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Nepal president uses emergency powers to pass budget

KATHMANDU (AFP) – Nepal’s president on Saturday used emergency powers to pass the long-overdue annual budget and stave off a looming economic crisis in the poverty-stricken Himalayan nation.
The budget should have been passed in July, but was delayed by the fall of the last government, since when 16 attempts to elect a new prime minister [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 21, 2010

Win seen for reformist chief minister in India’s Bihar state

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Election exit polls forecast Saturday a clear win for the reformist leader of India’s Bihar state who has been credited with turning the notoriously crime-hit region into an economic success story.
The polls forecast that the National Democratic Alliance, led by chief minister Nitish Kumar, would get as many as 185 to [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 21, 2010

Pakistan official backs Christian’s blasphemy death appeal

LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) – A top Pakistan government official Saturday backed a Christian mother’s appeal against a death sentence for blasphemy, saying he hoped President Asif Ali Zardari would pardon her.
Asia Bibi was sentenced to hang in Pakistan’s central province of Punjab earlier this month after being accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed in 2009.
Punjab [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 21, 2010

Taiwan arthouse films win Chinese ‘Oscars’

TAOYUAN (AFP) – The cream of Taiwanese cinema dominated this year’s Golden Horse Film Awards, considered the Chinese-language equivalent of the Oscars, with two arthouse films scooping top honours Saturday.
Acclaimed Taiwanese director Chang Tso-chi collected his second best picture award for the family drama “When Love Comes,” which led the race with 14 nominations and [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 21, 2010

More China wins in Asian Games badminton, t-tennis

GUANGZHOU, China (AFP) – China’s Wang Shixian shocked world number one Wang Xin to win the women’s Asian Games badminton title Saturday as the hosts completed a clean-sweep of all seven table tennis golds.
The action came as India inflicted more pain on arch-rivals Pakistan in the field hockey, storming into the semi-finals with a 3-2 [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 21, 2010

As India rises, its rat catchers toil in darkness

MUMBAI, India – Sabid Ali Sheikh stands on a prairie of trash — old onions, excrement, animal bones — slowly rotting its way back into an earth riddled with rat burrows. Sometimes the ground gives way under his feet.
It is after midnight, and Sheikh is after the rats. He listens for them. He tries to [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 21, 2010

China church ordains bishop over Vatican objection

CHENGDE, China – China’s government-backed Catholic church ordained a bishop who did not have the pope’s approval Saturday, despite objections from the Vatican and comments by a key papal adviser that the move was “illegitimate” and “shameful.”
The Rev. Guo Jincai’s ordination at Pingquan Church in Chengde city was carried out amid strong security, with dozens [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 21, 2010

Myanmar patients face eviction after Suu Kyi visit

YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar’s government ordered more than 80 people at a shelter for patients with HIV and AIDS to leave following a visit by newly freed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the center’s organizers said Saturday.
Suu Kyi, released a week ago from seven years under house arrest, visited the shelter on the outskirts [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 21, 2010

Thousands return to homes on Indonesian volcano

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia – Thousands of villagers have returned to their homes on the slopes of Indonesia’s deadly volcano as it has become less active in recent days.
The National Disaster Management Agency says that almost half of nearly 400,000 evacuees have now returned home after the government on Friday reduced the official “danger zone” from [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 21, 2010

Wildlife group targets Myanmar-China tiger trade

BANGKOK – Wildlife trafficking officials say they have reached a preliminary agreement with an ethnic minority group in Myanmar to close down markets where hundreds of poached tigers from across Asia are sold for use in purported medicines and aphrodisiacs in China.
The markets, in an area of northeastern Myanmar controlled by the Wa minority, are [...]

Read More » No commentNovember 20, 2010