Asian Legal Review

The death toll from the novel coronavirus in Japan surpassed 5,000 on Saturday as the country struggles to curb a third wave of infections, according to a Kyodo News tally.The pace of deaths linked to the virus has accelerated recently, forcing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to declare a state of emergency in 11 of the country’s 47 prefectures, including Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, earlier in the month.Of the total, more than 3,000 deaths were reported since the ongoing resurgence emerged in…

Vietnam must navigate the troubled relationship between the United States and China – its two most important trade partners – at a particularly complex time, just as new leaderships emerge in both Hanoi and Washington.With Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president and a leadership shake-up expected at the Vietnamese Communist Party’s National Congress, which starts on Monday, experts say there will be opportunities in the months ahead to strengthen the relationship between Vietnam and its former…

The public procurement regime has now changed in the UK following the expiry of the Brexit transition period.

Some 60,000 residents in Singapore have received their first Covid-19 vaccine shots since December 30, authorities said on Friday, adding that immunisation efforts would be ramped up in what it touted as the “largest vaccination exercise in our history”.This figure included staff working in the health care sector and in frontline and essential services, the health ministry said.In Southeast Asia, only Singapore and Indonesia have so far started their vaccination drives, with the latter…

Better public information should be made available to increase support for discounted sentences, according to a review of sentencing and plea decision-making in Scotland.

The Philippines’ Department of Energy (DOE) announced a tender for five geothermal projects and 17 hydropower projects which will be awarded in April.

Pro-Islamic State (Isis) activity and support for it in Indonesia declined last year, but authorities should not rest easy as militant groups are splintering to produce small “pop up” terror cells that aim to conduct jihad operations, a Jakarta-based think-tank has warned. In its latest report released on Tuesday, the Institute of Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) outlined the factors that led to a fall in pro-Isis activity, including better law enforcement, the collapse of Isis, and “self…

The Court of Appeal has dismissed a challenge by ClientEarth to the grant of development consent for two carbon capture ready gas-fired generating units at the existing Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire.

A fire broke out on Thursday at India’s Serum Institute, the world’s largest maker of vaccines, with television channels showing thick clouds of grey smoke billowing from the site in Pune.The institute is producing millions of doses of the Covishield coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, but a source said the blaze was at a new plant under construction and “is not going to affect production of the Covid-19 vaccine”.An official at the local fire station said that…

Japanese koi are typically thought of as expensive ornamental fish rather than food, so a Malaysian woman caused quite a stir on social media when she shared pictures of her dead pet koi being turned into a soup.Amanda Omeychua first posted the photos on a Facebook group with more than 2 million members called “Masak Apa Tak Jadi Hari Ni”, which roughly translates as “Cooking Fails Of The Day”.The montage of six pictures showed almost two dozen dead fish laid out on a floor, with Omeychua…