Month: September 2025

New US levies on pharmaceuticals may not have an “immediate impact” on Singapore’s drug makers, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong has said, adding the city state may pursue a ceiling on tariff rates similar to deals that Washington has with other countries.
Gan, who is also minister for trade and industry, told reporters on Saturday that most pharmaceutical companies in Singapore had built capacity in the US or had plans to do so. That could allow them to be exempted from the coming US…

Thailand’s prime minister said on Friday that his government will propose a referendum on whether to revoke two agreements on the demarcation of its border with Cambodia as part of a plan to address a simmering dispute with its neighbour.
Thailand and Cambodia have bickered for decades over undemarcated points along their 817km (508 mile) land border.
Tensions exploded into a deadly five-day conflict in July – the worst fighting between the two countries in over a decade – that killed at least…

Employers seeking to enforce guarantees under South African law can take comfort from a recent court decision, where a claim was allowed to proceed although the beneficiary had never been issued the original embossed documentation.

Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) has officially rebranded its tech-focused free zone, marking a significant step towards the emirate’s ambition to become a regional and global hub for technology and innovation.

A recent decision by the UK Pension Ombudsman (PO) has highlighted that, in death benefit cases, the decision-making process is not to be driven by claims and counter-claims between potential beneficiaries, after rejecting a complaint about a pension provider’s decision to refuse a member’s wife a share in his death benefit lump sum.

The Netherlands pledged on Friday to return to Indonesia the remains of “Java Man”, the first-ever “Homo erectus” unearthed by modern scientists, in a landmark discovery for human evolution.
The Dutch plan to hand back some 28,000 fossils of the “Dubois Collection” looted by anatomist and geologist Eugene Dubois in 1891, when Indonesia was still a colony of the Netherlands.
They include Java Man’s skull cap, molar and femur that form part of evolutionary history – providing the first established…

India on Thursday signed a US$7 billion order for 97 domestically designed and built Tejas fighter jets as its air force retires its outgoing Russian MiG-21 jets after decades of use.
The first Tejas jets – meaning “brilliance” in Hindi – were commissioned into the air force in 2016, with the latest commission for the fourth-generation version of the fighter, Mk-1A.
India, one of the world’s largest arms importers, has made the modernisation of its forces a top priority, and made repeated pushes…

Semiconductor manufacturers in Southeast Asia must shift production to the US or face punitive tariffs, Washington’s top trade official warned on Thursday, saying tariffs “are the solution” if trade talks with regional governments fail to deliver results.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer delivered the message in Kuala Lumpur, where he met with ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Greer’s comments came as members of the regional bloc raced to secure better…

A ruling by the High Court in England to recognise the provisional liquidation of a Jersey-incorporated company for the first time will provide reassurance to creditors, an expert has said.

At least four people were killed and dozens injured in India’s Himalayan region of Ladakh on Wednesday as protesters demanding statehood for the federal territory and job quotas for local residents clashed with police, two sources said.
The Buddhist-Muslim enclave lost its autonomy in 2019 when it was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir state by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and placed under the direct administration of New Delhi. Protesters, led by activist Sonam Wangchuk, also want…