A veteran Singapore diplomat has called for Singapore’s gay community to challenge a law that bans gay sex in the conservative city state, following India’s scrapping of the same British colonial-era legislation.
Tommy Koh, a prominent diplomat and lawyer, made the comments in response to a Facebook post by a senior Singapore-based academic on India’s landmark ruling on Thursday.
LGBTI in Mongolia fighting for rights and recognition
Simon Chesterman, dean of the National…
Pension funds must weigh up risk of fracking company investments
Local government pension funds must weigh up the financial risks of investing in energy companies engaged in fracking before deciding whether or not to divest, an expert has said.
US, India seek to deepen defence ties and sign security accord
The United States and India began talks in New Delhi to deepen political and security ties on Thursday, with officials hoping for an accord on military communications that could lead to increased US arms sales to the South Asian giant.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a two-plus-two setting.
The world’s two largest democracies have drawn closer in recent years,…
Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad rejects caning of lesbians, says it runs counter to ‘compassion of Islam’
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday denounced the caning of two Muslim women for attempting lesbian sex, a sentence that sparked outrage and raised fears about the treatment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
The women had pleaded guilty to charges under Islamic laws forbidding lesbian sex. They were caned on Monday in front of dozens of people at a sharia court in Terengganu, a conservative state in the east, prompting an outcry from human rights…
New post-study work experience visa proposed by UK universities
A new visa allowing international students to stay in the UK and work for up to two years after graduation would benefit employers and make the UK a more attractive place to study, according to Universities UK.
Police arrest ‘jealous’ stepmother, four others for rape and murder of Indian girl, 9
Indian police have arrested a woman and four others after her nine-year-old stepdaughter was allegedly gang-raped, murdered and mutilated, in the latest horrific crime to shock the country.
The child’s decomposed body was found on Tuesday hidden behind bushes about a kilometre from her home in the Baramulla district of Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.
Her father had reported her missing 12 days earlier.
Police said the woman, 36, was jealous of her stepdaughter and of her husband…
Not cancelled: Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail delayed in Mahathir U-turn
Construction of the high-speed rail link between Malaysia and Singapore will be postponed for two years rather than cancelled, the two governments said on Wednesday.
After weeks of talks, negotiators managed to avoid scrapping the project altogether – the outcome Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had previously said he preferred.
An agreement, signed in Mahathir’s office by Singapore’s Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan and the Malaysian Economic Affairs Minister Azmin…
Business Brexit preparations cannot wait for final deal
Businesses cannot wait for clarity over the terms of the UK’s final deal with the EU before taking steps to prepare for Brexit, an expert has warned.
‘We need to grow up’: Malaysian MPs condemn caning over lesbian sex
A Malaysian MP has called for laws that criminalise homosexuality to be immediately abolished amid an outcry over the caning of two women convicted by a sharia court of attempting to have lesbian sex.
Charles Santiago, a parliamentary member from the Malaysian state of Selangor, expressed his outrage in a series of tweets after the punishment was carried out in the Terengganu court on Monday morning.
That two women were caned while “100 people gawked at them” in the public gallery…
Dozens of Myanmar civil society groups condemn conviction of Reuters reporters
Seventy-six Myanmar civil society groups called on Tuesday for the release of two jailed Reuters reporters, denouncing their conviction as unfair and an assault on the right to freedom of information.
A court found the two journalists guilty on Monday of breaching a law on state secrets and jailed them for seven years in a landmark case seen as a test of progress towards democracy in Myanmar, which was ruled by a military junta until 2011.
Myanmar hudge jails Reuters journalists for seven years…