Month: July 2021

Myanmar’s security forces killed at least 25 people on Friday in a confrontation with opponents of the military junta, it emerged on Sunday – the same day a Japanese government source revealed that the Yangon homes of Japanese diplomatic staff had been forcibly entered by security forces earlier in the year.A spokesman for the military did not respond to calls requesting comment on Friday’s violence at Depayin in the Sagaing region, about 300km (200 miles) north of the capital, Naypyidaw.The…

Pakistan’s national security adviser has accused India of orchestrating last month’s deadly car bombing in the eastern city of Lahore, saying on Sunday that an investigation had shown it was organised by an Indian intelligence operative.In a news conference in Islamabad, Moeed Yousuf said the probe showed that the man was an Indian citizen living in India who works for that country’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He did not name the alleged mastermind.“Through the forensic analysis,…

Our Tokyo Trail series looks at key issues surrounding the 2020 Olympics, which are scheduled for late July.When track and field athlete Lindsay Flach from the United States took part in trials for the heptathlon last week, the 31-year-old didn’t think she could qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. But she was determined to prove she could compete in the seven events that make up one of the Games’ most gruelling competitions – while she was 18 weeks pregnant.Flach – who had days earlier revealed on…

Our Tokyo Trail series looks at key issues and athletes in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics, which are scheduled for late July. This is the second in a two-part feature on Asian-American gymnasts who made headlines in the past week.When Asian-American gymnast Sunisa Lee clinched her spot on the US women’s gymnastics team last weekend, members of the Hmong ethnic minority rejoiced in her historic achievement.The 18-year-old will become the first member of the community – which has its roots in…

Indonesia on Saturday imposed a partial lockdown in Jakarta, across the main island of Java and on Bali as the Southeast Asian nation grapples with an unprecedented wave of coronavirus infections.Mosques, restaurants and shopping malls were closed in virus hotspots around the Muslim-majority country, which recorded more than 25,000 new cases and 539 deaths on Friday, both new daily records.Indonesia’s daily caseload has more than quadrupled in less than a month. But the country’s official tally…

In May, Myanmar media reported that the ruling junta had reorganised committees that work on the country’s joint projects with China, ousting all civilian leaders and replacing them with its own appointees.The personnel changes were made to the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor Joint Committee – which oversees a 1,700km infrastructure development plan that will connect Kunming, the capital of Yunnan in southwest China, with Myanmar’s major economic hubs – and the committee overseeing the Myanmar…

Plans to modernise licensing laws in Northern Ireland, including extended opening hours and the removal of restrictions on trade over the Easter period, will be a “game changer” for the hospitality industry, a Belfast-based legal expert has said.

Parties to international arbitrations being heard in South Africa will now have access to third-party funding and be able to take advantage of electronic filing and digital hearings under new rules.

Under European law, unfair terms in consumer contracts are not binding on the consumer. The CJEU has now ruled that banks cannot defend themselves against a finding of unfairness by referring to the statute of limitations.

It will take time to see how a prohibition on ‘unfair’ time bars in Western Australia’s new security of payment legislation – the first of its kind in Australia – works in practice.