Month: January 2019

ANALYSIS: Developing a standardised approach to delivering biodiversity ‘net gain’ on new developments in England, as proposed by the government, will ultimately benefit both local authorities and developers.

Fears that the first stage of a landmark referendum on greater autonomy for the Philippines’ restive Muslim-majority south would be derailed by violence on Monday failed to materialise, soothing nerves within the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte as it works to end one of Asia’s longest-running separatist conflicts.
There were sporadic reports of confrontations in urban areas with a mixed Christian and Muslim population such as Cotabato City, where a grenade was thrown…

Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn on Monday asked for his release on bail from a two-month detention in Japan, promising he will report to prosecutors daily and wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.
“As the court considers my bail application, I want to emphasise that I will live in Japan and respect any and all bail conditions the court concludes are warranted,” he said in a statement shared with The Associated Press through a representative of Ghosn and his family….

As far as bodies of water go, Cambodia is mostly known for the Mekong River. It provides fish and transport for millions of people and has become a romantic locale within Indochina. But there’s another body of water, 130km north of Phnom Penh, that deserves just as much attention. The Tonle Sap Lake, whose annual flood cycle is a crucial part of the Cambodian ecosystem, is buckling under the weight of climate change and unsustainable fishing practices. Water volume has fallen,…

Tran Thi Ngai was 24 and alone at home in her village in Vietnam’s Phu Yen province when a South Korean soldier forced his way into the house and raped her.
“He pulled me inside the room, closed the door and raped me repeatedly. He had a gun on his body and I was terrified,” said Tran, now almost 80, and still waiting for South Korea to acknowledge sexual violence by its soldiers during the Vietnam war. A campaign group, Justice for Lai Dai Han (JLDH), is urging the country…

Gunmen in Thailand’s deep south shot dead two Buddhist monks and wounded two others inside a temple, police said on Saturday, capping a week of deadly violence as the prime minister vowed to “punish” those responsible.
Black-clad assailants carrying rifles crept into Rattanaupap temple in Narathiwat province near Malaysia’s border on Friday evening and started firing, said local superintendent Pakdi Preechachon. “The attack took place around 7:30pm when an unknown…

Germany’s Trademark Law Modernisation Act came into force on 14 January 2019. It updated not only what types of trade marks can be registered in the country but also introduced other changes that impact trade mark owners, licensees and alleged infringers.

US President Donald Trump will meet with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un at the end of February at a place to be announced later, the White House said on Friday.
Trump met for an hour and a half with North Korean envoy Kim Yong-chol on Friday afternoon to discuss denuclearisation and the second summit, according to the White House. The diplomatic encounters with Kim Yong-chol, Pyongyang’s lead negotiator with the United States, mark a rare sign of potential movement in a…

Irish firms that delegate portfolio management to the UK “can have sufficient confidence” that they will continue to be able to do so once the UK leaves the EU, a senior regulator has said.

Malaysia has filed a lawsuit against an opposition-run state for infringing on an indigenous tribe’s land rights by handing out licences to plantation companies to cut down timber, the first such action by a sitting government.
Deforestation over the decades has displaced some of the dozens of indigenous groups in Malaysia from their customary land. Property development and palm oil, rubber and more recently durian plantations have also encroached on their land.
Activists have criticised…