Asian Legal Review

Australia has announced an agreement with the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru, enabling it to send hundreds of immigrants to the barren island.
The deal affects more than 220 immigrants in Australia, including some convicted of serious crimes.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke signed the memorandum of understanding on a visit to Nauru, the government said in a statement on Friday.
“It contains undertakings for the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in…

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has criticised the police for their handling of unrest in the capital, as elsewhere in the country at least three people died in a fire started by protesters.
The protests – initially over increased allowances for lawmakers at a time of economic uncertainty for many Indonesians – were fuelled by anger over the death of a motorcycle taxi driver struck by an armoured vehicle during clashes on Thursday evening. They have mostly been concentrated in Jakarta…

Companies and courts looking to foreign jurisdictions to enforce US judgments will need to be realistic about their prospects in future, following an Irish court’s dismissal of a $17 billion dollar plus claim, an expert has warned.

Investors that start arbitration proceedings against states before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) are almost as likely to be awarded damages as they are not, according to new data published by the institution.

Experts say that foreign businesses operating in India must ensure that any risk assessments are based on formally gazetted laws and policies, not government communications, following a recent ruling which clarified that policy signals, press releases or administrative clarifications do not qualify as a ‘change in law’.

India and Japan will “shape the Asian Century”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, on a visit expected to secure billions of dollars in Japanese investment and an upgrade to security ties.
“India and Japan’s partnership is strategic and smart. Powered by economic logic, we have turned shared interests into shared prosperity,” Modi told a business forum in Tokyo.
“India is the springboard for Japanese businesses to the Global South. We will shape the Asian Century for stability, growth,…

Thailand’s constitutional court dismissed Paetongtarn Shinawatra as prime minister on Friday for breaching ethics in a call with Cambodia’s former leader, a ruling that tips the country into uncertainty and lands a hammer blow to the ambitions of her political dynasty.
Paetongtarn, 39, the daughter of divisive but influential billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, becomes the second leader in two years from the Pheu Thai-led coalition to be removed for an ethics breach by the same bench.
The nine-judge…

Australia’s public broadcaster said on Thursday it will again base a correspondent in China, five years after two journalists fled the country under diplomatic protection as bilateral ties soured.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) Bill Birtles and Australian Financial Review correspondent Michael Smith were rushed out of the country in September 2020 after Chinese police conducted midnight raids on their homes and sought to question them.
The broadcaster said it had been “eager to…

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has ordered lifestyle checks on government officials as part of a sweeping review of flood control projects mired in allegations of corruption, but analysts warn the move risks being more symbolic than systemic.
Presidential press officer Claire Castro confirmed the directive at a briefing on Wednesday, saying the checks would cover the entire executive branch, starting with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which oversees…

Non-EU companies with European representatives will need to account for a new ruling that has asserted the Unified Patents Court’s jurisdiction outside Europe, an expert has revealed.