Asian Legal Review

Pension trustees have a legal obligation to address gender-based guaranteed minimum pensions (GMPs) inequalities for contracted-out workers, the High Court has ruled.

Japan’s government on Friday rejected calls from a United Nations rights expert to halt the return of women and children to areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster over radiation fears.
UN special rapporteur Baskut Tuncak on Thursday warned that people felt they were “being forced to return to areas that are unsafe, including those with radiation levels above what the government previously considered safe”.
In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, Japan’s…

The Philippines is considering halving the time for Chinese tourists to get visas to five days, as it set a 10.8 per cent growth target for foreign visitors next year following the reopening of Boracay after a massive six-month clean-up.
But even as the island banks on tourism, tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat made it clear Macau-based Galaxy Entertainment Group would not be allowed to build a casino on the island to woo visitors.
“No casino in Boracay. It’s not going to…

The UK government remains committed to delivering a pensions dashboard and has not scrapped the project, the pensions minister has confirmed.

The NEC4 Alliance Contract was published in June 2018. The much-anticipated new standard form contract allows parties to construction projects to more closely collaborate and equally share in that project’s risks and rewards.

The silencing of a critic of a Middle Eastern government would not usually grab international attention. But Jamal Khashoggi was a prominent journalist from Saudi Arabia and his murder at his country’s consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul was repugnant and raises questions about regional stability and promised Saudi reforms. Pressure on Riyadh to provide an account of what happened have not been convincing in the face of alleged evidence presented and leaked by Turkey. Despite all…

ANALYSIS: World Bank subsidiary the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has published a set of draft principles for impact investment, designed to make it easier for international investors to contribute to sustainable development.

Leaders of Singapore’s only parliamentary opposition party have appealed to supporters for financial help, saying they face the risk of bankruptcy as costs mount in civil cases they are fighting.
The three officials of the Workers’ Party are being sued by two town councils controlled by the party between 2011 and 2015 for more than S$30 million (US$21.7 million) in damages. The councils say the trio failed in their fiduciary duties – claims the defendants say are unfounded….

Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim, the reformist politician to whom Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will hand power in two years, on Wednesday met with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in the latest signal both sides are conscientiously consolidating bilateral ties.
While there has been some talk that Beijing is unhappy Malaysia has been sending mixed signals over the future of billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects linked to the “Belt and Road Initiative”, Anwar’s…

The Philippines reopens its crown jewel resort island Boracay to holidaymakers on Friday, after a six-month clean up aimed at repairing the damage inflicted by years of unrestrained mass tourism.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the island closed in April for a major effort to fortify weak infrastructure and crack down on the rampant overdevelopment that had left it, what he termed, a “cesspool”.
When the government throws open the doors, Boracay will have fewer hotels…