Latest Asia News
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Two Thai monks arrested in child sex scandal Police
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai police said on Wednesday they had arrested two monks for procuring a 14-year-old boy to perform sexual acts with an abbot, in the latest scandal to shake the kingdom's Buddhist clergy. The pair, who deny any knowledge of the alleged abuse, could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted, Police Colonel Wirachon Bunthawi said from the northern city of Chiang Mai. ...
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Group decries Sri Lankas proposed media code
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -; An international rights group says a media code proposed by Sri Lanka's government could have a severe and chilling effect on free speech in the ...
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Asian Stocks Fall On Uncertainty Over Fed Policy
Asian stocks fell broadly on Wednesday as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the outcome of the two-day policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve. With Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke scheduled to hold a press conference shortly after the meeting, investors wait to hear what he has to say about possible tapering of bond purchases and the future course of Fed policy. Japanese shares bucked ...
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UN US ask Filipinos not to leave Golan Heights
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines' top diplomat says U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have appealed to Manila not to withdraw more than 300 Filipino peacekeepers from the Golan Heights to avoid "maximum volatility" in the restive Middle East region.Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Wednesday the diplomats made the appeal to ...
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Afghanistan suspends peace talks after US-Taliban move as Hamid Karzai protests at being left out of initial negotiations
Afghan peace talks could be derailed before they even begin after president Hamid Karzai halted talks with the US on a new security deal to protest at being left out of initial negotiations with the Taliban aimed at ending the 12-year ...
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Musical spectacular to open first-ever Asia Pacific Special Olympics
Asia Pacific Games in December, with well-known Australian performers to take the stage in a two-hour spectacular of music, dance, theatre, lights and fireworks. Details of the gala event, planned for Dec 1, 2013 at the 30,000-seater Hunter Stadium in Newcastle were released on Wednesday. Aussie singers Anthony Callea, Marcia Hines and Marina Prior are among the line-up of entertainers, which ...
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China N Korea hold strategic dialogue officials
A high-ranking North Korean official with long experience as his country's international nuclear negotiator held talks on Wednesday with Chinese officials, Beijing's foreign ministry ...
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N.Korea threatens to kill authors of Hitler report
North Korea has angrily denied a report that its ruler used Adolf Hitler's memoir as a leadership guide, threatening to kill the authors of the report. The article by New Focus International, an online news portal run by North Korean defectors, said Kim Jong-Un had given copies of "Mein Kampf" to his top officials, urging them to study it as a leadership skills manual. He handed ...
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Bribery trial of former Finmeccanica CEO opens
MILAN (AP) -- The former head of the Italian aerospace and defense giant Finmeccanica goes on trial in a case involving alleged bribes to win a 560 million euro ($670 million) helicopter contract in ...
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Global Gold Demand Reinforced by Asian Consumers
Gold Council published a market update recently, which examines the effect of the recent fall in the gold price.The report also provides new consumer perspectives in India and China on gold price expectations and future purchasing ...
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ASIA CREDIT CLOSE Credits weaken ahead of FOMC results
Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:58am EDT SINGAPORE, June 19 (IFR) - Asian credit spreads widened and bonds weakened in a very quiet market. With every single market participant waiting on Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke's speech this evening in the US and the outcome of a two-day FOMC meeting, there were no brave souls willing to take new positions, thus resulting in few trades going through in the ...
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Monsoon floods kill 69 in India strand pilgrims
A view of the Hindu holy town of Kedarnath from a helicopter after a flood, in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, India, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Monsoon torrential rains have cause havoc in northern India leading to flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides as the death toll continues to climb and more than 1,000 pilgrims bound for Himalayan shrines remain stranded. (AP ...
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Vietnam hunger strike tests official intimidation
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Cu Huy Ha Vu's books come with pages torn out by prison guards. Only some of his letters reach home. He is not allowed to access evidence from his trial or to see his wife ...
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American predator professor suspected to have abused Filipino children roamed Asia
Mexican authorities have arrested an American professor who was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in the resort city of Playa del Carmen. Prosecutor Gaspar Armando Garcia Torres said Walter Lee Williams, 64, (pictured) a former university professor, is wanted on charges of sexual exploitation of children and traveling to Philippines for child sex. Garcia said Williams was ...
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Plot against Wall Street foiled NSA chiefThe director of the National Security Agency said Tuesday the US governments sweeping surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide including one directed at the New York Stock Exchang
Keith Alexander said the two recently disclosed programmes, one that gathers US phone records and another that is designed to track the use of US-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism, are critical in the terrorism fight. Alexander, seated side by side with top officials from ...
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Mexico arrests man on FBIs top 10 Most Wanted list
Walter Lee Williams , an alleged child sexual predator on the FBI's list of top 10 Most Wanted criminals. Williams was arrested in Playa del Carmen, a seaside resort town just south of Cancun on ...
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Business Briefs June 19
* Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company (VIDIFI) has withdrawn from a project to construct four main roads in Thu Thiem new urban area in HCM City’s District 2 to focus its resources on the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway project, according to Trang Bao Son, deputy head of Thu Thiem Investment and Construction Authority. Dai Quang Minh Real Estate ...
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Toxic radiation in groundwater at Fukushima operator
Cancer-causing radioactive substances have been found in groundwater at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, its Japanese operator said ...
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US House passes bill banning abortion after 20 weeks
The US House of Representatives approved a Republican measure restricting abortion to the first 20 weeks after conception, one of the most stringent pro-life bills in the past ...
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US cabbie pursues charges after anti-Muslim rant caught on tape
MCLEAN, Virginia: For the second time in as many months, a Muslim civil rights group is pursuing criminal charges on behalf of a taxicab driver who was subjected to an anti-Islamic rant caught on tape. In the most recent case, an Ashburn, Virginia, woman unleashed a string of expletives and called the police emergency dispatcher to report that she was afraid for her life because she said her ...
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President Obama to renew calls for nuclear reductions
Obama will make his case during a speech at Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate. His address comes nearly 50 years after John F Kennedy's famous 'Cold War' speech in this once-divided ...
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Samoan airline introduces XL class for super-sized passengers
WELLINGTON: A tiny Samoan airline says it will introduce an "XL" class for super-sized passengers, featuring extra-wide rows and special ramps to help them reach their seats. Samoa Air has already pioneered a world first when late last year it began charging passengers fares based on how much they weigh, rather than a set price for each seat. Chief executive Chris Langton said the ...
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Asia-Pacific Remains the Fastest Growing Region for Contact Center Services Finds Frost Sullivan
SINGAPORE, June 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The year 2012 was a good one for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) contact center market with contact center seats growing by 8.4 percent - relatively higher than in other regions. A strongly performing domestic contact center outsourcing industry represents the next stage of growth in the region and is poised to keep the market buoyant. New analysis from Frost ...
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Tension anger as Asian giants reach World Cup
South Korea defender Kim Chang-Soo (L) and Iran midfielder Masoud Shojaei during their World Cup qualifier on June 18, 2013. Iran booked their ticket with a 1-0 smash-and-grab win in Ulsan, following a tetchy build-up between the two ...
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Oil prices turn higher in Asian trade
With the Aadhaar unique identity number at its core, the scheme is heavily dependent on banks, which in turn are relying on technology firms to implement the ...
Asia Feature
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Asia's largest ever infastructure project
The Trans-Asian Railway has been faltering since it was first proposed in the 1960s by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (ESCAP). Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s the project was hindered by political instability, the wars in Indochina, the reticence of China and a subsequent lack of finance in Asia for mega-projects of this kind.
Now, however, with China emerging as the number two most dominant economy in the world, the project to link two major continents (Asia and Europe) is finding its feet once more and the Chinese are looking into investment opportunities, with some aspects of the project, such as the several thousand kilometers that pass through Thailand, being slated for possible construction in 2013. Read more
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