Agreement between the UK and the remaining 27 EU countries on the terms on which financial services institutions will be able to supply services across the two jurisdictions post-Brexit will be central to whether an overall deal on Brexit is reached, a legal expert has said.
Rise seen in data breaches reported to UK watchdog
The number of data breaches reported by organisations to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) rose by nearly a fifth in the last three months of 2017, according to the watchdog.
Borneo’s orangutan population plunged by 100,000 since 1999, new study finds
The most comprehensive study of Borneo’s orangutans estimates their numbers have plummeted by more than 100,000 since 1999, as the palm oil and paper industries shrink their jungle habitat and fatal conflicts with people increase.
The finding, which is to be published in the journal Current Biology, is in line with the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s 2016 designation of Borneo’s orangutans as critically endangered.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for…
A young Chinese Indonesian straddles modernity and tradition in Jakarta
Arifin Kurniawan towers over his 55-year-old father’s prostrate figure. With his hand placed firmly on the older man’s head, the blonde-haired son barks out instructions in Hokkien.
Only moments before, the 21-year-old Chinese-Indonesian had cut his tongue deliberately with a sword – using the blood to write Chinese characters on rice paper. Bathed in an eerie red light, with statues of countless deities lining the walls and the air filled with chanting, the Fat Cu Kung shrine…
Malaysian government mocked for featuring barking rooster in Chinese ‘Year of the Dog’ ad cock-up
Malaysia has apologised after a government ad in Chinese-language newspapers featuring a picture of a barking rooster to mark the Year of the Dog sparked a flood of mockery.
The full-page advert by the domestic trade, co-operatives and consumerism ministry showed a rooster emitting the word “wang”, used to represent a dog’s bark in Mandarin.
The advert, printed in Chinese-language newspapers in the multi-ethnic country on Thursday, also carried a message welcoming a “…
Many businesses are still at risk from tax corporate criminal offence
Four months after it became a criminal offence for a business to have an employee or other ‘associated person’ who facilitates tax evasion, many businesses have still not got the polices and procedures in place that could protect them, said Catherine Robins, a tax expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.
Is Chinese carmaker Geely being anti-Malay in cost cutting drive at Malaysia’s Proton?
Proton, the long-ailing Malaysian carmaker partly-acquired by China’s Geely last year, is under fresh scrutiny after Malay car dealers this week accused the company’s new management of being tone-deaf to affirmative action policies favouring the majority ethnic group.
The criticism prompted a key government minister to vow to intercede amid concerns the troubled carmaker could become a lightning rod for discontent against Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling coalition in…
Australia’s scandal-hit deputy PM Barnaby Joyce to take leave after admitting extramarital affair with pregnant ex-staffer
Australia’s scandal-hit deputy prime minister will take leave next week, it was announced Thursday, avoiding him assuming the role of acting leader while Malcolm Turnbull is in the United States.
Barnaby Joyce has been under immense pressure over an affair with a younger former staffer, who is now pregnant with their child, and allegations that he breached ministerial rules.
The crisis has dominated the front pages and parliament question time for a week, with calls mounting for him to…
Bank negligent after paying out client money on fraudulent instruction from sole director
A bank which made payments from a client account on the fraudulent instruction of the client’s director and sole shareholder was liable in negligence after the client company went into liquidation, the Court of Appeal has confirmed.
Japanese lawmaker wants North Korea kept ‘under siege’ despite charm offensive at Winter Olympics
South Korea must stay in line with US and Japanese plans to keep North Korea “under siege”, the chairman of Japan’s lower house committee on foreign affairs said, referring to the policy of maintaining maximum pressure on Kim Jong-un’s regime.
Just days after Kim’s smiling sister invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to a summit with her brother in Pyongyang – an overture he’s yet to formally accept, Yasuhide Nakayama attacked Seoul’s…