Asian Legal Review

A recent judgment by the Court of Appeal provides important guidance on the territorial jurisdiction of the UK employment tribunals, particularly on the extent of statutory whistleblower protections for workers, an expert has said.

Approximately 6,200 UK businesses have been issued with a letter advising them of their transparency obligations under modern slavery laws and warned that they risk being listed as non-compliant in the new year.

Amid a slowing economy, faltering stock markets and an ongoing trade war with the United States, Liu He, President Xi Jinping’s mastermind on economic policy, gave a high-profile interview last week with the state media to boost domestic confidence and send a positive signal to the Americans. Published by Xinhua and People’s Daily just after a rare joint pep talk given by the country’s top financial officials on the same day, the interview with Liu, a member of the powerful…

Singapore launched a government agency on Tuesday to support infrastructure projects across Asia, which need billions of dollars in funding, and make them more appealing to financial institutions and private investors.
The global financial hub’s decision to position itself as a broker for regional infrastructure investment comes as China ramps up efforts to fund and build transport and trade links in dozens of countries as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
Flagged earlier this year,…

A Philippine court on Monday rejected a petition by President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration to have his fiercest critic in the Senate arrested, in a legal setback for Duterte that the senator called a victory for democracy.
Regional Trial Court Judge Andres Bartolome Soriano denied the government’s petition to have opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV arrested after Duterte voided his 2011 amnesty for his role in past mutinies as a former navy officer. Soriano debunked Duterte…

Malaysian opposition politician Hishammuddin Hussein has offered to help the government find and repatriate Low Taek Jho, the missing financier suspected of masterminding a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
The offer comes just weeks after Hishammuddin’s cousin, the former prime minister Najib Razak, was charged on multiple counts regarding the misappropriation of funds at 1MDB.
Low – popularly known as Jho Low – is wanted by…

The majority of businesses are preparing to implement contingency plans to protect themselves against the impact of a no-deal Brexit by the end of this year, new research has found.

Three suspected rebels were killed in a gun battle with Indian government forces in disputed Kashmir on Sunday, and at least five civilians were killed in an explosion at the site after the fighting was over, officials and residents said.
The fighting erupted after troops cordoned off a village in the southern Kulgam area on a tip that rebels were hiding there, India’s military said. The exchange lasted for several hours in which three militants were killed and two soldiers injured, it…

Gunmen killed nine members of a farmers’ group who occupied part of a privately owned sugarcane plantation in a central Philippine province, police said Sunday.
The victims were resting in a makeshift hut Saturday night when about 10 gunmen opened fire, police said.
At least four farmers survived the attack at the plantation in Sagay city in Negros Occidental province, which has a history of bloody land feuds.
“There are groups fighting over that land,” Sagay police Chief…

In an email arranging to hand over US Navy information to flamboyant contractor Leonard Francis, Navy Commander Troy Amundson described himself as “a small dog just trying to get a bone”.
Later that night, Francis organised several prostitutes from Mongolia for Amundson, prosecutors say, just one in a string of bribes Francis paid for leaked military data.
On Friday, Amundson was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He joins the ranks of more than a dozen other US Navy officials whose…