Asian Legal Review

The European Commission will now consider bids from 23 cities wishing to host the European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Medicines Agency.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday described North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “fool” and a “son of a bitch”, just days before Manila hosts an international meeting certain to address Pyongyang’s long-range missile tests.
Duterte held nothing back in rebuking Kim for “playing with dangerous toys”, setting the stage for next week’s rare get-together, to be attended by foreign ministers of all the countries involved in the standoff…

An Indonesian court on Borneo island on Wednesday jailed a man for eight months after he grew medicinal marijuana to help ease the pain being suffered by his cancer-stricken wife, who died shortly after his arrest, his lawyer said.
Indonesia has amongst the strictest drug laws in the world and has been jailing a record number of users and dealers because of what the government says is a drugs emergency facing the country.
The hardline approach to drugs is broadly popular in the Southeast Asian…

Pakistani lawmakers on Tuesday elected former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, an ally of ousted leader Nawaz Sharif, to replace him and the new premier immediately sought to project an image of stability.
Lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party banged on benches and chanted “Lion, lion Nawaz Sharif” after the vote, standing defiant in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to cut short his third stint in power.
A quick transition may ease fears…

Two major tunnelling projects planned by Highways England will be delivered using the ‘PF2’ private finance funding model, the government has indicated.

By Farezza Hanum Rashid The approval of the Land Public Transport (Amendment) Bill 2017 has allowed Malaysia’s Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) to regulate e-hailing services. This includes intermediation of business licences where e-hailing operators must obtain such licences from SPAD before legally operating. Under this, SPAD will be overseeing the renewal of license, revocation or suspension of licence and prohibition of transfer of licence, among others. As safety…

Almost a fifth of over-50s have been targeted by a potential pension scammer in the last three months by phone, text or email according to new figures.

Prosecutors on Monday arrested the former chief of the scandal-hit Moritomo Gakuen over the illegal receipt of public subsidies for its school businesses.
The arrest of Yasunori Kagoike, 64, followed a scandal involving a controversial land deal linked to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The school operator won a huge discount for the state-owned land to build an junior school, for which Abe’s wife Akie was named honorary principal.
Prosecutors questioned Kagoike and his wife Junko, 60, on…

For nearly two months, troops from the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been deployed at close quarters on the Doklam plateau near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction. Amid much feverish commentary on the risks of a wider conflict, there has been a deafening silence on one critical issue – the role of the United States. Apart from one very anodyne – not to mention obvious – response from the US Department of State that India and China should seek…

Hiroyoshi takeda is not a typical Japanese man. Instead of a suit and tie, the 39-year-old Tokyoite wears T-shirts with technicolour caricatures of a moustachioed south Indian movie star. Rather than bowing, he dances. He doesn’t ride the metro, but travels the streets in a gaudily adorned auto rickshaw imported from Tamil Nadu.
Not for him the hushed tones and constricted body language that are the Japanese standard. Takeda talks loudly, waggling his index finger at the sky. And the…