Author: viking

From the decks of battered fishing boats, the struggle over Scarborough Shoal has entered a new, precarious phase.
As China steps up its patrols, Filipino fishers say they are being forced to abandon seas their families have plied for generations – raising fears that what’s unfolding at the reef could become the playbook for Beijing’s wider South China Sea ambitions.
The Chinese coastguard’s intensified enforcement of a controversial anti-trespassing law is the latest move in China’s campaign to…

Pakistan, still on high alert after last month’s brief aerial clash with India, now finds itself swept into the digital maelstrom of disinformation accompanying the escalating hostilities between neighbouring Iran and Israel.
Determined to distance itself from the turmoil unfolding just across its southwestern frontier, Islamabad has offered moral support to Tehran by publicly criticising Israel, while simultaneously backing diplomatic efforts to revive a nuclear deal between Iran and the United…

Five months into Donald Trump’s presidency, Southeast Asia finds itself adrift. The foundations of its relationship with the US have been shaken by punitive tariffs and a sudden withdrawal of aid that hurt some of the region’s most vulnerable – even as Washington maintains its military presence with an eye fixed squarely on China.
This volatility has deepened a sense of American “unreliability” across Southeast Asia, according to experts who spoke to This Week in Asia.
Yet a complete rupture…

Assessments of whether inventions are eligible for European patents must factor in the way inventions are described in patent applications and how they are conveyed in any drawings – not just the claims, a new ruling has confirmed.

Employers and pension trustees will want to consider the impact of new rules governing VAT deductions on the management of UK pension funds, experts have said.

A recent court decision involving defamation against a virtual K-pop group is prompting fresh legal debate in South Korea over the rights of digital personas – with analysts describing it as a significant shift in how the law defines harm, identity and expression in the age of the metaverse.
The case centred on Plave, a five-member boy band whose anime-style avatars exist solely in the virtual realm but are voiced and animated by real-life performers using motion-capture technology.
Despite…

A judge on Friday discharged disgraced former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak from a US$6.3 million money laundering case after ruling that the prosecution had failed to provide relevant documents to the defence.
The ruling marks the second time a case involving Najib has been dismissed due to prosecutorial inaction, raising fresh questions about the conduct and priorities of the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC).
Najib, who led the country for nine years until his defeat in the 2018…

The Philippines has a strong chance of gaining a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), according to observers. Manila has renewed its bid, with its foreign secretary stressing the country’s track record as a “pathfinder and peacemaker”.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo reiterated the Philippines’ UN aspirations in a speech in New York earlier this week to more than 300 diplomats and guests at his country’s Independence Day celebrations.
He pointed to the…

Two Malaysian lawmakers – along with the businessman who exposed them in covert videos – have been arrested in Sabah state, anti-corruption authorities have confirmed, in a scandal that has raised questions over protections afforded to whistle-blowers.
Sabah, Malaysia’s second-largest state, is among the country’s poorest and has long been plagued by corruption allegations, including those linked to former chief minister Musa Aman, controversially appointed governor earlier this year.
On…

Southeast Asian nations are urging the evacuation of their citizens from Iran and Israel as the air war escalates, with Malaysia warning of “rapidly deteriorating conditions” and Thailand preparing to bring back tens of thousands of migrant labourers from Israeli farms and factories.
Thousands of Iranians have fled the capital of Tehran this week, since Israel launched strikes that have killed more than 220 people, mostly civilians. Two dozen have been killed in retaliatory missile attacks on…