Asian Legal Review

For Filipino satirist Raden Payas, there is a clear line between what he writes and the fake news phenomenon that is sweeping across the globe.
His articles lampooning politicians’ eating habits and referencing the sexual exploits of political pundits are not meant to be taken at face value, he insists, but instead are social commentary.
“There are fake news items that are not offensive and can make people laugh, they are just fake humour articles, they’re satirical,” he…

Wholesale regulatory and cultural reforms are needed in the context of fire safety in buildings in light of the Grenfell Tower tragedy earlier this year, the person tasked with conducting a review of building regulations has said in her interim report.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s government has opted out of a major US development aid programme that requires recipients to support democracy and fight corruption, the two countries said on Tuesday.
Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said Manila decided against negotiating a second “compact” with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which provided US$433.9 million for Philippine anti-poverty projects in 2010.
“We have opted to withdraw from the second…

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Tuesday he would use a special order that gives the military sweeping powers to allow political parties to prepare for a 2018 general election.
Major political parties had urged the government for months to lift a ban on all political activity to allow parties to prepare for the vote.
“The government will have to use Article 44 to solve this problem [political activity deadlock],” Prayuth told reporters, referring to a constitutional…

ANALYSIS: A revised UK Corporate Governance Code, intended by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to be “shorter and sharper” and to restore public trust in business, is due to come into force for accounting periods beginning 1 January 2019.

In the end, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), registered yet another victory in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat. But it was the kind of victory where the winners were more relieved than overjoyed. And the losers were not despondent but encouraged.
Gujarat is Modi’s bastion. He made his reputation there as a charismatic chief minister with administrative skills and remains its favourite son, the most popular leader to emerge from the region in…

The longest water slide in the world – spanning one kilometre – is being planned for the ESCAPE theme park in the Malaysian town of Teluk Bahang.
It will see thrill-seekers ascend 420 metres by chairlift to the top of a hill in the theme park to reach the start of the slide.
“From the hilltop, people will zoom down the slide which will cross Jalan Teluk Bahang beside a pedestrian link bridge and end in a swimming pool inside our water theme park,” said ESCAPE founder Sim…

Authorities have recaptured an American citizen who escaped from an overcrowded and understaffed prison on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, police said on Sunday.
Christian Beasley, 32, is believed to have escaped during heavy rain last Monday from the Kerobokan prison in Bali’s provincial capital, Denpasar, by sawing through a ceiling and then climbing over a six-metre-high wall behind the prison.
The head of the prison, Tonny Nainggolan, said earlier that another American inmate,…

Landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Kai-Tak have killed 26 people and 23 more are missing in the eastern Philippines, authorities said on Sunday.
The deaths were reported in the small island province of Biliran, a day after the storm pounded the east of the archipelago nation.
Kai-Tak tore across the major islands of Samar and Leyte on Saturday, toppling power lines in 39 towns or cities and damaging roads and bridges, the national disaster agency said.
Some 87,700 people were forced from…

At least three people were killed and tens of thousands driven from their homes by floods as Tropical Storm Kai-Tak pounded the eastern Philippines on Saturday, cutting off power and triggering landslides, officials said.
Kai-Tak, packing gusts of up to 110km/h, hit the country’s third-largest island Samar in the afternoon and tore through a region devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan four years ago, the state weather service said.
Local officials reported three deaths on neighbouring Leyte…