Author: viking

The Malaysian government will appeal against landmark high court rulings ordering authorities to pay millions of ringgit in damages to the families of missing activists Pastor Raymond Koh and Amri Che Mat.
In two statements on Thursday, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) said it would challenge rulings that found the government and police liable for the enforced disappearances of Koh and Amri, two notorious cases which campaigners claim reflect Malaysia’s embedded culture of impunity.
Koh, a…

Indians lit up social media on Wednesday to celebrate Zohran Mamdani’s election win as New York mayor after he thanked his Indian-born parents, quoted a historic speech by India’s first prime minister and turned the victory rally into a Bollywood-style street party.
“We are proud of him. He has done a great job,” Mamdani’s maternal uncle Vikram Nair said. He said he was flooded with requests from friends and family to throw celebratory parties.
“We will plan it soon,” he said, adding that the…

British police have seized more than £12 million (US$15.6 million) of dinosaur skeletons after agreeing to a settlement with a Chinese national suspected of being part of a huge money-laundering scandal.
Su Binghai agreed to forfeit three complete fossilised skeletons, along with nine London apartments, bought for around £15 million, but he will be able to keep 25 per cent of all the sale proceeds, a lawyer for the National Crime Agency said at a court hearing on Tuesday.
Su was previously…

The opportunities to drive the international response to climate change against a backdrop of political uncertainty should be increasingly unlocked at the United Nations’ global climate conference this year, according to experts.

The US Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned eight individuals and two entities who it said were involved in a variety of North Korean cyber-related money-laundering schemes.
The Treasury said the move was aimed at cutting off funding for North Korea’s weapons programmes.
“By generating revenue for Pyongyang’s weapons development, these actors directly threaten US and global security,” John Hurley, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a…

Singapore’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law that introduced caning as a punishment for scammers and money mules, as the country battles a scourge of fraud cases.
Under the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, scammers as well as members and recruiters of scam syndicates will be punished with six to 24 strokes of the cane.
The harsher penalties aim to enhance deterrence against scams, which are the most prevalent form of crime in Singapore, according to Senior Minister of State for…

A recent decision by the UK’s Pensions Ombudsman (PO) has provided guidance on whether an individual who is not classed as an earner has a statutory right to transfer benefits to an occupational pension scheme.

The United States will in the coming days ask a UN Security Council committee to impose sanctions on seven ships suspected of violating UN sanctions on North Korea, a State Department official said on Monday.
The seven vessels have illegally exported North Korean coal and iron ore to China, which traditionally earns Pyongyang between US$200 million and US$400 million a year, said the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“These nominations are not just bureaucratic exercises. They’re…

More than 150,000 people took shelter in coastal provinces of the Philippines on Monday as powerful Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in a region hit by some of the country’s deadliest storms.
The typhoon, with winds of 150km/h (93 mph) and gusts of up to 205km/h, made first contact in Dinagat Islands province, part of the Visayas island chain, before 11pm local time, the national weather service said.
Barely an hour earlier, 34-year-old Miriam Vargas sat in the darkness with her two children after…

The Middle East’s oil and gas sector is facing multifaceted employment opportunities and challenges in equal measure.