Asian Legal Review

Singapore’s Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said on Tuesday they would donate to charity the damages awarded to them in their defamation suit against Bloomberg.
In separate social media posts published on Tuesday night, hours after the High Court delivered its judgment, the ministers reiterated that the lawsuit was about protecting their integrity and reputations, as well as the standing of their ministerial offices.
Earlier on Tuesday, the High…

Thousands of Indonesian free meals kitchens complained on Tuesday they had ⁠been left in the lurch ⁠by the government’s move to scale ⁠down President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme to save money.
Jakarta is considering a potential budget cut of more than US$2 billion with reductions in the number of beneficiaries and kitchen operators.
There are currently nearly 28,000 kitchens ‌and the National Nutrition Agency (NNA) plans to temporarily halt the addition of 13,000 new…

A university symposium in Guangzhou has placed the Philippines’ northernmost province of Batanes at the centre of a new argument over history, geography and sovereignty, after scholars at the event claimed the islands belonged to Taiwan and, on that basis, fell under overall Chinese sovereignty.
The claim, made at a June 30 symposium hosted by Jinan University in Guangzhou, has been rejected by Philippine historians and officials, who dispute the scholars’ reading of geography, dynastic…

A decade after a tribunal in The Hague ruled on July 12, 2016, that Beijing’s sweeping South China Sea claims had no legal basis, Philippine officials and analysts say Manila remains heavily outmatched at sea but has begun turning its landmark legal victory into a more credible form of deterrence.
The Philippines brought the case in 2013 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), challenging Beijing’s nine-dash line and other claims.
The tribunal ruled that China’s…

Businesses operating across South Africa’s franchise sector should review their franchise models, agreements and commercial practices ahead of a significant Competition Commission market inquiry, experts have said.

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…