 War of words over ancient kingdom of Koguryo
 04.10.2009 16:19  20 views  0 comments
 In an atheist dictatorship and "workers' paradise" such as North Korea, King Tongmyong is not an obvious national hero. A legendary archer and horseman of the 1st century BC, he ruled by force of arms. But at his tomb at Ryongsan in North Korea, a country based on its aggressive rejection of feudalism and elitism, he is revered as a national hero....
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Air India investigates mid-air brawl between pilots and cabin crew
04.10.2009 16:19 24 views 0 comments
 Air India is investigating reports of a mid-air brawl between pilots and cabin crew on board a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Delhi in the latest of a series of embarrassments for the Indian national airline. The crew members threw punches and hurled abuse at each other - in full view of 106 passengers - after an air stewardess accused one of the co-pilots on Flight IC-844 of sexually harassing her, according to Indian media reports. At one point the cockpit of the Airbus A-320 was left unmanned and one of the pilots threatened to land the plane in Pakistan, which it was flying over at the time, according to one of the reports. Air India issued a statement saying that it had ordered...
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'Dear Leader' welcomes Chinese comrade to boost hopes of a nuclear agreement
04.10.2009 16:19 16 views 0 comments
 The Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, has arrived in North Korea for talks with its reclusive leader Kim Jong Il amid hopes of advancing nuclear disarmament by the pariah state after months of tension. Mr Kim made the unusual gesture of greeting Mr Wen in person, embracing him as he arrived at Pyongyang airport. The visit appeared to end one of the worst periods in relations between East Asia's two nuclear powers. The countries - once described by Mao Zedong as being "as close as lips and teeth" - have had frosty...
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Adviser downplays al-Qaida haven fears
04.10.2009 16:19 18 views 0 comments
 WASHINGTON - Afghanistan is not in imminent danger of falling to the Taliban, President Barack Obama's national security adviser said Sunday as he downplayed fears that the insurgency could set up a renewed sanctuary for al-Qaida. Retired Gen. James Jones' comments came hours after militant forces stormed a pair of remote outposts near the Pakistan border, killing eight Americans, and amid growing government fissures over whether to send thousands of additional forces to the fight. Obama's senior advisers are set to meet twice this week to debate the administration's evolving Afghan strategy, juggling political pressure from the left to scale back combat troops with an urgent call from...
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Pakistan has forces, equipment for Taliban assault: U.S.
04.10.2009 15:48 14 views 0 comments
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pakistan has mobilized enough forces and equipment to launch a long awaited ground offensive against Taliban militants in their South Waziristan stronghold near the Afghan border, U.S. defense officials said on Sunday. Washington sees a concerted push by Pakistan to eliminate Taliban and al Qaeda "sanctuaries" on its territory as the key to turning around a faltering U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. Pakistan has cited in recent months shortages of helicopters, armored vehicles and precision weapons in putting off a Waziristan assault, but U.S. officials said they believed the army was sufficiently equipped to act. "We would assess that they have plenty...
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Major report details India's infant mortality crisis
04.10.2009 15:48 17 views 0 comments
 NEW DELHI (AFP) – More than 400,000 Indian babies die every year from preventable causes within 24 hours of their birth, despite the country's recent economic development, a new report said Monday. India accounts for a fifth of all newborn deaths worldwide, according to the major report published by the Save the Children charity to launch a global campaign to reduce infant mortality. Government initiatives in India to provide basic health care to all have not changed the grim reality for the nation's babies, said Thomas Chandy, head of Save the Children in India. "Although the schemes...
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Sumatra quake: Aid worker's diary II
04.10.2009 14:47 23 views 0 comments
 Off to an 0530 start this morning, thanks to the heat and mosquitoes in my airless room. It was a slightly fretful night as I was conscious of staying on the second floor of a large concrete structure, perhaps not the best option given the continued aftershocks. I wanted to visit one of the health posts set up in Pariaman district, which was at the epicentre of the quake. The road was choked with a bizarre array of organisations wanting to do good, from a squad of teenagers on...
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Dubai's ruler downsizes ambitions amid crisis
04.10.2009 14:47 20 views 0 comments
 By BARBARA SURK Associated Press Writer DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - There was a time when Dubai's annual property fair was a gilded stage for the ruling sheik to unveil his latest, anything-goes dreams: the world's tallest towers, canals in the desert and artificial islands in the sea. As this year's fair begins Monday, the global recession has sharply downsized those visions and taken much of the boomtown bravado from the city-state's CEO-style ruler. The Cityscape expo is expected to be far more subdued than in years past. The shift reflects Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's passage from big-ticket visionary to more cautious steward of the Gulf emirate's sand-to-skyscraper...
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Eight U.S. troops killed in east Afghan battle
04.10.2009 14:16 18 views 0 comments
 KABUL - Militant fighters streaming from an Afghan village and a mosque attacked a pair of remote outposts near the Pakistani border, killing eight U.S. soldiers and as many as seven Afghan forces in one of the fiercest battles of the eight-year war. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack for coalition forces since a similar raid in July 2008 killed nine American soldiers in the same mountainous region known as an al-Qaida haven. The U.S. has already said it plans to pull its soldiers from the isolated area to focus on Afghan population centers. Fighting began around dawn Saturday and lasted several hours, punctuated by American airstrikes. Jamaludin Badar, governor of...
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Traditions Fade As China Settles Nomads In Towns
04.10.2009 13:44 21 views 0 comments
 From Steppe To City: Traditions Fade As China Moves Nomadic Reindeer Herders To Town Font size Print E-mail Share 0 Comments Photo (AP) Photo...
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South Korea Refuses to Return 11 North Korean Defectors
04.10.2009 13:44 24 views 0 comments
 South Korean officials say Seoul has rejected a demand from North Korea to return 11 defectors. A former N. Korean defector walks past near a poster showing a N. Korean...
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Death Toll From Heavy Rains Reaches 200 in India
04.10.2009 13:44 28 views 0 comments
Villagers look at their submerged houses at flooded R Garlapadu village, about 180 kilometers away from Hyderabad, India, 04 Oct 2009Officials in southern India...
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Traditions fade as China settles nomads in towns
04.10.2009 12:42 16 views 0 comments
 GENHE CITY, China—Herding...
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Billions in US aid never reached Pakistan army
04.10.2009 12:42 20 views 0 comments
 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The...
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Billions In US Aid Never Reached Pakistan Army
04.10.2009 12:11 23 views 0 comments
 Billions In US Military Aid Never Reached Pakistan Army, Pakistani Generals Say Font size Print E-mail Share 0 Comments Photo (AP) Photo...
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N Korea 'open' to new nuclear talks
04.10.2009 11:40 22 views 0 comments
 North Korea has said it is open to restarting bilateral and multilateral talks on its nuclear weapons programme, Chinese media has reported. Kim Yong-il, the North Korean prime minister, reportedly expressed Pyongyang's willingness to resume talks during a meeting on Sunday with Wen Jiabao, his visiting Chinese couterpart. Wen has travelled to North Korea for a three-day state visit and TV footage on Sunday showed Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, making a rare public appearance to welcome him with an embrace at Pyongyang airport. Chinese media quoted Kim, who is no relation to Kim Jong-il, as saying:...
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Japan PM, Yukio Hatoyama, faces heat on funding
04.10.2009 10:38 23 views 0 comments
 TOKYO: Prosecutors have launched investigations into a political donations scandal against Japan's new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama. Mr Hatoyama,...
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Shoichi Nakagawa, former finance minister for Japan, discovered dead
04.10.2009 10:38 20 views 0 comments
 FORMER Japanese finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who resigned after an apparently drunken press conference this year, has been found dead at his Tokyo home. Mr Nakagawa, who lost his Hokkaido seat at the August 30...
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Landslide in West Sumatra engulfs wedding party of 40
04.10.2009 10:38 17 views 0 comments
 A BRIDE, groom and their families and friends are believed to be among more than 200 people thought to have died in a landslide in a remote West Sumatran village triggered by last Wednesday's earthquake. An estimated 40 people in the wedding party suffocated when a side of a hill gave way, as the groom was being taken in ceremonial procession to the house of his new bride's family the day after their marriage vows. The pair had returned to their village to be married during Levaran, the festival at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, when families celebrate time together. Details remained sketchy yesterday in the isolated hamlet of Tandidek, with...
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Archaeologist Kazuto Matsufuji and Japanese history rewritten in stone
04.10.2009 10:38 27 views 0 comments
WHEN archaeologist Kazuto Matsufuji revealed 20 stone tools that place early humans in Japan possibly 120,000 years ago - 40,000 years earlier than previously known - he was hotly questioned about fraud and verification. Professor Matsufuji was unsurprised; his profession is still struggling to restore its reputation from damage inflicted by the uncovering of...
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