BANGKOK: The Thai prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, is under increasing pressure to resign after the country’s electoral commission ordered his ruling Democrat party be dissolved for accepting illegal donations. The decision – which comes days after the worst political violence in a generation – is a blow to the beleaguered Abhisit, and further complicates Thailand’s [...]
April 14, 2010 | Posted in
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BISHKEK: A top U.S. diplomat arrived for talks with Kyrgyzstan’s interim leaders on Wednesday about defusing a crisis in the Central Asian country, where Washington rents an air base to back its war effort in Afghanistan. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose government has close ties with the interim leaders and sees Kyrgyzstan as part of [...]
April 14, 2010 | Posted in
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BEIJING: The death toll from the earthquake in a remote part of western China rose to 617, with 66 students and 10 teachers dying in school collapses that echo the country’s last major quake in 2008. Thousands of survivors battled freezing temperatures overnight with scant shelter after a 6.9-magnitude temblor flattened the town of Jiegu in [...]
April 13, 2010 | Posted in
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BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan’s opposition has seized power in Bishkek, forming an interim administration after anti-government protests erupted into violence as police clashed with demonstrators. Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who has fled to the south of the country, has refused to step down as president. Sporadic gunfire was heard throughout the night but a government spokesman said nobody was [...]
April 9, 2010 | Posted in
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BEIJING: A gas explosion at a coal mine in central China killed 12 people and left 32 missing, Xinhua news agency said on Thursday, even as rescuers worked to save 153 workers at a different mine in Shanxi province. Coal mine accidents are common in China, the world’s largest producer, but the large number of [...]
April 2, 2010 | Posted in
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SEOUL: The South Korean military says it has located the stern of its warship that sank in mysterious circumstances on Friday following an explosion. The authorities are hoping that some of the 46 crew members still missing may be alive but trapped in underwater air pockets in the wreckage. Military diving teams were due to [...]
March 29, 2010 | Posted in
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BEIJING: China said Thursday it still preferred diplomacy to sanctions in resolving the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, a day after Britain’s U.N. ambassador said China had agreed for the first time to discuss new measures against Tehran. China, which relies on Iran for much of its energy, traditionally opposes sanctions, although it went along [...]
March 28, 2010 | Posted in
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BEIJING: A former doctor with a history of mental illness hacked eight children to death with a machete Tuesday and injured five others at a primary school in southeast China, state media reported. The attacker was a middle-aged man who allegedly had mental problems and had been dismissed from his job at a community clinic, [...]
March 23, 2010 | Posted in
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BEIJING: Beijingers woke up Saturday to find the Chinese capital blanketed in yellow dust, as a sandstorm caused by a severe drought in the north and in Mongolia swept into the city. The storm, which earlier buffeted parts of northeastern China, brought strong winds and cut visibility in the capital. Authorities issued a rare level [...]
March 21, 2010 | Posted in
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BANGKOK: Fresh from spilling their own blood at the gates of the Thai Prime Minister’s office yesterday, protesters hurled plastic bags filled with litres of blood into Abhisit Vejjajiva’s heavily guarded home in the fourth day of protests aimed at forcing him to call elections. Seeking new ways to dramatize their cause, a small group [...]
March 17, 2010 | Posted in
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ALMATY: Thousands of people were evacuated and some were killed in Kazakhstan on Friday after severe floods destroyed two dams in the south of the Central Asian state, the emergencies ministry said. A dam burst Thursday in the Aksuisky district north of the country’s business and cultural capital Almaty, flooding a village of 3,000 people, [...]
March 12, 2010 | Posted in
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LHASA: Hundreds of Tibetans have been rounded up in Lhasa and armed paramilitaries are patrolling the streets in the run-up to the anniversary of a bloody riot in 2008. The authorities are anxious to avoid a repeat of the anti-Chinese attacks that left about 20 people dead when Tibetans rampaged through the streets of the [...]
March 10, 2010 | Posted in
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JAKARTA: The alleged mastermind behind the 2002 Bali bombings is believed to have been killed in a shoot-out with Indonesian police on the outskirts of Jakarta today. Dulmatin, nicknamed “the Genius”, was an explosives expert who was believed to have set off one of the Bali bombs with a mobile phone, as well as helping [...]
March 9, 2010 | Posted in
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Burma’s military dictatorship has set out laws governing a general election promised later this year, reinforcing the predictions of its opponents that it will be a hollow exercise intended to consolidate military power under a democratic façade. The country’s state-run newspapers today published the election commission law, the first of five pieces of legislation which [...]
March 9, 2010 | Posted in
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BEIJING: The new Chinese-appointed governor of Tibet has said that only socialism can “save” the remote region and guarantee its development, and blamed the Dalai Lama for Tibet’s problems. China has defended its iron-fisted rule in Tibet, saying not only did it free a million Tibetan serfs but it also poured billions of dollars into [...]
March 8, 2010 | Posted in
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TAIPEI: A magnitude 6.4 earthquake that hit Taiwan early on Thursday injured 64 people, cut power supplies, briefly hit stocks and caused fires in the southern half of the island. The quake caused a brief dip in the island’s stock market, with semiconductor firms including TSMC, the world’s No.1 contract chip maker, falling on concerns production [...]
March 4, 2010 | Posted in
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JAKARTA: Indonesian police have captured 13 suspected militants including some who were foreign-trained during a crackdown on a possible cell of the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah in restive Aceh province, an official said Wednesday. The men were caught in several raids since Feb. 22, when the first four were arrested by police after [...]
March 4, 2010 | Posted in
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TOKYO: Japan and Russia went on alert Sunday, clearing tens of thousands of people out of vulnerable coastal areas as a tsunami triggered by Chile’s massive killer quake powered across the Pacific. Tsunami warnings were lifted in other nations across the Pacific Basin’s “Ring of Fire” as fears of destructive waves eased, but Tokyo and [...]
February 28, 2010 | Posted in
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The highest court in military-ruled Burma dismissed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s latest bid for freedom earlier today, turning down an appeal to end 14 years of house arrest. The Supreme Court’s decision had been expected since legal rulings in Burma rarely favour opposition activists. Defence lawyer Nyan Win said he would launch one [...]
February 26, 2010 | Posted in
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BEIJING: In a statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that the improvement and development of Pak-India relations are not only conducive to the peace and development of South Asia but to the whole region of Asia on Thursday. “China welcomes the steps for normalization of relations by Pakistan and India and expresses hope [...]
February 26, 2010 | Posted in
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