Asian Legal Review

Foreign ministers from Asean were ⁠told on Sunday by their Myanmar counterpart ⁠that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health and would be looked after, ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar said.
Maria Theresa Lazaro, the Philippine foreign minister, has been seeking access to Suu Kyi, 81, who has been detained since her elected government ‌was ousted in a 2021 military coup.
“My recollection of the statement of the Myanmar foreign minister on Aung San Suu Kyi is that she’s in good…

As the car bounces along a rural Thai road, a baby just a few months old watches the emerald green countryside rush by from Nicha’s* lap, oblivious to the countdown that has already begun.
Soon the child will be handed over to her father to be raised in China by grandparents whose own hopes of a larger family were curtailed by decades of state population control.
Nicha may never see the baby she gave birth to again, but she knows that is the painful price of commercial surrogacy.
This is her…

In a significant shift for the Japanese financial landscape, domestic lenders are preparing for a mandatory transition to Sharia-compliant models, which is expected to be implemented by 2028. This regulatory move aims to align Japanese financial products with global Islamic finance standards, potentially opening new avenues for investment and capital flow from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The requirement, as reported by Nikkei Asia on July 12, 2026, will necessitate substantial changes in how Japanese banks structure their products, particularly regarding interest-based transactions and investment vehicles. Financial institutions are already beginning to assess the impact on their current portfolios and the technical requirements for such a transition.

Industry analysts suggest that while the transition poses operational challenges, it also presents a strategic opportunity for Japanese banks to diversify their client base and tap into the growing global Islamic finance market. The move is seen as part of a broader effort to enhance Japan’s financial connectivity and competitiveness in the global arena.

As the 2028 deadline approaches, the focus will likely shift to the development of standardized frameworks and the training of professionals skilled in Sharia-compliant finance. The success of this transition will depend on the ability of Japanese lenders to navigate these new regulatory waters while maintaining stability and trust among their existing customer base.

A boat returning from an island trip in southern Vietnam capsized on Saturday, killing 15 Indian tourists less than half a kilometre (0.30 mile) from shore, as passengers shouted for help, officials and a witness said.
The speedboat was carrying 32 Indian tourists and four crew members when it overturned on Saturday afternoon shortly after leaving Hon May Rut Ngoai Island, which is near Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest island, authorities were quoted as saying.
“The boat had not even gone half a…

Pan Sok still remembers his relative screaming as a tiger dragged him away one night, deep inside the Cambodian rainforest where they were tapping trees for resin.
So he is “not happy” about a plan to reintroduce the big cats, a decade after they were declared extinct in Cambodia.
“I saw the tiger take him with my own eyes,” he said, describing the attack that took place over 30 years ago. “He was screaming but we couldn’t help him.”
Cambodia’s last confirmed tiger sighting was in camera trap…

A European antitrust investigation into a leading dental aligner manufacturer will bring increased scrutiny to health and life science sectors over competition concerns, according to an expert.

After a rendition of My Way and a saxophone accompaniment that felt closer to crooning uncles at a wedding party than high-stakes diplomacy, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his Thai counterpart Anutin Charnvirakul announced the serious business of squashing a damaging trade row and bringing greater security to the porous border between the nations.
The pair, long-standing friends, also share a love for public spectacle, with Anutin playing the classic song popularised by Frank Sinatra…

Voters in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor will cast their ballots on Saturday in a high-stakes election that is expected to bring Barisan Nasional (BN) back to power, exposing deeper cracks in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration.
BN is part of Anwar’s unity government but will go head to head against federal partner Pakatan Harapan (PH) in a state long regarded as a BN stronghold.
The contest for Johor’s 56-seat assembly has put Anwar’s multi-ethnic party in an awkward position, but…

The EU Pay Transparency Directive entered into force in May 2023 with a deadline of 7 June 2026 for member states to implement local legislation in line with its requirements.

A Singaporean man, hired by his aunt to tutor primary school pupils, instead beat them with a clothes hanger, forced them to hold push-up positions for long periods, punched and starved them.
One of the children, a six-year-old Chinese national, was abused for 18 hours and forced to drink his own urine.
On Thursday, the 31-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse, one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and one of giving false or misleading information to police, local media…