Asian Legal Review

A sitting Philippine senator wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in former president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war took refuge inside the Senate on Monday to avoid arrest by government agents.
Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, the country’s one-time police chief, was under the Senate’s protection “in accordance with our rules and Philippine laws”, newly elected Senate President and Duterte ally Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters.
“We will allow an arrest under the condition that it is a…

In the Johor palace where Malaysia’s once-dominant ruling party was born, Umno’s leaders posed on Monday with the country’s king in a carefully staged reminder of the power they commanded for six decades – and the influence they now hope to reclaim.
The United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the Malay nationalist party that led Malaysia from independence until its shock election defeat eight years ago, marked its 80th anniversary in its birthplace with a grand show of unity as it sought to…

The enforcement of foreign judgments in the UAE has evolved significantly over the past decade, driven by a mixture of legislative reform, judicial cooperation and the growing prominence of the DIFC and ADGM Courts as international enforcement hubs.

A South Korean cargo ship hit in the Strait of Hormuz six days ago was struck by unidentified aircraft, the foreign ministry in Seoul said on Sunday, days after the fire-damaged HMM Namu arrived in Dubai.
US President Donald Trump has claimed that Iran had “taken some shots” at the Panama-flagged vessel and urged South Korea to join US operations aimed at restoring normal shipping through the strait.
The vital waterway has been virtually closed since the United States and Israel launched a war…

More than 300 foreign nationals were arrested in a raid on an alleged online gambling operation in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, police said on Saturday, in one of the country’s largest crackdowns on illegal digital betting networks.
The 321 foreigners, mainly from Vietnam, were arrested at a commercial building near the city’s Chinatown section that investigators described as a hub for more than 70 online gambling websites, targeting players outside Indonesia, based on marketing records…

In the 1980s, then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad launched his “Look East” policy, urging his country and others in Southeast Asia to emulate the state-led economic development models of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, rather than those of market-dominated Western nations.
China subsequently emerged as a prime example of state-led development, but Japan is now leaning again towards a more dirigiste model under the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, not only in…

Vietnam has expanded its outposts in the South China Sea by hundreds of acres over the past year, according to a new report, as Hanoi and Beijing race to reinforce competing territorial claims through land reclamation.
Vietnam has added about 534 acres (2.16 square km) of land in the Spratly Islands, bringing its total reclaimed area to roughly 2,771 acres (11.2 square km), according to the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
While Hanoi had appeared to be narrowing the gap…

Deeper economic cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will hinge on whether a code can be laid down to govern maritime territory and activity in the South China Sea, Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has said.
“We cannot institutionalise any of those things until the code of conduct is finalised,” he told a press conference on Friday at the close of the 48th Asean summit in Cebu, when asked about aspects that held the most potential in relations between…

One in three large companies had a VAT investigation launched against them last year, highlighting HMRC’s focus on closing the tax gap, an expert has said.

Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) should not be granted for substances expressly designated as excipients within applications for marketing authorisation for medicines, according to new opinion issued by an adviser to the EU’s top judges.