Foreign Media - NsNewsWire

China loosens grip on one-child policy

DHAKA, Dec. 28 (NsNewsWire) — China’s top legislative committee has formally approved a loosening of the country’s hugely controversial one-child policy and abolished “re-education through labour” camps, state media has reported. The decisions were taken by the standing committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s rubber-stamp parliament, on Saturday at the conclusion of a […]

Nanded-Bangalore express catches fire in Andhra, 23 killed

DHAKA, Dec. 28 (NsNewsWire) — About two dozen passengers were charred to death in a major fire accident in Nanded-Bangalore express train near Kothacheru railway station in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh in India on Saturday morning. The fire occurred in D1 airconditioned compartment and the impact of the mishap was felt more on passengers […]

Bangladesh tense ahead of opposition march

DHAKA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) — As the main opposition alliance in Bangladesh gears up for a “long march” to Dhaka seeking cancellation of the parliament polls slated for Jan. 5, many fear the situation in the country could become much more volatile. Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Tuesday night through a press conference urged […]

Thai army chief urges calm, doesn’t rule out coup

Thailand’s army chief on Friday urged both sides in the country’s bitter political dispute to show restraint, but did not explicitly rule out the possibility of a coup. Thailand has been wracked by two months of political tensions and occasionally violent street protests pitting the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra against protesters seeking to […]

Bangladesh opposition head under ‘virtual house arrest’

Dhaka (AFP) – Bangladesh’s main opposition party said Thursday its leader Khaleda Zia was being kept under virtual house arrest after she called for a mass march aimed at scuppering a January 5 election. “Since yesterday she has been under virtual house arrest,” Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) vice-president Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury told AFP. “The police […]

International Troops Prepare as South Sudan Violence Worsens

The U.S. and the United Nations are preparing to make more peacekeeping troops available for the growing conflict in South Sudan, as President Salva Kiir opened the door to talks with his deposed vice president. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked the Security Council to add 5,500 soldiers to the peacekeeping mission of 7,000 already […]

Officials sent to learn more about Taiwanese held in Bangladesh

Taipei, Dec. 24 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent officials to look into the arrest of Taiwanese nationals in Bangladesh accused of violating the southeast Asian country’s telecommunications regulations by using Internet telephony equipment, the ministry said Tuesday. “Earlier today, our representative office in India sent officials to Bangladesh to look deeper into […]

Kalashnikov assault rifle designer is dead at 94

DHAKA, Dec. 24 (NsNewsWire) — Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the assault rifle that has killed more people than any other firearm in the world, died on Monday aged 94, Russian officials said. Kalashnikov, who was in his 20s when he created the AK-47 just after World War Two, died in his home city of […]

Indian diplomat treated housekeeper ‘like a slave’

In India, Devyani Khobragade advocated for women’s rights. But in New York, she was a slave driver, says the family of Khobragade’s housekeeper. Consular official Khobragade worked domestic servant Sangeeta Richard from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, “tantamount to keeping a person in slavery-like conditions or keeping a person in bondage,” Richard’s husband, Philip, said […]