The European Commission has launched an investigation into the proposed acquisition of wearable fitness accessory company Fitbit by search engine giant Google. Google announced in November 2019 that it would seek to acquire Fitbit. The company noted at the time that for the deal to be successful, the privacy and security of Fitbit users would [...]

Australian regulators have introduced a draft bill that would require Google and Facebook to pay Australian media outlets for news. The bill has been drafted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as an amendment to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The main objective of the bill is to address the issue of imbalance [...]

Former Malayisan Prime Minister Najib Rajak has been sentenced to 12 years in prison at the end of a trial stemming from the 1MDB corruption scandal. The Kuala Lumpur High Court found Najib guilty on all seven charges of abuse of power, breach of trust, and money laundering. Judge Mohamad Nazlan Ghazali Tuesday ordered the sentences [...]

China announced on Tuesday the suspension of Hong Kong’s extradition treaty with Canada, Australia and the UK. This action comes in retaliation to the suspension of the treaties by the other countries first. The three countries had suspended the treaties in response to the Hong Kong National Security law enacted by China. The Chinese government [...]

The Malaysian government announced Friday that Goldman Sachs has agreed to a total settlement of USD $3.9 billion in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal. In return, the government will dissolve all the criminal charges and proceedings against the firm. The agreement includes a $2.5 billion cash payout by the investment bank and a [...]

The Indian Government has issued a formal Government Sanction Letter to grant Permanent Commission (PC) to women officers in the Indian Army. The letter, written by the Ministry of Defense on Thursday, permits the grant of commissions to women across the entire Indian Army. A permanent commission allows the officers to work until they retire. [...]

A Canadian Federal Court judge ruled Wednesday that the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) is unconstitutional under Canadian law, as certain provisions of the Act violate the “right to life, liberty, and security of the person” guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The STCA governs Canada’s asylum relationship with the United States, and requires that [...]

The UK announced Monday the suspension of the country’s extradition treaty with Hong Kong for an indefinite period. This comes in response to the Hong Kong National Security Law recently enacted by China. UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that the law is a “clear and serious violation” of the UK-China Joint Declaration and China’s [...]

The European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Thursday that the Privacy Shield agreement used for transferring European Union (EU) user data to companies in the US is invalid. The decision is a significant blow to tech companies in both the EU and the US. The court annulled a 2016 decision in which the European Commission had [...]