Month: November 2021

It’s a city of more than 5 million motorbikes, but Hanoi on Saturday opened its first ever urban railway line as authorities try to cut traffic and pollution that have long dogged the Vietnamese capital.After years of delays and a near-doubling of construction costs, a train eased out of Cat Linh station, close to the centre of the city, to begin its 13-kilometre journey towards the densely populated east.“I decided to give this a try because I was curious,” Nguyen Thi Thu said inside a busy…

Malaysia’s Smart Glove on Saturday said it was opposed to forced labour and committed to the well-being of its workers, after the United States banned imports from the rubber glove maker for alleged forced labour practices.The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Thursday issued a “Withhold Release Order” prohibiting imports from Smart Glove and its group of companies, citing what the CBP called reasonable evidence that indicated “Smart Glove production facilities utilise forced labour”…

The Pensions Ombudsman (PO) has emphasised the need for parties to work together to resolve pensions disputes, in one of the recent decisions to be handed down by the body. The decisions also highlighted the importance of information to managing pensions and settling disputes, with the provision of documentary evidence a key element of two cases in September 2021.

A video showing a powerful Vietnamese official enjoying a bite of steak smothered in gold leaf at a luxury London restaurant has sparked online anger in the Southeast Asian country, where the average person earns a few dollars a day.To Lam, minister of public security – whose agency deals with the monitoring of dissent and surveillance of activists in the authoritarian state – was seen tucking into the hunk of meat at Nusr-Et Steakhouse in the wealthy area of Knightsbridge.Nusr-Et, named after…

Two recent rulings from the English and Hong Kong courts have highlighted that the question of compliance with procedural steps in an arbitration clause relates to the admissibility of a claim rather than the tribunal’s substantive jurisdiction.

A new form of intellectual property (IP) right could be written into UK law to provide protection to “AI-devised inventions”.

In an ironic twist to the Philippine presidential election, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr could be disqualified from running under a law issued by his late dictator father.Ferdinand Marcos Snr had used his dictatorial powers in the 1970s to write a special clause into the National Internal Revenue Code banning any government official convicted of tax fraud from holding public office.The law remains in force today – though the clause has never been used – and could derail the…

Four partners of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have pledged US$665 million to fund climate resilient infrastructure.

Spanish police have dismantled a smuggling ring suspected of bringing hundreds of Pakistani migrants into the European Union overland in “life-threatening conditions”, officials said on Thursday.The smuggling group took Pakistanis from camps in Bosnia to Italy or Spain, said a statement from Europol, which was involved in the Spanish operation.“Transported in life-threatening conditions in cars, vans or trucks, they often spend days confined with little or no supplies,” the European Union law…

In-house legal teams are well placed to lead their companies’ navigation of the risks and opportunities arising from the climate crisis and the path to ‘net zero’.