Asian Legal Review

Brunei is set to fast-track changes to its penal code that could see people from the LGBTQ community whipped or stoned to death for same-sex activity, human rights groups said on Monday, as they condemned the move.Brunei introduced Islamic criminal law in 2014 when it announced the first of three stages of legal changes that included fines or jail for offences like pregnancy outside marriage or failing to pray on Friday.Previously homosexuality was illegal in Brunei and punishable by up to 10…

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday that a long-awaited trip to China will take place next week, but had been shortened in the wake of the Christchurch mosque killings.Ardern said she would travel to Beijing on Sunday then hold a full day of meetings on Monday with the leaders of New Zealand’s largest trading partner, including President Xi Jinping, before returning home the next day.She said she did not want to spend too long away from New Zealand as it continues to…

The Shinawatra political bloc that prevailed in Thailand’s past five elections woke on Monday to the unfamiliar prospect of life on parliament’s opposition benches as results from Sunday’s election showed its pro-military rivals headed for victory.The bloc’s architect, self-exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, from Hong Kong urged supporters to have “hope” but did not mention the prospect of defeat.His bloc has for two decades channelled populist support from Thailand’s rural…

As digital landscapes shift between the new and the old, blockchain and cryptocurrencies have quietly risen in popularity, particularly as countries experiment with emerging technologies. With power increasingly framed by Asia’s soft ambitions as the region embarks on more persuasive methods of influence, the continent’s blockchain market is projected to grow by an estimated 87 per cent , with the next chapter of adoption likely to unfold within the East. Even as Asia continues its advance,…

OVER 10 MONTHS, she was caned, barred from using the toilet, forced to eat her own vomit and warned that her relatives could be killed if she complained. It was a life Moe Moe Than, 32, a domestic worker from Myanmar, never imagined when she arrived in Singapore in 2012.Last week, her Singaporean employers, a married couple with three children, were sent to prison – one for almost four years, the other for two years. They are also facing prison time for abusing an Indonesian helper who worked…

C hina’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative includes some of the world’s most complex infrastructure projects – ports, pipelines and railways stretching from Beijing to Berlin.As the initiative intensifies, so too have the legal disputes between investors, foreign governments and Chinese players, making the rules about how disputes are decided more important than ever.Hong Kong and Singapore, two of the world’s most trusted centres for resolving international legal disputes, are…

Vietnamese authorities have ordered monks at a popular Buddhist pagoda to stop “soul summoning” and “bad karma eviction” ceremonies after an investigation found the rituals were a scam.Tens of thousands of worshippers have been paying the 18th century Ba Vang pagoda in northern Quang Ninh province between 1 million and several hundred million dong (US$45-US$13,500) to have their bad karma vanquished, according to the state-run Lao Dong newspaper.The Committee for Religious Affairs, a government…

A review of aggregates levy launched by the UK government should address “patchy and sometimes illogical aggregates levy exemptions which result in too many infrastructure projects being caught”, an expert has said.

Tackling sexual harassment within the financial services industry will require cultural change from firms, from senior leadership down, an expert has said.

Rules on access to and use of genetic data need updating to support the growth of genomics medicine, the health secretary in England has said.