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Nepal PM to resign Wednesday: spokesman

KATHMANDU (AFP) – Nepal’s prime minister will formally resign in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday evening, more than a month after he first agreed to stand down, his spokesman said.
Madhav Kumar Nepal has been under intense pressure from the opposition Maoist party to quit ever since he agreed [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010

Japan’s SMBC to take stake in Indian lender

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) is set to become the country’s first lender to invest in an Indian peer after it said Wednesday it will buy a stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank.
SMBC will purchase 4.5 percent of Kotak Mahindra, India’s fourth-largest private sector bank by market capitalisation, [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010

S.Korean star found dead in apparent suicide

SEOUL (AFP) – A South Korean actor and singer who rode the wave of Korean pop culture in Asia was found dead at his home in Seoul Wednesday in an apparent suicide, police said.
Park Yong-Ha, 33, was found in his room by his mother after he apparently hanged himself with an electrical [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010

Aquino sworn in as Philippine president

MANILA (AFP) – Benigno Aquino took over as president of the Philippines on Wednesday with a vow to lift his nation out of poverty and wipe out crippling corruption that he said thrived under his predecessor.
In his inauguration speech to a mass of supporters wearing his family’s signature yellow, the 50-year-old [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010

Loveless Chinese troops banned from online dating

BEIJING – What will the lonely hearts of the People’s Liberation Army do now?
Rigid restrictions on Internet usage imposed this month on the 2.3 million-strong Chinese armed services are sure to cramp the already lackluster social lives of the predominantly young, male force. Online dating was given the boot, along with blogs, [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010

Former Aussie PM’s bid to lead world cricket fails

SINGAPORE (AFP) – Former Australian prime minister John Howard’s bid to lead world cricket has been rejected, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said Wednesday, after a revolt by Asian and African nations.
A statement from the ICC board at a meeting in Singapore said the right-wing former leader’s nomination to serve as [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010

Australian, 90, accused of raping 4 Thai sisters

BANGKOK – A 90-year-old Australian was arrested and charged with raping four young sisters whom he allegedly lured to his home in Thailand with imported chocolates and English lessons, police said Wednesday.
One girl was 5 when the alleged abuse began. The sisters are now 7 to 15.
Karl Joseph Kraus was arrested Tuesday [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010

Indian Kashmir locked down in bid to stem protests

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) – Thousands of Indian troops enforced a strict curfew in parts of Kashmir Wednesday in a bid to stem three weeks of deadly protests that have claimed 11 lives and led to soaring tensions.
Six people have been killed in the last four days alone during demonstrations against the [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010

SKorea’s military wants budget increased sharply

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s Defense Ministry is seeking a sharp increase in next year’s budget to improve its fighting capability due to tensions over the deadly sinking of a warship blamed on North Korea, an official said Wednesday.
Defense Ministry officials have agreed to request about 31.6 trillion won ($25.8 [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010

Maoist rebels ambush Indian troops, killing 27

PATNA, India – Up to 200 Maoist rebels ambushed paramilitary troops in eastern India, killing at least 27 in the latest bold attack by the guerrillas, a senior police official said.
A 63-member patrol of the Central Reserve Police Force was ambushed in dense forest Tuesday evening in the Narayanpur district of [...]

Read More » No commentJune 30, 2010