Asian Legal Review

Several thousand fishermen blocked Bangladesh’s busiest highway on Sunday, police said, as protests escalated over a two-month fishing ban in the Bay of Bengal.The fishermen say the 65-day blockade – intended to replenish fish stocks – is driving them out of business.Their one-hour protest at the coastal town of Sitakunda caused several kilometres of traffic jams on the main road linking the capital Dhaka to the second city of Chittagong.Local police chief Suman Banik said the demonstration by…

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the arrest of those involved in a dialysis treatment scam that defrauded Philippine Health Insurance Corp, and plans a revamp of the state-run insurer for losing more than 150 billions pesos (US$2.89 billion) from fictitious claims and abuse.“I will really go after this” and “I am ordering the National Bureau of Investigation” to take over, invite people and start making arrests, Duterte said Saturday during an interview in the television show of his ally…

Every night for the past 20 years, Nguyen Thi Tai takes four white tablets before bed so she can sleep without pain. The painkillers and anti-epilepsy medication provide relief for the 32-year-old, who has brain damage and muscular dystrophy caused by wartime toxin Agent Orange. “If she does not take the pills, she will be up all night crying and knocking her head against the wall,” says Tai’s mother, Tran Thi Gai, 58, at their home in Vietnam’s poverty-stricken Quang Tri province. Four of…

Jakkrit Matha – who only turned 16 in May – has battled to overcome the hardships of life. His mother was only recently released from prison after serving time on drug charges. His 70-year-old grandfather still drives a bus to earn a living, while his grandmother looks after his two siblings in Phetchabun province, 300km from Bangkok, after his father left the family.Today, Jakkrit fights to support himself and his grandparents financially, quite literally – through Muay Thai, or Thai kick…

A top South Korean official on Friday said there was little security risk in using equipment by Chinese telecoms giant Huawei for his country’s 5G network, amid efforts by the United States to persuade allies to avoid the company.The presidential Blue House official said South Korea used Huawei hardware for less than 10 per cent of its fifth-generation cellular infrastructure, with the rest provided by Samsung and other firms.“[Huawei equipment] is clearly isolated from our defence and security…

The Singapore High Court has said that ‘fitness for purpose’ was not an implied term in a data centre construction contract.

ANALYSIS: Financial institutions have an opportunity to build on the trust customers have in their handling of sensitive data to develop market-leading digital identity (ID) solutions that can be used to access other on- and off-line services.

Malaysia’s leader Mahathir Mohamad might be in his 90s but he does not pull his punches – even when global superpowers are in the ring.That much was clear at the 25th International Conference on the Future of Asia hosted by Nikkei, when the prime minister criticised the trade dispute between the US and China, and warned it could lead to “greater destruction”.The nonagenarian openly supported Huawei and called out the United States on its playground-style tactics in controlling the tech industry…

Businesses will be more likely to avoid heavy fines if they own up to data breaches they experience, Singapore’s data regulator has said.

Are robot baristas the future of South Korea’s vibrant coffee culture? Dal.komm Coffee thinks so. The company now has 45 robot-equipped outlets in shopping malls, company cafeterias, schools and an airport.Coffee is just one of many industries that could be transformed by automated services in the tech-forward nation, a notion both exciting and worrisome as jobs become scarcer.South Korean industries, including restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets, banks and manufacturers, are relying…