Indonesia considers tax amnesty for financial crimes: tax office head
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s tax office is considering a tax amnesty for financial crimes, in a move that could bring at least 100 trillion rupiah ($7.5 billion) into state coffers, the director-general of taxes said on Wednesday.
Syrian army secures oil field perimeter, kills militants: TV
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian state television said on Wednesday the army and allied militia had secured the perimeter of an oil field near the central city of Palmyra which had been the focus of recent heavy fighting with Islamic State militants.
Bomb attack in restive Xinjiang and police response kill at least 18: Radio Free Asia
BEIJING (Reuters) – Ethnic Uighurs attacked police with knives and bombs at a traffic checkpoint in China’s far western Xinjiang region, Radio Free Asia reported on Wednesday, and at least 18 people were killed.
Indian cricket tycoon declares ‘war,’ rattles Modi government
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Pressure is growing on India’s foreign minister and a top member of the ruling party over help they gave to a disgraced cricket tycoon, as the first major scandal to touch Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government begins to threat…
Islamic State destroys ancient shrines in Syria’s Palmyra city
AMMAN (Reuters) – Islamic State militants have blown up two ancient shrines they consider sacrilegious in Palmyra, a 2,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site in central Syria, the ultra hardline Sunni Muslim group said on Tuesday.
New U.N. goals lack focus, global health experts warn
WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Shrinking aid dollars threaten the major advances made over the past decade in fighting disease and preventable deaths, a task that will grow even more difficult under new United Nations’ development goals, exp…
China says economic losses from drug abuse hit $81 billion a year
BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Wednesday gave its first-ever assessment of the scourge of drug abuse, saying it caused annual economic losses of 500 billion yuan ($80.54 billion) and as many as 49,000 deaths last year.
China invites former soldiers in Taiwan to war commemorations
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will welcome former soldiers living in Taiwan who fought against Japan in World War Two to take part in commemorations marking 70 years since the end of the conflict in Asia, state media said on Wednesday.
China seizes $483 million of smuggled meat, some 40 years old: China Daily
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese customs have seized around 3 billion yuan ($483 million) worth of smuggled meat, some more than 40 years old and rotting, the official China Daily said on Wednesday, the latest in a grim series of food safety scares.
Anti-Houthi forces in Yemen seize Saudi border crossing
SANAA (Reuters) – Army forces loyal to Yemen’s exiled president seized a border crossing with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, officials in the area and witnesses said, dealing a rare blow to the country’s dominant Houthi group.
