Category: Uncategorized

Malaysian sultan channels Fred Flintstone with new car
Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar of Johor, one of Malaysia’s most powerful and wealthiest state rulers, was given a life-size replica of Fred Flintstone’s car from the classic cartoon. The car, which has an engine so he will not have to power it with his regal feet, was a belated birthday gift from a fellow high-ranking royal. The iconic vehicle from The Flintstones, the sultan’s favourite cartoon, is an accurate likeness of…

ANALYSIS: The removal of the reference to ‘promptness’ from the judicial review rules in Northern Ireland may seem subtle, but the change will have a real impact on decision-making in boardrooms across the region.

India successfully test-fired a long-range nuclear-capable missile on Thursday from an island in the Bay of Bengal.
The test, the fifth of the Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile, was made from a mobile launcher, and “further strengthens our credible deterrence,” the defence Ministry said in a statement.
India has been developing its nuclear and missile systems in recent years amid increasing strategic competition with China. The test was “a major boost to country’…

Activists have decried the rise of US President Donald Trump and his embrace of populist strongmen as a blow to the global campaign for human rights, but said they have seen a promising resistance movement.
In its annual report released on Thursday, Human Rights Watch tracked unchecked abuse in unstable states like Syria and Myanmar, authoritarian trends in powers like Turkey and China – and also weighed in on year one of Trump’s White House.
Under Trump, the US cosied up to…

The proposal for South Korea and North Korea to present a unified front at the Winter Olympics has excited many – and angered many more. Meanwhile, the international community has raise an eyebrow at Kim Jong-un’s apparent peace offering.
Seoul announced the plan to march together under a pro-unification flag on Wednesday, as well as the proposal of a unified women’s ice hockey team.
That has resulted in a sharp uptick in petitions against the unified team on the website of…

UK universities would be expected to publish the ratio of vice-chancellor pay to median earnings, and be “prepared to justify” high figures, according to draft guidance on senior staff pay.

Philippine troops are trying to validate intelligence information that a Malaysian militant leader survived the defeat of an Islamic State-linked siege and is helping restart efforts to establish an extremist alliance, a military official said on Wednesday.
Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana said troops were trying to validate reports that Amin Baco was wounded during the siege of southern Marawi city but managed to escape to Sulu province, where he is hiding with Abu Sayyaf militants.
Rebel…

The US military is conducting “very serious” training for a possible conflict with North Korea, a top Republican lawmaker confirmed on Tuesday, though he said he hoped such preparations would never be put to use.
Congressman Mac Thornberry, who chairs the powerful House Armed Services Committee that provides civilian oversight to the Pentagon, said the administration of President Donald Trump is closely studying its options – including armed conflict.
“The administration…

New gambling laws could be in force in Ireland before the end of this year, a government minister has said.

Norway’s US$1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has excluded nine groups, including the UK’s military equipment maker BAE Systems, from its portfolio based on ethical grounds, the Norwegian central bank said on Tuesday.
The British defence group, along with the US firms Aecom, Fluor and Huntington Ingalls Industries have been banned for producing components to build nuclear weapons, the central bank said.
The fund has banned BAE Systems in the past but later…