KASHMIR ATTACK REIGNITES INDIA-PAKISTAN ROW

A deadly assault in Kashmir yesterday – the worst terrorist attack India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had to deal with – is swiftly pushing ties between India and Pakistan to breaking point. A day after a suicide bomber from Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad killed 44 Indian paramilitary personnel with a car bomb, India made it clear that it considers its neighbour complicit.

It said today it would withdraw Pakistan’s most-favoured nation status as well as take all diplomatic steps to ensure the “complete isolation” of Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of providing a safe haven for terrorist groups.

All eyes are now on the scale of the military response, if any, PM Modi decides to launch.

Full story: India says will ensure ‘complete isolation’ of Pakistan after worst terror attack under Modi

Background: Why India and Pakistan fight over Kashmir

GLOBAL POLICYMAKERS MEET IN MUNICH

World leaders face a particularly challenging agenda as they gather in Germany today for the annual Munich Security Conference.

One of the key worries centres on the dissolution of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed between the US and the Soviet Union in 1987. With the US recently pulling out of the agreement, Russia is free to pursue its missile programme. And as Global Affairs Correspondent Markus Ziener notes, this is worrisome for Europe as there has been talk of a Russian missile in development that could be a game changer on the continent.

A QUICK UPDATE ON TRADE TALKS

The high-level trade talks in Beijing are due to wrap up today but, as is now the norm, neither side has offered any details on the state of negotiations. Today’s potentially significant but unverified nugget of information is that China is offering to end its market-distorting subsidies.

In other news related to American negotiations, US President Donald Trump appears set to bypass Congress to get his wall. His plan to declare a national emergency to get funding for the wall has already been criticised, but it also means he will likely sign the bipartisan (but wall-less) spending bill to avert another government shutdown.

THAI PRINCESS RETURNS TO THE STAGE

In her first major public event since a short-lived entry into politics that sent shockwaves through the country, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya returned to the spotlight this week in a more familiar role: As an advocate of youth development.

She performed at a concert on Valentine’s Day in a school in Pichit province, some 300km north of Bangkok. Our Indochina Bureau Chief Tan Hui Yee was there to watch her,  reporting on a performance that steered well clear of politics.

“It’s Valentine’s Day today. Let’s love each other, okay?” Princess Ubolratana said to the crowd at one point, flinging stalks of roses into the air.

Full story: Ruled out of politics, Thai Princess Ubolratana gets straight back to work with youth

DEGREE OF DOUBT

This one may well be one of the weirder political scandals in recent memory. What started with one embarrassing clarification from one deputy minister in Malaysia saying that he did not, in fact, graduate from the prestigious University of Cambridge in the UK ( but rather from the rather more dubious Cambridge International University in the US) has grown to engulf a whole host of others.

Not all the allegations are true – Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and Former Prime Minister Najib Razak have denied claims that their qualifications are not genuine – but there has already been one other admission. The chief minister of the state of Johor, Osman Sapian (above) has removed his academic credentials from his biodata and admitted he never completed his studies.

The controversy is likely not yet over (one assumes an Internet brigade is in the process of verifying the CVs of every notable political figure). And while certificates aren’t everything, the decision by some to embellish their qualifications is threatening to undermine some of government’s claims to integrity.

Accusations: Five Pakatan Harapan leaders accused of having dubious degrees

Admissions:

-Johor MB Osman Sapian admits he did not complete his studies

-Malaysia’s deputy foreign minister Marzuki now says his ‘Cambridge degree’ is from a distance-learning US centre

Denials

-Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak: My degree is legitimate

-Lim Guan Eng mulls legal action after education credentials questioned

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

When it comes to planes, big is clearly not better, says Senior Aviation Correspondent Karamjit Kaur as she tracks the demise of two jumbo jets that were icons of modern commercial aviation: the Boeing 747 and the Airbus 380.  In 2007, Singapore Airlines was the first to fly the A-380 but the airline, just like many others around the world, is now favouring smaller, more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Read the full story: Is it the end of the runway for the giant jet?

AND FINALLY, GET A LOAD OF THESE COCONUTS

I’m just going to leave this here. The Coconut Palm Group in China is being investigated by a market watchdog after appearing to claim that drinking coconut water can enhance breast sizes.

One of the slogans used: “”Genuine Coconut Palm coconut juice: I drank from small to big”.

See what else they said here: Drinking coconut juice yields bigger breasts?

That’s it for today. See you on Monday!

-J

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