China won’t swallow ‘bitter pill’ of ceding sovereign rights: military official
QINGDAO, China (Reuters) – China will not “swallow the bitter pill” of ceding its sovereign rights to others, a senior military official told foreign naval leaders on Wednesday, as the country takes an increasingly assertive approach to guarding its ma…
China warns again ahead of Dalai Lama’s Norway trip
BEIJING/OSLO (Reuters) – China warned again on Wednesday that it was resolutely opposed to a visit by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to Norway, saying if he really was a religious figure he should be “resting in a temple” not travel…
Saudi Arabia reports 11 new cases of MERS virus, first in Mecca
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it had discovered 11 more cases of the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), including what appeared to be the first case in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
Visitors flock to China memorial to Japanese official’s assassin
BEIJING (Reuters) – A memorial to a Korean who assassinated a Japanese official more than a century ago has drawn a flood of visitors since it opened in China in January despite Japanese criticism.
China activist missing after trying to help striking workers
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A prominent Chinese labor activist has been missing for more than 24 hours and his wife suspects he was detained by state security agents after trying to help workers involved in China’s biggest strike in years organize their case….
Thai court gives PM time to defend herself; economy rudderless
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday gave Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra until early May to defend herself against charges of abuse of power, as the central bank warned that the political crisis threatened another cut in…
Australia unmoved by U.N. critique of asylum seeker policy
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s immigration minister dismissed on Wednesday United Nations’ criticism of its asylum seeker policy, even as fresh evidence emerged of abuses at one of its detention centers in Papua New Guinea.
Nepal moves to ease tension among Sherpas after Everest disaster
KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Nepal’s government decided on Wednesday to send a delegation of officials to the base camp of Mount Everest to cool anger among Sherpas over its response to last week’s deadly ice avalanche in which at least 13 guides were killed….
Import tariffs strain rich-poor gap in ‘madly expensive’ Luanda
LUANDA (Reuters) – In Luanda’s Jumbo supermarket, a half-liter tub of imported vanilla ice-cream used to cost $25, testament to the Angolan capital’s rank as one of the world’s most expensive cities.
Serendipity aids Egypt in struggle to recover stolen heritage
CAIRO (Reuters) – When French Egyptologist Olivier Perdu saw a fragment of a pharaonic statue on display in a Brussels gallery last year, he assumed it was a twin of an ancient masterpiece he had examined in Egypt a quarter of a century earlier.
