Asian Legal Review

ANALYSIS: Banks need to reconsider how best to provide their products to customers as a result of the changes anticipated in the age of Open Banking.

A top Australian diplomat told a Senate committee Thursday that the bilateral relationship with China was going through “complex and difficult issues”, but rejected a media report of a diplomatic deep freeze.
Frances Adamson, secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, described The Australian newspaper’s headline: “Cold war: China’s freeze on ties” as “just wrong.”
“We’re going through a period where there are some…

A radical Islamic cleric who was the spiritual leader of the Bali bombers and a force behind a jihadist training camp raided in 2010 has been transferred from prison to a Jakarta hospital.
Guarded by four paramilitary police officers, the ailing white-bearded Abu Bakar Bashir arrived at the hospital in Indonesia’s capital on Thursday morning.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2011 for supporting a military-style training camp for militants that was uncovered the year before.
The…

Six telecoms companies have qualified for the right to bid to win spectrum being made available in the UK for the delivery of 4G and 5G services.

Japanese women who say “Me too” do so at their own risk.
Online comments accused Rika Shiiki of lying and being a publicity hound when she tweeted that she lost business contracts after refusing to have sex with clients. Some said that by agreeing to dine with a man, she led him on.
“The comments I received were disproportionately negative,” the 20-year-old university student and entrepreneur told a television talk show in December.
“We need to create a society…

By Farik Zolkepli Police in Malaysia have busted a gang specialising in stealing Bitcoin mining machines after they tried to sell the half million ringgit (US$127,410) equipment via online shopping sites. Serdang OCPD Asst Comm Megat Mohammad Aminudin Megat Alias said the nine suspects were arrested at about 10pm on February 23rd. “We were acting on information obtained when the suspects at­­tempt­­ed to sell the equipment via Mudah.my and Facebook. “We…

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will target “industries that are at a greater risk of cartels forming” as part of a new campaign to crack down on anti-competitive behaviour.

Japan formally complained on Monday after South Korea’s foreign minister raised the issue of wartime “comfort women” at the top UN rights body, while warning that it should not be allowed to harm bilateral relations at a critical time in East Asia.
“Comfort women” was Japan’s euphemism for Asian women – including Koreans, Chinese and Filipino – forced to work in its wartime brothels. Under a 2015 deal, Japan apologised to the women and provided a…

Two Singaporean men pleaded guilty Tuesday to letting out flats on Airbnb without official permission, the first such case in the city state under new rules against short-term rentals.
Housing is a sensitive issue in rich but land-starved Singapore where more than 80 per cent of the population lives in government-subsidised flats.
Terence Tan En Wei, 35, and Yao Song Liang, 34, pleaded guilty in court to four charges of illegally renting out four flats in a luxury private block in central…

The minimum price per unit of alcohol is to be set at 50 pence in Scotland, the Scottish government has confirmed. The recommended minimum rate, which still has to be ratified by the Scottish parliament, would apply from 1 May 2018.