Asian Legal Review

A Philippine court has upheld a decision that a news site critical of President Rodrigo Duterte violated a constitutional ban on foreign ownership of news media.In a decision made public on Monday, the Court of Appeals said that Rappler effectively allowed US-based investor Omidyar Network “to participate” in its corporate actions and decisions in violation of the constitution, which requires media companies to be fully owned and managed by Filipinos.Rappler argued it did not grant Omidyar the…

International money transfers between bank accounts, executed by a clearing system or correspondent bank, will not give rise to a trust relationship in favour of the customer who gave the transfer instruction, the Court of Appeal has confirmed.

An Indonesian woman held two years on suspicion of killing Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea’s leader, was freed from custody on Monday after prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the murder charge against her.The High Court judge discharged Siti Aisyah without an acquittal after prosecutors said they wanted to withdraw the charge. They did not give a reason.Siti Aisyah cried and hugged her co-defendant, Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam, before leaving the courtroom.She was quickly ushered…

In recent weeks, the finance ministers of Hong Kong and Singapore delivered their budget statements for the coming financial year. Both statements were notably silent on wealth taxes, an issue that has attracted growing attention in the United States and Europe in the decade since the global financial crisis. Hong Kong and Singapore were very much part of the international consensus in the late 1990s and early 2000s that viewed lower taxes on capital as necessary for attracting wealthy…

Ten months after a general election that overhauled Malaysia’s political landscape, its decimated opposition forces have begun rallying to win back voters by rebranding and repositioning themselves.Most recently, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which led the Barisan Nasional coalition that governed Malaysia for 61 years, teamed up with its long-time foe, the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), to better court the country’s majority Malay-Muslim population – which is also its…

A Malaysian citizen was given more than 10 years in jail for insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad on social media, police said on Saturday, one of the country’s harshest such sentences in recent years.Issues related to race, religion and language are very sensitive topics in multiracial Malaysia.The person found guilty, known only as Facebook user “Ayea Yea”, was jailed for 10 years and 10 months after pleading guilty to ten charges of anti-religious activity and the misuse of…

Australia has admitted it had not focused enough attention on its Pacific neighbourhood but vowed to make “long overdue” amends, amid growing Chinese influence in the region.“I think we would have to accept some criticism,” said Australia’s minister for international development and the Pacific Anne Ruston on Friday. “We have perhaps not put as much attention and effort into our own region as we should of.”In recent months, Ruston has been at the sharp end of trying to fix that – jetting to-and…

Hong Kong entrepreneur David Yeung is encouraging people to eat less meat to help save the earth. The trouble is, too many love their meat, especially pork.Now he thinks he has something that might persuade them – a meat substitute which he says looks, feels and tastes like the real thing.Chefs have begun using his product, Omnipork, to turn out Shanghainese soup dumplings, sweet and sour pork, as well as tan tan noodles, gyozas and meatballs.“From vegans to meat eaters, professionals and home…

The UK government has successfully defended a legal challenge against its decision to adopt a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in England last year, but guidance contained in that framework concerning ‘fracking’ has been ruled to be unlawful.

The UK’s approach to combatting fraud, money laundering and other economic crime should be the subject of more frequent and broad review, a prominent committee of MPs has said.