Brunei Royal Family

A 39-member entourage, including a princess and 10 children of the Brunei royal family, took in the amusement zone at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona on Thursday after they found Six Flags Magic Mountain closed for the day. Officials of the Valencia fun park reportedly declined the group's offer to pay all costs if the rides could be opened up for the day so the children could enjoy themselves.

A marathon auction of assets from a bankrupt company headed by Brunei's Prince Jefri Bolkiah roared to a finish Thursday, undeterred by a royal reprimand from the prodigal prince in London. The six-day event was intended to partly reimburse creditors for some of the billions they are owed. It reaped more money in its final hours than in all the previous days combined--about $4.2 million of the $7.8-million final tally.

A federal judge ruled Monday that the sultan of Brunei--one of the richest men in the world--cannot be sued for allegedly holding a former Miss USA as a sex slave in his oil-rich nation. U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall found that the sultan is a foreign head of state, and therefore is protected by sovereign immunity from lawsuits filed in the United States. The grant of immunity came at the suggestion of lawyers for the U.S.

It is a display of royal waste and self-indulgence usually kept hidden behind palace walls in this rich and tiny kingdom. There are gold-plated toilet paper holders and gold-plated wastebaskets. There are marble toilets, crystal chandeliers and monogrammed cutlery. There is a giant bronze rocking horse, a Comanche helicopter flight simulator and a couch shaped like the back end of a Cadillac.

The Hotel Bel-Air, the luxurious pink stucco property that fetched $110 million in 1989 in the nation's most expensive per-room hotel acquisition ever, is expected to be sold to the Sultan of Brunei's brother, the hotel's general manager said Friday. But Frank Bowling, also a vice president of the hotel, emphasized that he had gotten no official word that the sale has been completed. An official announcement is expected from the hotel's Japanese owners Thursday, he said.

Lawyers for the Sultan of Brunei and his brother asked a Los Angeles federal judge Monday to dismiss the lawsuit filed against them by a former Miss USA who says the Sultan held her captive in an island palace where she was expected to perform sex acts. The Sultan's attorneys said Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and his brother, Haji Jefri Bolkiah, should be protected under sovereign immunity from the lawsuit.

The Sultan of Brunei, widely regarded as the world's richest man, marked 25 years on his gilded throne Monday, but he offered his pampered subjects only prosperity rather than a return to democracy. Celebrations marking the Silver Jubilee of Sultan Muda Hassanal Bolkiah produced a rare public gathering of Asia's reticent royal houses, from Malaysia's sultans outfitted in blue and chartreuse silks to the Crown Prince of Thailand in a Saville Row double-breasted suit.

A lawsuit charging the sultan of Brunei with holding a former Miss USA and six other women captive in an island palace where they were expected to perform sex acts was unsealed in federal court. A report published earlier this month said that Shannon Marketic had sued the sultan, claiming she accepted a deal to do promotional work in the oil-rich kingdom but was instead held a virtual prisoner for 32 days.

A marathon auction of assets from a bankrupt company headed by Brunei's Prince Jefri Bolkiah roared to a finish Thursday, undeterred by a royal reprimand from the prodigal prince in London. The six-day event was intended to partly reimburse creditors for some of the billions they are owed. It reaped more money in its final hours than in all the previous days combined--about $4.2 million of the $7.8-million final tally.

Now is a time of unusual suspense in the arcane world of North Korea-watching. There is widespread speculation that after more than four decades of cult-like control of the affairs of state, President Kim Il Sung is thinking about retiring. The rumors are perhaps fueled by wishful thinking in Seoul, capital of anti-Communist South Korea--and hardly a place for disinterested political analysis.

A federal judge ruled Monday that the sultan of Brunei--one of the richest men in the world--cannot be sued for allegedly holding a former Miss USA as a sex slave in his oil-rich nation. U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall found that the sultan is a foreign head of state, and therefore is protected by sovereign immunity from lawsuits filed in the United States. The grant of immunity came at the suggestion of lawyers for the U.S.

Lawyers for the Sultan of Brunei and his brother asked a Los Angeles federal judge Monday to dismiss the lawsuit filed against them by a former Miss USA who says the Sultan held her captive in an island palace where she was expected to perform sex acts. The Sultan's attorneys said Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and his brother, Haji Jefri Bolkiah, should be protected under sovereign immunity from the lawsuit.

A lawsuit charging the sultan of Brunei with holding a former Miss USA and six other women captive in an island palace where they were expected to perform sex acts was unsealed in federal court. A report published earlier this month said that Shannon Marketic had sued the sultan, claiming she accepted a deal to do promotional work in the oil-rich kingdom but was instead held a virtual prisoner for 32 days.

The Hotel Bel-Air, the luxurious pink stucco property that fetched $110 million in 1989 in the nation's most expensive per-room hotel acquisition ever, is expected to be sold to the Sultan of Brunei's brother, the hotel's general manager said Friday. But Frank Bowling, also a vice president of the hotel, emphasized that he had gotten no official word that the sale has been completed. An official announcement is expected from the hotel's Japanese owners Thursday, he said.

The Sultan of Brunei, widely regarded as the world's richest man, marked 25 years on his gilded throne Monday, but he offered his pampered subjects only prosperity rather than a return to democracy. Celebrations marking the Silver Jubilee of Sultan Muda Hassanal Bolkiah produced a rare public gathering of Asia's reticent royal houses, from Malaysia's sultans outfitted in blue and chartreuse silks to the Crown Prince of Thailand in a Saville Row double-breasted suit.

Now is a time of unusual suspense in the arcane world of North Korea-watching. There is widespread speculation that after more than four decades of cult-like control of the affairs of state, President Kim Il Sung is thinking about retiring. The rumors are perhaps fueled by wishful thinking in Seoul, capital of anti-Communist South Korea--and hardly a place for disinterested political analysis.

It is a display of royal waste and self-indulgence usually kept hidden behind palace walls in this rich and tiny kingdom. There are gold-plated toilet paper holders and gold-plated wastebaskets. There are marble toilets, crystal chandeliers and monogrammed cutlery. There is a giant bronze rocking horse, a Comanche helicopter flight simulator and a couch shaped like the back end of a Cadillac.

The Los Angeles County Fair attracted 1,378,885 visitors during its 61st season, which ended Sunday. Attendance at the 18-day event was up 2,000 from last year despite competition from the Summer Olympics and a price increase, fair spokesman Sid Robinson said.

A 39-member entourage, including a princess and 10 children of the Brunei royal family, took in the amusement zone at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona on Thursday after they found Six Flags Magic Mountain closed for the day. Officials of the Valencia fun park reportedly declined the group's offer to pay all costs if the rides could be opened up for the day so the children could enjoy themselves.