Asian Legal Review

Many Thais laughed when leader Prayuth Chan-ocha told them to pick up George Orwell’s 1945 satire of the Stalin regime Animal Farm for an entertaining read a week before the parliament voted to confirm his second term in the job since taking power in a 2014 military coup. But it was hardly the first time he has been laughed at, despite being Thailand’s most powerful military man. The 65-year-old former general’s repeated outbursts at reporters, at times swearing at them while being bombarded…

A legal challenge against the use of EU-endorsed standard contractual clauses for underpinning the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US has successfully navigated its way through the Irish courts.

Japanese authorities have seized HK$4.3 billion (US$550 million) worth of crystal meth and arrested seven suspected drug traffickers, including at least one Hongkonger, in the country’s largest ever drugs bust.The seven suspects, all Chinese men aged between 20 and 49, were taken into custody in Minamiizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, in a joint operation between the Japan Coast Guard and the Metropolitan Police Department earlier this week.Law enforcement sources told the Post at least one Hong Kong…

Eid festivities are meant to be marked by family, food and laughter, but for Malaysia’s refugee communities, celebrations are often a more muted affair.The Muslim holiday at the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan brings with it reminders of the homes they have left behind.“In my country, the celebrations will be large. Tables full of food will take up a space this big,” says Afghan refugee Mohseni in halting but expressive English, as he motions from one end of his living room to the…

ANALYSIS: Banks, fintechs and retailers are wrestling with the technical challenge of payment security standards as EU deadlines approach but, whilst compliance is the immediate priority and treat to transactions, those businesses must also look towards the longer term opportunities likely to arise from the wider push to open up access to data.

A rare 25-carat pink diamond is among the millions of dollars worth of jewellery seized from the Philippines’ former first lady Imelda Marcos that will now be publicly auctioned, after years of her contesting the move in court.President Rodrigo Duterte, an ally of the Marcos family, has formally approved the sale of three jewellery sets, his executive secretary confirmed on Tuesday. The items, estimated to be worth about US$19 million in 2015, include Indian diamonds, Burmese rubies and…

129 countries have agreed how they will work together to reach agreement by 2020 on new ways to tax the digitalised economy, according to a programme of work published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

An Indonesian militant suspected of being influenced by Islamic State (ISIS) was seriously wounded when he tried to blow himself up in a suicide attack outside a police station in Kartasura, Central Java, authorities said on Tuesday.The attack late on Monday occurred as the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country prepares to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr festival at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and just weeks after post-election riots rocked Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.“It is…

In the small province of Binh Duong in southern Vietnam, trucks crowd a small road leading to the port from sunrise to sunset, with a few cars and motorbikes honking their horns impatiently among them.During the morning and evening rush hours, traffic jams can last for more than an hour, as bottlenecks of trucks carry cargo to and from Cat Lai Port, the biggest and busiest container terminal in Vietnam.The difficulty navigating this sole access road reflects an increasingly challenging…

The future of loss-making Malaysia Airlines hinges on whether its state-controlled owner agrees to the firm’s strategy of remaining a full-service airline while at the same time trying to claw back market share from fast-growing low-cost carriers, chief executive Izham Ismail says.Izham on Sunday said the plan to turn around the struggling business would be submitted next month to sovereign wealth fund and sole shareholder Khazanah Nasional Berhad, and would require the approval of its chairman…