Asian Legal Review

Proposals on the way the UK’s financial watchdog plans to regulate businesses conducting crypto asset activities will mean significant changes for organisations which have previously not come under their remit, according to an expert.

The site at 38 Oxley Road was gazetted for acquisition on Thursday, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the National Heritage Board (NHB) said in a media release.
This follows the gazetting of the site as a national monument on December 12, 2025.
The site was the home of Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. It was also where events took place that shaped the country’s independence movement and national history.
“The site was gazetted for acquisition today in order to safeguard…

As Asean tourism leaders met this week to discuss regional matters, observers say a common visitor visa for the bloc and aligned digital connectivity will even out tourism growth and help lagging countries like the Philippines catch up.
The 63rd Asean National Tourism Organisation Meeting, held in Cebu in the Philippines on Monday, was also attended by tourism chiefs from Japan, China and South Korea – countries that were instrumental in boosting tourism in the region.
In 2024, 20 million…

The Victorian state government has announced plans to hold an auction for offshore wind farms in August, ending a year-long delay and continued uncertainty for the industry in Australia.

A 46-year-old man from Perak in Malaysia sneaked out of the country to visit his pregnant second wife without his first wife’s knowledge.
He landed in hot water when he was arrested while returning from Indonesia via an illegal route. His passport was being held by his first wife.
The man, a lorry driver, who just arrived from Tanjung Balai in Indonesia, told officers he had travelled to Medan to visit his pregnant second wife.
“My second wife was pregnant and in critical condition, which is why…

The Philippine military and coastguard have stepped up security around a newly announced natural gas discovery off Palawan, treating the operation as a test case for protecting future offshore energy projects in contested waters, according to officials familiar with the deployment.
The expanded patrols cover Malampaya East-1, a fresh gas and condensate find about 5km from the existing Malampaya gas field, the country’s most important domestic energy source, which supplies fuel to power plants on…

Increased caseloads, faster awards and improved gender balance of arbitrators are all signs that India’s institutional arbitration ecosystem is maturing and increasing in both trust and credibility.

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.
1. Malaysian badminton player threatened with knife attack online over performance 2. K-drama star Cha Eun-woo’s ad campaigns pulled amid tax scrutiny in South Korea 3. Malaysia’s expat salary rules dubbed ‘ridiculous’, stoking talent drain fears 4. Groomed at 15:…

A Chinese mother enrolling her toddler in an Islamic preschool, a move that remains uncommon in Malaysia, has sparked widespread attention and debate on social media.
Chan Zhu Er, 31, said she enrolled her three-year-old son, Low Zi Kang, at a Pusat Asuhan Tunas Islam in Chaah, Johor, when she returned to her hometown in November to attend to personal matters.
“I brought my son along while my husband remained in Perak, so I needed temporary childcare support while I handled my commitments,” Chan…

A UK project has the potential to help AI developers access the high-quality data they crave for training their models while ensuring content creators are fairly remunerated for that activity.