Long the poison of brutish pirates and drunken sailors, rum was traditionally a cheap booze imbibed far less for its flavour than its heady effect.

Today lust for the liquor has never been so potent, and it is a taste for premium brands that is leading the charge, say manufacturers in the Caribbean who are reporting increasing sales in top-shelf varieties.

Two Russian men were arrested earlier this year on suspicion of spying on a Swiss laboratory investigating the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a newspaper investigation has claimed.

Swiss publication Tages Anzeiger and Dutch paper NRC said they were arrested in the Netherlands earlier this year.

The Swiss lab analysed samples from the poisoning of the former Russian double agent in the UK.

Sardar Patel statue to stand 182m tall, then be surpassed in 2021 by Shivaji memorial

India says it will unveil the world’s largest statue next month, depicting the independence leader Sardar Patel.

However, the reign of the 182-metre structure as record holder could be short-lived, with work due to begin on an even larger statue of a Hindu king off the coast of Mumbai.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in faces his toughest challenge yet in his third summit with Kim next week in Pyongyang.

SEOUL, South Korea — The first inter-Korean summit of 2018, a sunny spectacle in late April, reduced war fears on the peninsula. The second, an emergency one in May, helped ensure a historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump came off.

Number of people aged 100 or older reaches record high, with women making up 88% of total

The number of Japanese people aged 100 or older has risen to a record high of almost 70,000 over the past year – a cause both for celebration and concern over the social and economic challenges posed by the country’s rapidly ageing society.

The rival Koreas have opened their first liaison office near their tense border to facilitate better communication and exchanges.

SEOUL, South Korea — The rival Koreas on Friday launched their first liaison office near their tense border to facilitate better communication and exchanges ahead of their leaders’ summit in Pyongyang next week.

MIGRANTS are targeting a small French fishing village in a desperate bid to sneak into Britain. Young men, mainly of African origin, are arriving in Ouistreham and chasing lorries heading for the ferry port to bypass border controls.

“Distributed Exchanges Are Just Around The Corner”

In a recent interview with BoxMining, a well-known cryptocurrency commentator and social media influencer, decentralist and cryptocurrency proponent John McAfee highlighted his opinion on current state of this nascent market and what lies in store crypto assets and blockchain over the mid to long-term.

At least one person has been killed and others injured after a series of suspected gas explosions rocked towns north of Boston in Massachusetts on Thursday evening.

Local police reported “fires and explosions” at dozens of properties.

PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron’s government plans to spend 8 billion euros ($9.3 billion) to tackle poverty, its spokesman said in a newspaper interview released on Wednesday.

Macron, who has come under fire as a president of the rich after implementing tax cuts for the wealthy and for companies, is set to outline his anti-poverty strategy on Thursday.