Anti-Terror Law Passed

Australia — The Australian government has pushed through a tough new law that allows people as young as 16 to be detained for up to seven days on suspicion of having information about terrorist activities.

The law allows a person to be detained based on the suspicion of having information relevant to terrorist activities. It does not require the person to be a terrorist suspect. However, those under 18 can only be detained where they are suspected terrorists and not merely for having information related to terrorists.

The detainees would be allowed access to lawyers. However, the detainee’s choice of lawyer can be refused and access to the lawyer can also be limited. Human rights groups have complained that the law is restricting civil liberties. (Source: www.bbc.co.uk)

7–14 Years for Attack that Killed Foetus

USA — A Pennsylvania woman was sentenced to 7–14 years in prison for an attack on a pregnant woman that caused the death of the foetus. The woman was convicted of third degree murder after having been charged with murder under the foetal homicide law. The law covers the death of foetuses arising from attacks.

The woman’s lawyers argued that the foetal law was in conflict with the state abortion law on what constitutes a human being. The state abortion law allows a woman to terminate her pregnancy before the foetus is 24 weeks old whereas foetal law is applicable to deaths of foetuses at any stage of pregnancy.

The judge ruled that in the case of an abortion, the mother has a right to choose to end her pregnancy, which is not the case when the mother is attacked and her unborn child is killed. (Source: www.cnn.com)

13-Year-Old Convicted for Murder

Malaysia — A 13-year-old boy was convicted of murder by the High Court for the stabbing and slashing of an 11-year-old girl. The victim was the daughter of his tuition teacher. The conviction was based entirely on circumstantial evidence which, the judge said, as a whole led to no other conclusion but that the boy had committed the offence.

The judge further found that on a balance of probabilities the boy had failed to raise the defence of grave and sudden provocation. The judge refused to accept the boy’s defence of provocation on the grounds that the injury caused was too much compared to the provocation claimed. He further held that the boy was sane and that the prosecution had proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The judge in his verbal judgment stated that the prosecution had proven the three main requirements for a conviction of murder, namely, that the girl was dead, the boy had stabbed her over 20 times and he had done so with the intention to end her life. The boy has temporarily been sent to a prison where he is being kept isolated from adult inmates. (Source: www.thestar.com.my)

Foreign Institution Trades Local Currency Shares

China — Banking group UBS AG has become the first foreign institution under the new QFII scheme to trade local currency Chinese shares. This marked the opening of the restricted and large bond and stock market to foreign investors.

Under the QFII scheme, China is opening up her Yuan-dominated A shares, treasury and corporate bond markets, which was only for domestic investors, to foreign investors. (Source: www.isinolaw.com)

Tightening of SOE Rules

China — Rules are now being drafted on different issues regarding the supervision and management of State-owned enterprises (‘SOE’) by the newly established State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (‘SASAC’).

Since its establishment three months ago, SASAC, the owner of 196 of the biggest central SOEs, is working hard to bring about dramatic reforms in the SOE system of China. The current number of SOEs has reached 159,000 with assets totalling RMB11.8 trn.

Director of SASAC, Li Rongrong, has said that the new rules will be on the performance evaluation of SOE assets operation and on the transfer of SOE shares in publicly listed companies. Li said that the SASAC only focuses on the maintenance and appreciation of the value of SOE assets. Therefore, the new regulations will be tight and will focus on the evaluation system of SOE managers and will award or punish the managers based on their working performance. He also said that in the future, SASAC plans to establish 30 to 50 international SOE groups to be listed abroad. (Source: www.isinolaw.com)

CRIC Requested to Regulate Intermediaries

China — Recently, along with the growth of intermediaries are irregularities in the insurance industry including vicious competition between representatives and the misleading and swindling of customers. The people have urged the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (‘CIRC’) to either make regulations or strengthen the monitoring of intermediaries.

As criticism arose against insurance agents, CIRC defended intermediaries by saying that the intermediaries were an integral part of the insurance market and are the new growth area of the insurance market. (Source: www.isinolaw.com)