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Law

Law
Latest news, analysis and opinion on the law and legal issues, including Hong Kong extradition law. Follow the latest on trials, court cases and justice.
Hong Kong customs displays confiscated items at a press conference held at the department’s headquarters in North Point. Photo: Jelly Tse
Crime in Hong Kong

7 arrested in crackdown on party rooms with copyright-infringing karaoke sets

Hong Kong customs raids 14 party rooms, a bar and residences of two sellers from mid-March to mid-April, seizing 28 sets and four gaming consoles.

Indonesia

Bali wants illegal rentals to be legitimate as operators flag red tape

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Indonesia

University of Indonesia suspends law students for sexually explicit group chat

Malaysia

Deepfakes, cloned voices: the new AI threat facing Malaysia’s creators

Experts question whether Malaysia’s laws are keeping pace with the harm spread by AI, and call for stronger legal protections for artists.

Many creators in Malaysia have become newly vulnerable to the AI threat because they now have little choice but to put themselves online to make a living, experts warn. Photo: Shutterstock
Hong Kong society

Editorial | Hong Kong’s U-turn on basketball betting a prudent move

Officials have warned that launching the betting scheme at this time would encourage participation in illegal prediction market gambling.

Hong Kong society

Hong Kong landlords face HK$17,000 inspection bill over ignored water seepage

The plan shifts responsibility of shouldering inspection costs from government to flat owners who fail to address water seepage problems.

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Japan

Japan jails ex-teacher for sharing voyeuristic student images

He is the first among an alleged teachers’ voyeurism ring to receive a prison sentence in a high-profile case that came to light last year.

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Between July and December 2024, Ishikawa secretly took photos and videos of three female students at a junior school in Kanagawa, where he was working at the time, capturing images on his smartphone that included their underwear, and shared them via a social media group chat. Photo: Shutterstock
Hong Kong politics

Advisory body to be given power to probe department heads for serious offences

Hong Kong authorities will introduce subsidiary legislation as early as June, as part of broader effort to institutionalise official accountability.

Technology

Letters | An AI twister is brewing on the legal horizon

Readers discuss the use of artificial intelligence for legal matters, and ethnic minority groups’ access to government services.

Hong Kong politics

Editorial | Path to rehabilitation of those arrested in 2019 unrest is welcome

A recently publicised Security Bureau programme opens the door for thousands to put the baggage of political turmoil behind them.

Police arrest anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, on May 11, 2020. Photo: AP
Malaysia

Malaysia rejects death penalty for drink-drivers, proposes victim compensation

Adding a compensation clause to the Road Transport Act will help victims avoid a long-drawn-out civil suit, minister says.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke visits family of motorcyclist killed in suspected drunk-driving incident. Photo: Handout
Hong Kong protests

Rehabilitation project open to all 2019 Hong Kong protest arrestees: Chris Tang

But security chief says authorities will still ‘act in accordance with the law’ when handling arrestees with clear evidence of alleged crimes.

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Hong Kong society

Time to act on stalled proposal toughening child abuse penalties, lawmakers say

SCMP check finds that only one of 13 cases of serious child abuse offences over more than two decades resulted in close to maximum 10-year sentence.

Corruption in China

China targets middlemen in renewed crackdown on ‘hidden’ corruption

The top court and prosecutor signal how the criminal law can be aimed at the enablers of graft.

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Intermediaries in the corruption process are a focus of a new judicial interpretation. Photo: EPA-EFE
The Philippines

Will Philippine ex-president Duterte stand trial at the ICC, and for how long?

Judges are set to decide by late April whether to send Duterte’s case to trial, with any proceedings expected to move at a ‘glacial pace’.

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Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte takes oath during a senate inquiry on the so-called war on drugs during his administration at the Philippine Senate on October 28, 2024, in Manila. Photo: AP
United States

US man pleads guilty to murdering 7 women, admits he killed another

He strangled the women, many of them sex workers, over a 17-year span and buried their remains in remote locations.

Jimmy Lai trial

Court to hold hearing in July on confiscating Jimmy Lai’s properties

Sixty-minute hearing set for July 8 to handle confiscation order that authorities say will ‘cut off funding chains’ for national security offences.

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Malaysia

Malaysian corruption watchdog secures arrest warrant for tycoon Daim’s sons

The move marks the latest development in a years-long probe into the ex-finance minister’s wealth.

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Malaysia’s then-finance minister Daim Zainuddin is surrounded by reporters after delivering a speech to the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering in Kuala Lumpur on May 22, 2001. Photo: AP
Singapore

Woman faces jail over Singapore crash that killed Indonesian girl in Chinatown

The lawyer for the woman, reportedly an Indian national, asked for a gag order, citing online posts that were ‘of xenophobic nature’.

Cambodia

Why Cambodia’s new law may do little to combat its scam centres

Analysts warn the lack of provisions addressing the role officials and networks play in enabling scams may limit the law’s effectiveness.

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France

France’s Sarkozy challenges conviction over alleged Libya funding

He was found guilty in September of criminal conspiracy and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy returns after a break during his appeal trial over charges he sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election, at the Palais de Justice courthouse in Paris on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
The Philippines

Filipino taxi driver suspended after overcharging K-pop star Soobin in Cebu

Footage from the TXT member shows the driver demanding more than triple the usual price of a trip from the airport.

Choi Soo-bin is a member of K-pop group Tomorrow X Together, or TXT. Photo: Handout
Singapore

Singapore’s Shanmugam slams Bloomberg’s ‘venomous’ emails in defamation hearing

Cabinet ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng are suing Bloomberg over an article mentioning their personal property deals.

Singapore

Singapore’s Shanmugam slams ‘hypocrisy’ over deported blogger Amos Yee

The minister says Yee’s case shows how foreign media and rights advocates have mistaken an offensive repeat offender for a free-speech icon.

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South Korea

‘Remorseless’ Yoon slammed for invoking Jesus in a note from South Korean prison

The ex-president may be a liability to his former People Power Party ahead of local elections on June 3 amid falling approval ratings.

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A news report on the sentencing trial of South Korean former president Yoon Suk-yeol’s insurrection case in February, stemming from his short-lived December 2024 declaration of martial law. Photo: Reuters
United States

US court reinstates US$656 million judgment against PLO and Palestinian Authority

Following a 2025 Supreme Court ruling, judges revive a decade-old verdict for American victims of terror attacks in Israel.

The Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse on Foley Square, New York, where the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals is headquartered. Photo: AP
Singapore

Singapore’s Workers’ Party finishes probe into chief Pritam Singh’s conduct

The disciplinary panel will present its final report and recommendations to the Central Executive Committee later in April.

Scams and swindles

Cambodia’s high-stakes war on online scam compounds

Cambodia has vowed to stamp out the scam compounds on its soil by month’s end – but perpetrators remain drawn to the potential for huge profits.

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