Asian Legal Review

A Singaporean woman who abused her domestic helper over eight months, making her punch herself and use a meat pounder to hit her mouth, was jailed for 15 months on Tuesday.Mun Sau Yeng, 41, was suffering from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) at the time, the court heard.She pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means to a maid and two charges of voluntarily causing hurt. Another four charges were considered.The victim began working for Mun, a…

A court has clarified that assessment of what constitutes “isolated homes in the countryside” and the weighing of harm against benefits in proposals relating to heritage assets are both matters of planning judgment.

Andrix Serrano studies alone inside a Manila slum shack he shares with his street-sweeper grandmother. Like many in his fourth-grade class, he has no internet for his closed school’s online lessons.A year after the coronavirus pandemic sent the Philippines into a months-long lockdown, classrooms across the country remain empty and children are still stuck at home.Fearing youngsters could catch the virus and infect elderly relatives, President Rodrigo Duterte refuses to lift the restrictions…

A Malaysian court’s decision last week to overturn a decades-old policy banning Christians from referring to God by using the Arabic word “Allah” is unlikely to close the chapter on the saga, analysts say, with the government on Monday appealing against the ruling following pressure from conservative Muslims. With the country likely headed for fresh elections later this year, the resurgence of the issue – and the possibility of rekindled tensions among Muslims and Christians – might give…

The body of a man was found following an avalanche Sunday on Mount Norikura on the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures in central Japan, with two other people injured, local police said.Five people were caught in the avalanche that occurred around 10am on the Nagano side of the mountain but the two others were uninjured, according to the police.Two men from Shiga Prefecture, 41 and 49, who sustained light injuries, had been with the man believed dead when they were hit by the snowslide.“I…

At least five people were killed when security forces fired on anti-junta protesters in Myanmar on Sunday, witnesses and domestic media said, while the acting leader of the parallel civilian government vowed to continue supporting the ‘uprising’.At least three people were killed in the commercial capital, Yangon. Video taken at the main demonstration site showed protesters holding handmade shields and wearing helmets as they confronted security forces in the Hlaing Tharyar district of the city…

Sri Lanka will ban the wearing of the burka and shut more than a thousand Islamic schools, a government minister said on Saturday, the latest actions affecting the country’s minority Muslim population.Minister for Public Security Sarath Weerasekera told a news conference he had signed a paper on Friday for cabinet approval to ban the full face covering worn by some Muslim women on “national security” grounds.“In our early days Muslim women and girls never wore the burka,” he said. “It is a sign…

India will carry out a deeper review of post-vaccination side effects from the AstraZeneca coronavirus shot next week although no cases of blood clots have been reported so far, an official said on Saturday.New Delhi decided to conduct the review after several countries suspended roll-out over blood clot fears even as the World Health Organization (WHO) said there was no reason to stop using AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 jab.Denmark, Norway and Iceland paused use of the drugmaker’s shot as a…

A recent High Court decision on the legal status of a UK statutory restructuring plan may impact on the way in which these proceedings are viewed by European courts post-Brexit.

Digital infrastructure and services, and an EU rulebook to match, will be the norm across Europe by the end of this decade if a new vision set out by the European Commission is realised, experts in technology law and contracts have said.