Author: viking

Pakistan’s Supreme Court rebuked the powerful military and intelligence agencies on Wednesday, calling for them to uphold free speech and stay out of politics in a country ruled by the generals for nearly half its existence.
The unusually strong criticism was issued in a judgment criticising the role of the intelligence agencies in anti-blasphemy protests which paralysed the capital Islamabad for several weeks in 2017.
“If any personnel of the Armed Forces indulges in any form of…

The United States and its allies should strengthen their investments in Asia’s digital economy to counter China’s increasing presence in the region, experts from the US and Japan have said.
The comments, made during a discussion titled “China’s Digital Silk Road” at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Tuesday, were the latest sign of the growing vigilance against China’s overseas technology investments.
In 2015, China outlined…

Businesses liable for value-added tax (VAT) in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states will usually have to complete an apportionment exercise in order to correctly calculate the extent to which they are entitled to deduct the VAT they incur on their own purchases.

A Vietnamese blogger for Radio Free Asia has vanished after fleeing to Thailand, the news organisation said Tuesday, as rights activists voiced fear that he had been abducted.
Truong Duy Nhat – a weekly blogger for the Vietnamese service of Radio Free Asia, which aims to provide news to countries that lack press freedom – last made contact with editors on January 26, a day after he applied for refugee status with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok, the US-funded…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a package of consumer protection measures aimed at pension savers who draw down their savings on retirement, rather than purchasing an annuity.

Actress Angelina Jolie said on Tuesday that Myanmar must “show genuine commitment” to end violence that has driven hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims into neighbouring Bangladesh.
The superstar envoy for the UN refugee agency made the comments on the second day of emotional meetings with Rohingya, including rape survivors, in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh, where some 740,000 refugees have fled since August 2017. There were already about 300,000 in camps before…

It boasts a gym, pool, gallery, beauty salon and helipad – not to mention space for sleeping 22 guests – and it’s up for sale at around half its purchase price. Yet finding a buyer for the 300-foot superyacht Equanimity, one of the most striking assets at the heart of the 1MDB scandal, is not proving to be an easy task.
The boat stands out among possessions being sold by Malaysian authorities keen to recoup funds allegedly lost…

ANALYSIS: A push to set new principles around the licensing of standard-essential patents highlights the growing number of businesses whose operations, products and services now rely on standardised technology.

Hundreds of musicians in Indonesia have lashed out against what they say is a ludicrous draft law that could “destroy” freedom of expression.
Among the most contentious aspects of the draft is Article 5, which outlaws “negative foreign influences” as well as blasphemous or pornographic content, punishable by imprisonment or a fine. View this post on Instagram A post shared by SID (@sid_official) on Dec 6, 2018 at 6:50pm PST The…

Each night after her children finally fall asleep, Mehala Sekar spends hours at her home in south India, sewing, cutting and checking clothing given to her by a garment factory contractor.
For each finished item, Sekar earns less than one Indian rupee (US$0.0141), and like millions of other “invisible” home-based workers in India, she is being exploited by the country’s garment industry, according to research published on Friday.
“If I went to a factory, I would earn…