Brexit as an event will cause disputes related to trade between the UK and Ireland, and the Brexit process will make those disputes more complicated in three main areas: the service of proceedings; jurisdiction, and enforcement.
North Korea gears up for party congress to discuss US policy, Biden
Thousands of maskless North Korean delegates have gathered in Pyongyang for what appears to be the imminent eighth congress of the ruling Workers’ Party, in preparation for a meeting that will set the country’s policy direction for the next five years. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said a ceremony had taken place in the capital on Wednesday to award certificates to the delegates who would take part in the congress. It did not give an exact date for the event, but in 2016 it…
Coronavirus: Singapore identifies two people who may be infected with new strain
Two people in Singapore who came back from the UK have been preliminarily tested to have a new Covid-19 strain that is circulating there, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.One of the people that initially tested positive for the potentially more contagious virus strain is a Singapore Airlines pilot, who travelled to the UK for work from December 19-22. While his test taken on December 23 came back negative, he developed a fever three days later and was confirmed to have Covid-19 on…
How the Brexit deal will affect supply chains
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement in detail
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement offers some major free-trade benefits, but also represents an end to most aspects of the free market access that the UK previously enjoyed as an EU member state.
Malaysian cartel allegedly sold fake halal meat to Muslims for 40 years
A meat-fraud scandal is roiling Malaysia after a local news outlet uncovered a cartel that allegedly bribed customs officials in order to smuggle in all kinds of meat and label it halal, triggering outrage in the Muslim-majority country.For more than 40 years, the conspirators allegedly bribed senior officers from several government agencies to import meat from non-halal certified slaughterhouses including Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, China, Colombia, Mexico, Spain and Ukraine, according to the New…
Recycled condoms, heroic animals, and QAnon comes to Asia: the region’s most bizarre stories from 2020
It’s been an unusual year, mostly due to the once-in-a-lifetime disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s not a surprise in that case that 2020 brought its share of bizarre news. Here are the weirdest stories from a weird year.CATS DRESSED TO IMPRESSAfter quitting his job as a schoolteacher, Indonesian tailor Fredi Lugina Priadi tried his hand at a number of businesses – including running a motorbike repair shop – before stumbling upon feline fashions, an idea from one of his cat…
For Thailand’s Covid-hit economy, all that glitters is not gold as baht rallies
Gold sales in Thailand are surging as households reach for a financial lifeline amid the pandemic, a tactic that risks complicating government efforts to tame an export-stifling rally in the nation’s currency.Exports of the precious metal surged to a record this year as prices climbed and Thais unloaded jewellery, bars and medallions to raise cash for routine expenses. Bullion traders expect the trend to continue into 2021 as the coronavirus drags on tourism and manufacturing, the mainstays of…
Cambodia begins first crude oil production in joint venture with Singapore’s KrisEnergy
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday announced that the kingdom had extracted its first drop of crude oil from its waters, a long-awaited milestone for one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations.The joint venture between Cambodia and Singapore’s KrisEnergy will see the extraction of the oil from fields in the Gulf of Thailand.The area boasts significant oil deposits, with Chevron first finding proven reserves off Cambodia in 2005. But production stalled as the government and the US giant…
Kim Jong-un calls meeting as North Korea faces worst economic crisis since 1990s famine
As North Korean leader Kim Jong-un grapples with the toughest challenges of his nine-year rule, he is set to open a massive ruling Workers’ Party congress next month to try to muster stronger public loyalty to him and lay out new economic and foreign policies.While few question Kim’s grip on power, there is still room for things to get worse, especially if the world fails to find a quick way out of the Covid-19 crisis.That would prolong North Korea’s self-imposed lockdown and could possibly set…