Gerry Adams, one of Northern Ireland’s most prominent political figures, told London’s High Court on Tuesday he had never been a member of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army but said he would not distance himself from the group. The ex-leader of Sinn Fein, formerly the IRA’s political wing ‌and now the largest party in the Northern Irish Assembly, became the best-known face of the movement seeking to end British rule in Northern Ireland. He later reinvented himself as a peacemaker after...

The apparent docking of two light US combat ships in Penang over the weekend has raised eyebrows among Malaysian government critics regarding the country’s position on the US-Israel war on Iran, and questions over the deployment of de-mining vessels thousands of miles from the conflict zone. The USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara were seen on Sunday at the North Butterworth Container Terminal, according to social media images and the Financial Times, which cited a US Fifth Fleet spokesperson...

Hong Kong authorities have proposed designated laws to streamline procedures for changing land use in the Northern Metropolis megaproject, cutting the process from typically nine months to just two. Unveiled by the Development Bureau on Tuesday, the proposed designated legislation comprises six main subsidiary laws designed to remove bottlenecks in the massive scheme near the border with mainland China. They include the establishment of statutory firms and measures to speed up land resumption...

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has kicked off his visit to Japan, where he is expected to address strategies with counterpart Sanae Takaichi on enhancing cooperation against a backdrop of economic uncertainty brought on by the Iran war. Both leaders are likely to tread cautiously in discussions to avoid antagonising any superpower, analysts say. The three-day trip, which began on Tuesday, marks Wong’s first official visit to Japan since he became Singapore’s prime minister in May...

A senior US counterterrorism official resigned on Tuesday to protest against the US-Israeli war against Iran and said the Islamic Republic posed no imminent threat to the United States. “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Joseph Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, said in his resignation letter to US President Donald Trump. Kent – a former member of the Green Beret special forces who served 11 combat tours – said: “Iran posed no imminent threat...

Beijing has confirmed it remains in communication with Washington about a landmark visit by US President Donald Trump, who has requested to delay the trip by a month due to the US-Israel war on Iran. Chinese analysts characterised the delay as a strategic opportunity to ensure more substantive results. They also suggested the shift in timing was unlikely to derail the momentum towards stabilising ties between the two global powers. The White House previously announced that the trip – the first...

Twice on Monday, US President Donald Trump said he had wrangled a confession of sorts from an Oval Office predecessor who he said had expressed regret in a private conversation about not attacking Iran the way Trump has been doing for more than two weeks. But there’s just a little problem: representatives for the four living former presidents – three Democrats and one Republican – said none had been in touch with Trump recently. Trump declined to name the former president when reporters asked...