Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged on Sunday that the country would not wage war again, making the vow on the anniversary of the end of World War II as members of his cabinet visited a controversial shrine.Nearly eight decades since the end of the war, the conflict remains a source of tension between Japan and its neighbours, particularly China and North and South Korea.“Since the end of the war, Japan has consistently walked the path of a country that values peace,” Suga said in a…
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin poised to resign on Monday, ending political crisis, minister says
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will resign on Monday and pave the way for the country’s protracted political crisis to be resolved, a minister has said.“We just finished the meeting. Tomorrow, there will be a special cabinet meeting. After that, he will head to Istana Negara [National Palace] to submit his resignation,” Redzuan Yusof, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, told the Malaysiakini news portal.Muhyiddin, 74, announced the decision to lawmakers during a meeting in…
As South Korea marks 30 years since first ‘comfort woman’ testified in public, President Moon promises ‘historical truth’
South Korea on Saturday marked the 30th anniversary of the day the first South Korean woman publicly spoke out about her experiences as a “comfort woman” during World War II as it commemorated those who were forced to work in the Japanese military’s wartime brothels.The government-sponsored Japanese Military Comfort Women Victims Memorial Day ceremony was held online due to the coronavirus pandemic this year, with President Moon Jae-in delivering a video message. The memorial day was…
US military, China’s economy: Philippines plays it both ways with Duterte’s VFA U-turn
It was an anticlimactic and – to many minds – entirely predictable outcome: on July 30 the Philippines announced it would, after all, retain a long-standing military pact with the United States.During a meeting in Manila with his American counterpart Lloyd Austin, Philippine defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana said President Rodrigo Duterte had decided to renew, not scrap, the 23-year-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).It was a 180-degree turn for Duterte, who in an outburst in February last…
ICO consults on new agreement for data transfers outside the UK
Multinational businesses will welcome a UK regulator’s move to draft a UK-specific contractual addendum that they will be able bolt on to EU standard contractual clauses (SCCs) concerning the international transfer of personal data, a data protection law expert has said.
Vietnam signs contract for third PPP section of north-south expressway
Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport (MoT) has signed a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract for the third section of the north-south expressway under a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
Australia updates its electricity rules to support investment in transmission infrastructure
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has issued a new rule which is intended to attract more developers and investors to invest in transmission infrastructure by making it easier to share transmission assets and connection costs.
Hongkongers think twice as Malaysia changes migration rules amid Covid-19, political instability
Malaysia’s decision to significantly raise the income criteria for its migration scheme for wealthy foreigners may lead Hongkongers to look elsewhere, according to visa agents, who said applicants were also wary of the Southeast Asian country’s political instability. The Malaysia My Second Home Scheme (MM2H) will reopen from October after a hiatus of one year, but with stricter criteria to ensure the applicants contribute to an economy hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, the home affairs…
Coronavirus: Philippines extends travel ban on India and 9 other countries; Sydney poised to tighten lockdown
The Philippines will extend a ban on travellers from India and nine other countries to the end of August because of concerns posed by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, the presidential spokesperson said on Friday.Authorities in the Philippines have been scrambling to contain a jump in coronavirus cases to a four-month high, with infections staying above the 12,000 mark for a second straight day on Thursday, and hospitals in some areas nearing capacity.The travel ban, which…
UK appeal court clarifies ‘doctrine of merger’
A recent decision by the English Court of Appeal confirms the scope of the ‘doctrine of merger’, which is designed to prevent an abuse of court process by preventing parties from bringing multiple claims in respect of the same cause of action.