Asian Legal Review

The European Commission has proposed to issue the UK with ‘data adequacy’ decisions to facilitate the continued free flow of personal data from EU member states to the UK.

Prison authorities in India’s Uttar Pradesh state have begun preparations to hang a female inmate who has been on death row for 11 years, in what would be the first execution of a woman since the country’s independence from the British in 1947.Shabnam Ali, 38, was sentenced to death for killing seven members of her own family in April 2008. A court found her guilty of carrying out the killings with her lover, Saleem – a high school dropout who worked as a day labourer.The two were in a…

Just hours after being fined 500,000 ringgit (US$123,600) for contempt, a leading Malaysian news portal on Friday raised the full amount for the penalty through an online fundraising campaign – with citizens decrying the court’s decision as the latest blow for press freedom in the country.The Federal Court, Malaysia’s highest judicial body, on Friday ruled that Malaysiakini was guilty of contempt over five comments posted by readers on its website last year, saying the portal – one of Southeast…

Strong leadership and commitment will be vital to the UK government’s plans to develop the area between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge as a national economic priority area, according to planning experts at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.

Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Thursday told the military leaders behind Myanmar’s coup that the use of live rounds against unarmed civilians protesting the seizure of power was unacceptable “under any circumstances”.Diplomatic observers said the language in a foreign ministry press statement, released after Balakrishnan’s meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi, signified a toughened stance from the city state as it came under pressure from protesters over…

Indonesia is requiring those eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine to take the shots as the country seeks ways to quicken its inoculation programme to curb Southeast Asia’s largest outbreak.The government can punish those who refuse the vaccine by stopping or delaying social assistance programmes and administrative services as well as impose fines, according to a revised presidential rule. The actual form of the sanctions are left to local governments to decide.Making the Covid-19 vaccine…

The Investment Association (IA) has outlined details of the planned Long-Term Asset Fund (LTAF), in the wake of the UK government’s commitment to enabling the new structure in the course of this year.

Thailand warned users of Clubhouse on Wednesday not to break the law after the audio social media app emerged almost overnight as a platform for discussion of the monarchy, the latest example of the fast-growing app drawing the ire of governments in Asia.Digital minister Puttipong Punnakanta said the Thai authorities were watching Clubhouse users, and political groups on the app were distorting information and potentially violating laws.A large number of users in Thailand joined Clubhouse in…

Cambodia’s government has issued a decree establishing a China-style internet gateway that will allow online traffic to be controlled and monitored, prompting local concern that democratic freedoms could be under threat.The 11-page decree announced on Wednesday seeks to facilitate and manage internet connections to help revenue collection, protect national security and maintain social order, culture and tradition.The gateway’s operator will support authorities with “measures to prevent and…

The UK’s rules requiring the reporting of cross border tax arrangements have been scaled back as a result of the end of the Brexit transition period and require reporting only of arrangements which undermine the common reporting standard or disguise beneficial ownership.