morning, water levels in Hue’s iconic Perfume River had risen to 4.62 meters (15 feet) and were waist-deep in the…

Few were ready for the zinger that followed when Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim leaned into the microphone and said, with a suitably dramatic pause for effect, that he and US President Donald Trump were alike in many ways.
“President Trump and I share a lot in common,” he said, as ears craned towards the lectern for the punchline. One of the overlapping experiences was “that I was in prison”, Anwar added, “and you almost got there”.
The joke landed well, drawing laughter in the room,…

The first civil penalty imposed by an Australian court for serious breaches of the Privacy Act should be a strong reminder for businesses to prioritise the privacy and security of personal information.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that his country’s ties with North Korea were developing “as planned”, as he hosted North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui in the Kremlin.
Choe passed on “warm wishes” from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after she had earlier hailed the “spiritual closeness” between Moscow and Pyongyang during a meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
The visit is the latest in a flurry of diplomatic exchanges between the two countries and comes just…

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged Myanmar’s junta to focus on increasing aid to its struggling people instead of holding an election, which he said would be neither free nor fair.
Myanmar’s junta has been widely pilloried for pressing on with the election starting this December, while it continues to bomb civilians in a civil war that has killed thousands and displaced more than 3.5 million people.
Guterres, who was in Kuala Lumpur for a summit between the UN and…

Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushila Karki on Sunday expanded her interim cabinet which was formed in the wake of a youth-led uprising last month, inducting two ministers seen as popular among young people.
The unrest on September 8-9 was triggered by a brief ban on social media but fuelled by long-standing frustration over economic hardship and corruption.
Violence during the protests, which led to the collapse of the previous government, killed at least 73 people and left parliament, courts and…

The United States and Vietnam will finalise a trade agreement in the coming weeks that will maintain 20 per cent tariffs on most Vietnamese goods but lift duties on certain products that will be decided at a later stage, the White House said on Sunday.
In return Vietnam committed to offering “preferential access” for most all US goods.
The two countries have agreed to a framework for the agreement on “reciprocal, fair and balanced” trade between the two nations, the countries said in a joint…