China smog emergency shuts city of 11 million people
BEIJING (Reuters) – Choking smog all but shut down one of northeastern China’s largest cities on Monday, forcing schools to suspended classes, snarling traffic and closing the airport, in the country’s first major air pollution crisis of the winter.
China punishes eight in railway corruption case
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s anti-graft authorities have punished eight people at a state-owned rail construction firm for spending more than $100 million on hospitality last year, a disciplinary body of the Communist Party said on Monday.
Baghdad cafe bombing kills at least 38
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A suicide bomber driving a minibus blew himself up outside a cafe in a mainly Shi’ite Muslim district of the Iraqi capital on Sunday, killing at least 38 people, police and medics said.
Bangladesh poised to hike garment wages, but may not end strikes
DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh’s garment factory owners are penciling in a minimum wage increase of about 50 to 80 percent and will ask retailers to pay more to defray the cost, as the government tries to end a wave of strikes that hit nearly a fifth of …
Malaysia’s Najib entrenches power as reform drive fades
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Internal voting for top posts in Malaysia’s ruling party at the weekend has proved Prime Minister Najib Razak to be a canny survivor – five months after a poor showing at national elections – but at a cost to his reform agenda….
Radioactive water leaks at Fukushima as operator underestimates rainfall
TOKYO (Reuters) – Highly radioactive water overflowed barriers into Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, its operating utility said on Monday, after it underestimated how much rain would fall at the plant and failed to pump it out quickly eno…
China to restrict satellite TV stations to one foreign program
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China will allow satellite television stations to buy the right to broadcast only one foreign program each year from 2014 as part of new restrictions to push “morality-building” and educational shows, state media reported on Monday…
As ties warm, U.S. restarts security assistance to Pakistan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has quietly restarted security assistance to Pakistan, U.S. officials said on Sunday, after freezing much of that aid during a period of strained relations beginning with the 2011 Navy SEAL raid that killed al Q…
Mexico calls alleged U.S. spying on Calderon ‘unacceptable’
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico scolded the United States on Sunday over new allegations of spying after a German magazine reported that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had hacked Felipe Calderon’s public email account while he was president.
As ties warm, U.S. restarts security assistance to Pakistan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has quietly restarted security assistance to Pakistan, U.S. officials said on Sunday, after freezing much of that aid during a period of strained relations beginning with the 2011 Navy SEAL raid that killed al Q…
