A transgender businesswoman who fled Malaysia after being accused of insulting Islam by cross-dressing has been granted asylum.Cosmetics millionaire Nur Sajat, 36, has been on the run for months since being summoned to appear at a sharia court on a blasphemy charge for dressing as a woman during a religious event at her beauty centre in 2018.Last month, she resurfaced in Thailand, where she was briefly detained, charged and fined over an immigration offence, but was subsequently released and…
Muslims and Hindus protest in Bangladesh amid violence over perceived insult to Islam
Protests erupted for a second day in Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday, amid a wave of violence against local Hindus following a viral social media image perceived as insulting to the country’s Muslim majority.Some 10,000 protesters – many of them carrying banners of Islamist political parties – took to the streets outside the main mosque of the capital, Dhaka, a day after demonstrations on the same site ended in clashes with police.The crowd chanted “Down with the enemies of the Islam” and …
In Malaysia’s Johor, forest reserves are being replaced with gold mines and palm oil plantations
About five years ago, a herd of elephants showed up at Su Chun Fa’s estate in Malaysia and ate all the young oil palms in an eight-acre plot.Su blamed himself. Elephants had long roamed the adjacent forests in Johor, but they had stayed away from the estates for some time, so he opted not to install electric fences.“I was careless,” said the 75-year-old, who has lived in Peninsular Malaysia’s southernmost state of Johor for most of his life. He has since abandoned his plot near the town of…
Myanmar junta blames ‘foreign intervention’ for Asean summit exclusion
Myanmar’s military government has blamed “foreign intervention” for the rare exclusion of its junta leader from a regional leaders’ summit this month.Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told the BBC Burmese news service that the United States and representatives of the European Union had pressured other leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to exclude military leader Min Aung Hlaing from the summit, taking place October 26-28.“The foreign interventions can also be seen…
Singapore says no disruption to electricity supply as power companies exit
Singapore’s energy regulator said on Saturday that it is working closely with retailers facing challenges from current volatile electricity prices and said there will be no disruption to their customers’ electricity supply.Singapore’s wholesale electricity market prices, which are determined every half-hour depending on demand and supply conditions, have been hit by higher price volatility for sustained periods over the past two weeks, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said.Several factors were…
Transposing the EU’s platform liability regime into Dutch, German and Irish law
The EU’s Digital Single Market (DSM) Copyright Directive is set to adapt the European Union’s copyright law to the requirements of a digital society, but only few member states have adequately transposed it into national law within the deadline.
South African court confirms binding nature of unrevised adjudicator decisions
South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has reinforced the purpose of adjudication in settling disputes under construction contracts, confirming that an adjudicator’s decision which has not been revised by a tribunal remains binding and enforceable.
How to navigate complex IP issues in European tech M&A
European technology companies are often attractive targets for acquisition because of the intellectual property (IP) they develop or are otherwise able to access.
US should give Australia access to operations in Singapore, Guam, Philippines: report
Australian and US military forces should integrate further under a “collective deterrence strategy” aimed at China’s rise, giving Canberra access to American operations in the Philippines, Singapore and Guam, a new report argues.The allies should look at new “combined access arrangements” among a number of ways to strengthen “integrated deterrence” against Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region, according to the report released by the Sydney-based United States Studies Centre on Friday…
The new e-money regulations
This guide is subject to UK law and was last updated on 1st February 2011. New regulations coming into force in April 2011 aim to encourage more firms to set up electronic money schemes and introdu…