Tax relief is to be re-introduced in the UK for goodwill acquired on a business purchase but will be capped at six times the value of intellectual property (IP) assets being purchased, government amendments to the Finance Bill 2019 confirm.
US soldier accused of murdering his wife, dumping her body in a bin and then fleeing to Thailand
A US soldier accused of killing his wife and dumping her body in a bin before fleeing to Thailand is now wanted by the American military for desertion.
Prosecutors in the state of Indiana filed murder charges on Wednesday against Peter Van Bawi Lian for the death of 27-year-old Khuang Par, whose body was found stuffed inside a suitcase in a rubbish bin on December 23. According to court documents cited by local newspaper The Indianapolis Star , a restraining order was issued against Lian on…
Iceland case shows HMRC’s ‘tough stance’ on minimum wage laws
The scrutiny that an Iceland Foods staff savings scheme has come in for shows that businesses can expect HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to enforce rules on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) strictly, a tax expert has said.
Donald Trump says he received a ‘great’ letter from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, and will probably meet him again
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had received a “great letter” from Kim Jong-un, after the North Korean leader warned Pyongyang might change its approach to nuclear talks if Washington persists with sanctions.
“I just got a great letter from Kim Jong-un,” Trump told a cabinet meeting, reiterating that he still expected to hold a second summit with the North Korean leader, after the pair signed a pledge on denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in Singapore…
Mahathir says stalled Chinese rail link can go ahead on ‘smaller scale’ if Beijing agrees
A controversial China-backed infrastructure project that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad put on the back burner in July will continue on a smaller scale, he has said – pending Beijing’s approval.
In an interview with Chinese language Malaysian daily Sin Chew, Mahathir said that the 80 billion ringgit (US$19.3 billion) East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, which was out for tender when it was dropped, could continue if Beijing took into account the tough economic spot…
‘Is there any chance they are alive?’: the forgotten Indian ‘rathole’ miners trapped for weeks underground
Saheb Ali felt an icy wind, saw a wall of water hurtling towards him and desperately held on to an electric cable to avoid becoming one of the 15 men trapped for more than two weeks in a remote Indian mine.
The missing workers were cut off when water from a river poured into the illegal Ksan mine – a disaster that has made headlines amid increasingly desperate efforts to save the group. Among them were three of Saheb’s friends – fellow so-called rathole miners from the same…
New year, new repression: Vietnam imposes draconian ‘China-like’ cybersecurity law
A law requiring internet companies in Vietnam to remove content communist authorities dislike came into effect on Tuesday, in a move critics called “a totalitarian model of information control”.
The new cybersecurity law has received sharp criticism from the US, the EU and internet freedom advocates who say it mimics China’s repressive censorship of the internet. It requires internet companies to remove content the government regards as “toxic” and compels them to…
In pictures: here’s how the world has been welcoming 2019, with fireworks, coffins, bells and boxing
Revellers around the globe are bidding a weary farewell to an unsettling year filled with challenges to many of the world’s most basic institutions, including politics, trade, alliances and religion.
Here’s a look at how people have been ushering in 2019 around the world. Kiribati: The Pacific island nation of Kiribati was the first in the world to welcome the new year, greeting 2019 with muted celebrations after spending 2018 on the front line of the battle against climate change…
Bomb blast at Philippine shopping centre kills two and wounds dozen of others
Suspected Muslim militants remotely detonated a bomb near the entrance of a shopping centre in the southern Philippines on Monday as people were last-minute shopping ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations, killing at least two and wounding nearly 30, officials said.
The bomb went off near the baggage counter at the entrance of the South Seas mall in Cotabato city, wounding shoppers, vendors and commuters. Authorities recovered another unexploded bomb nearby as government forces imposed a…
‘Don’t complain, kill them’, India university official urges students who have issues with classmates
A top official at a state-run Indian university urged his students to “murder” fellow students if confronted instead of complaining to him, amid a wave of violence being reported from across the state where the school is based.
From hotpot horror to a hologram bride, these offbeat Asia stories were well-read in 2018
“If you’re a student of this university, never come crying to me,” said Raja Ram Yadav, vice-chancellor of Purvanchal University, in a speech. “…