Asian Legal Review

The mountains of the Philippines are quieter now.
The jungle bases that once sustained Asia’s longest-running communist insurgency are mostly emptied out. Its tens of thousands of guerrilla fighters have been reduced, by the military’s account, to something “very, very negligible”.
After 56 years, the Philippine military thinks the fight is almost over – and that conviction is transforming the armed forces from the inside out.
Commanders are overhauling training and strategy, moving away from…

A thin band of light from Cristian Lucanas’ headlamp pierces the blackness of a Philippine rainforest as he digs through the underbrush before gently scooping up a cockroach with his bare hands.
As the Southeast Asian country’s lone expert on the oft-misunderstood insect – and discoverer of 15 species – friends have dubbed the soft-spoken scientist “Ipis Lord”, after the local name for the ubiquitous bug.
While fully aware most view cockroaches as disgusting, disease-bearing pests, the…

By late afternoon in Putrajaya, the smell of smoke fills the air. Charcoal pits glow along the side of the road as office workers and families with school-aged children in tow move through the haze with the deliberate purpose of people who have not eaten since dawn.
This is a Ramadan bazaar in full bloom: rows of bright pink drinks in plastic cups, towers of kueh – bite-sized sweet and savoury snacks – in every colour, and, at one particularly busy stall, rows of whole chickens turning slowly…

At the bustling Han Market in central Da Nang, two Vietnamese vendors tease a middle-aged South Korean tourist by calling him harabeoji, or “grandfather” in Korean.
“I’m offended!” he jokes.
The women grab his arms and laugh. “It’s OK, it’s OK.”
The man had returned to their stall after buying 200,000 dong (US$7.60) worth of macadamia nuts the day before. It is a small moment of banter, repeated dozens of times a day in a city that many people from South Korea jokingly call their own unofficial…

Indonesia went to Washington to negotiate a trade deal and came home with more than 200 obligations to America’s nine.
A day after the signing, the US Supreme Court struck down the legal basis for the tariff threat that had driven the whole exercise – for a time, at least.
Detractors have likened this “agreement on reciprocal trade” to a blank cheque and a surrender of Indonesia’s sovereignty. The government, for its part, calls it a win-win.
The deal was signed by President Prabowo Subianto on…

Plans by a UK regulator to provide support to legitimate financial influencers and develop a stronger investment culture in the country, highlight its increased commitment to smarter regulation, according to an expert.

UK lawmakers have called on the government to rule out writing a new text and data mining (TDM) exception to copyright, to support AI training and development, into UK law.

The UK’s lead competition authority has opened a review of the way the private dentistry market operates.

Indonesia could face a sharp fiscal squeeze if the US-Israel war on Iran pushes oil prices higher, analysts warn, as this could inflate the country’s fuel subsidy bill at a time when global ratings agencies and investors are already scrutinising Jakarta’s monetary discipline.
A prolonged war could force policymakers into a difficult choice: maintain fuel subsidies and risk breaching the legal deficit ceiling – potentially unsettling investors further – or cut funding to keep the budget within…

A Malaysian mother who allowed her underage son to drive her car, which later got into an accident claiming three lives, was fined 1,500 ringgit (US$379) by the Magistrate’s Court in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan state.
Magistrate Nurul Azuin Mohd Talhah also ordered 40-year-old Nur Farahidayah A Rahman to be jailed for three months in the event she was unable to pay the fine.
“After considering the guilty plea by the accused, mitigating factors and submissions by parties and the aggravating…