Asian Legal Review

A university research institute has been commissioned by the South Korean government to build a comprehensive database of documents related to the “comfort women” issue, Yonhap News Agency reported on Sunday.
According to the report, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Affairs in 2012, during the administration of then President Lee Myng Bak, commissioned the Korean History Research Institute of Korea University to set up the database covering domestic and foreign official…

One of the deadliest storms to hit the Philippines this year blew out of the country’s south on Sunday after leaving more than 200 people dead in landslides and flash floods.
Police said 144 people remained missing while more than 40,000 had fled their homes to evacuation camps. A total of 70,000 have been displaced or otherwise affected by the storm according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which warned that continued heavy rain could…

Rung, 63, fought a running battle against the rubbish and raw ­sewage besieging her old home in a wooden slum perched on stilts on the banks of Bangkok’s Lat Phrao canal.
“You could see and smell the daily flow of trash,” recalled the tailor who goes by one name. “It would stop at the back of my house. I wanted a better life for my son and daughter.”
On Christmas Day last year, Rung moved into a brand new, blue-painted house just metres from her old one in the…

A piercing wail emanates from the small device in the palm of a young Rohingya woman, drawing startled looks from other refugees crowded onto a hillside in a Bangladesh camp.
It has the desired effect – the safety alarms are designed to attract attention and scare off anyone preying on vulnerable women and girls, who make up most refugees in the sprawling Rohingya tent cities.
The colourful plastic sirens are being distributed to Rohingya women, girls and the infirm in Cox’s Bazar…

The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea following its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test, a move that analysts said could have a significant impact on the isolated country’s struggling economy.
The resolution seeks to ban nearly 90 per cent of refined petroleum product exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and demands the repatriation of North Koreans working abroad within 12 months. The US-drafted…

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak warned his “good friend” US President Donald Trump not to threaten retaliation against countries like Malaysia that supported a United Nations resolution urging Washington to withdraw its decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“Yes, I was welcomed warmly by the White House. Yes, President Donald Trump is my good friend. But as a principle, I will never sacrifice the sanctity of Islam,” Najib said in his speech at a…

Hong Kong’s Competition Commission has published model contract clauses to help tendering companies guard against collusion between suppliers. 

Draft legislation that will make it easier for pension scheme operators to transfer members’ rights to new schemes without their consent has been set out by the UK government.

The value of criminal asset seizures fell by 19% this year, despite a rise in the value of fraudulent activity. One expert has said that the fall in seizures was caused by law enforcement budget cuts

New guidance issued by the European Banking Authority (EBA) on outsourcing to the cloud still lacks the kind of detail banks need to be comfortable that the arrangements they put in place are compliant, an expert in financial services and technology law has said.