Latest Southeast Asia News
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Pakistan one of worlds most negative nations Poll
Pakistan has been viewed as one of the most negative countries in the world in a new poll. The south Asian country was ranked after Israel, North Korea in terms of how they are viewed globally. This year's annual Country Ratings Poll for the BBC World Service found that 55 percent of respondents viewed Pakistan as a negative country as compared to only 15 percent who had a mainly positive ...
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Sharp decline in US drone strikes in Pakistan
Islamabad, May 23: (ANI): Drone strikes in Pakistan have fallen sharply since their peak in 2010, perhaps in response to increasing scrutiny of the programme by the US Congress and the American public, according to a media report. This comes just ahead of President Barack Obama's long-awaited address on drones at Washington's National Defence University on Thursday. Bruce Riedel, a former CIA ...
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India positioned to become net security provider in immediate region and beyond PM
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Thursday said India is well positioned to become a net security provider in the South Asian region and beyond. Laying the foundation stone of National Defence University here, Dr. Singh said: "Our defence cooperation has grown, and today, we have unprecedented access to high technology, capital and partnerships. We have also sought to assume our ...
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Four debutants in Dutch squad for Indonesia China friendlies
Dutch football head coach Louis van Gaal has named four debutants in the squad for the friendlies in Indonesia and China in June. Heracles Almelo midfielder Lerin Duarte, Feyenoord leftback Miquel Nelom, Swansea City defender Dwight Tiendalli and FC Utrecht midfielder Jens Toornstra were included in the squad Wednesday, reports Xinhua. Ajax reserve goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, who is yet to ...
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Nawaz Sharifs govt. to continue Benazir Bhuttos policy of reconciliation
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has said that his government will continue the policy of reconciliation initiated by former premier Benazir Bhutto. Sharif, who was addressing the media after a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari, said it is time for the political leadership and state institutions to join hands to overcome the challenges being faced by the country. ...
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Talks with Taliban prerogative of Pak govt. says envoy Olson
US ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olson has said that holding talks with the Taliban is a prerogative of the Pakistani government. Olson said any reservations regarding these proposed talks will depend on terms and conditions of the dialogue with Taliban, reports the Daily Times. Olson termed the recent general elections as great success of the nation in which democratic forces emerged as ...
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Obama Speech Attempts to Fulfill Pledges For More Transparency
WHITE HOUSE The Obama administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged the killing of four Americans in drone strikes. This came on the eve of a speech by President Barack Obama about the legal principles supporting use of drones against terrorist suspects, and about detention policies. The use of drone warfare and targeted killings, including of Americans helping al-Qaida or ...
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Global Advocacy Group Urges Pakistan to Protect Press
ISLAMABAD -- A U.S.-based international press watchdog organization is calling for the incoming Pakistan government led by Nawaz Sharif to take urgent steps to stem "the murderous silencing" of the press by bringing to justice those who have attacked journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists said many reporters killed in Pakistan during the past decade were targeted and ...
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Business confidence in Philippines reaches new heights
Philippines has soared to an all-time high after the country was awarded investment grade credit ratings. The central bank said the overall confidence index rose 54.9 per cent from the first quarter's 41.5 per cent. "This is the highest reading since the start of the nationwide survey in the fourth quarter of 2006," said the central bank. The confidence index is the percentage ...
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Finance Ministry predicts low inflation in May
The Finance Ministry's fiscal agency head Bambang Brodjonegoro has said that after deflation in April, it is expected that inflation will recur in May because harvests will have been collected."It seems unlikely to see deflation in May. However, even if there is inflation, we will have a low inflation rate," said Bambang in Jakarta on Thursday, as quoted by Antara news ...
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Semarang election committee order post-campaign cleanup
Semarang municipal election monitoring committee ordered the campaign teams of the three-Central Java gubernatorial election candidates get their campaign material off the streets for the three-day cooling-off period in the run up to the polls on May 26.The Panwaslu chairperson Sri Wahyu Ananingsih said in Semarang on Thursday that the committee in association with the local public order agency ...
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UN 22 deaths worldwide from coronavirus
The World Health Organization says there are now 22 deaths worldwide out of 44 lab-confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. WHO officials have reported another fatal case of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS, in central Saudi Arabia, but say it is not related to the cluster of cases reported from the country's east. The U.N. health agency said in a statement ...
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Bantul education agency announces 100 percent graduation
Bantul High and Informal Education Agency head Masharun Gozhalie has announced that all senior high school students who took the final examinations passed. However, the official announcement is slated to be made tomorrow."Frankly, none of the students in Bantul failed the exam. Therefore, they can move a step up, whether to continue education or start looking for jobs," Masharun ...
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As Myanmar Reforms Indonesia Offers Some Lessons
Police and students stand off at Trisakti University in West Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 8, 1998, before scuffles erupted. Student protests against President Suharto that ignited throughout Indonesia ultimately ended the 30-year rule of the military ...
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Market Snapshot U.S. stocks drop hit by Fed Asian selloff
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks dropped in Thursday morning trade after Japanese equities dived overnight, as global markets reacted to weak Chinese manufacturing data and worries about the Federal Reserve's potential tapering of its bond-buying ...
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Heres the Bottom Line on Singapore GDP
in the first three months of the year compared with the previous quarter. That was much better than an advanced estimate of the gross domestic product (GDP) data released last month that showed Singapore contracted 1.4 percent in the first quarter or expectations for a contraction of around 1.1 percent. A surge in financial services was cited as reason for the unexpected upward revision. ...
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Paragua topples Sadorra wrests Asian Chess lead
Standings after Round 5: (Open) 4.5 points--GM Mark Paragua (PH); 4.0--GM Julio Catalino Sadorra (PH), GM Le Quang Liem (Viet), GM John Paul Gomez (PH), GM Richard Bitoon (PH), GM Li Chao (Chn); (Women's) 4.0 points--IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Mgl), WGM Mary Ann Gomes (Ind), WGM Guo Qi (Chn), WGM Wang Jue (Chn); 3.5--WGM Huang Qian (CHn), WGM Nafisa Muminova (Uzb), IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen ...
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Bangladesh factory owners failings led to collapse says report
The defects and errors that led to the world's deadliest garment-industry accident extend from the swampy ground the doomed Rana Plaza was built on, to "extremely poor quality" construction materials, to the massive, vibrating equipment operating when the eight-story building collapsed, a committee appointed by Bangladesh's government concluded. The committee recommended ...
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Asian European Stocks Plunge on Weak Chinese Factory Data
Japan's Nikkei stock index tumbled 7.3 percent after release of the report showing Chinese factory production dropped in May for the first time in seven months. It was the biggest one-day loss since Japan's March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster. Stocks in London, Paris and Frankfurt followed suit, dropping about 2 percent. U.S. future indexes fell ahead of the opening of ...
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Scientists family seeks US Congress Thai experts help
SINGAPORE (AFP) - The parents of a US scientist found hanged in Singapore last year said Thursday they will seek a US congressional inquiry and tap a celebrity Thai pathologist to prove their son was murdered.Mary Todd, mother of the late researcher Shane Todd whose death in June 2012 was ruled a suicide by the Singapore police, indicated the family did not expect the US government to intervene ...
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Confusion reigns after Asian market meltdown
Overnight Asian markets were a complete and utter mess and while a seven per cent correction in the Nikkei may be par for the course after an 80 per cent rally, the reasons behind the sell-off have significant implications for Canadian ...
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Toronto architects build sideways in Bangladesh
Rendering of Shobuj Pata low-rise condo project, Dhaka, Bangladesh by Toronto-based JCI Architects. Instead of pushing tall buildings upright, you can tip the towers onto their sides, as JCI decided to do here. The move lets skyscrapers do what they do best - provide dwellings that are safe and private, but compactly stacked in the landscape. (JCI ...
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Pakistan 12 killed in Quetta blast
Quetta, May 23 : At least 12 people were killed and several others were injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan's Quetta city on Thursday, officials ...
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Remittances Buoy Up Myanmar’s Economy
She has been on her feet in this laundromat in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai since seven in the morning and had been hoping to call it a day when two more customers walked in. She is not in a position to turn anyone away: ';I need the money. My family needs me to work," she tells IPS, her voice tinged with desperation as she begins yet another load. Six do-it-yourself washing ...
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Dhaka building collapse probe finds many failings
Sohel Rana also "used extremely poor quality iron rods and cement," Ahmed told The Associated Press on Thursday. "There were a series of irregularities." The report found that Rana had permission to build a six-story structure and added two floors illegally so he could rent them out to garment factories. Past statements from authorities said the owner had permission for a ...
Laos Digest
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Laos looking ahead
The new stock exchange in Laos may be a sign of changes to come in our otherwise centrally-run economy.
Laos is one of the poorest countries in South East Asia, but as the globally economy recovers and commodity prices pick up, the country looks set for a future of relatively strong growth, if not widespread prosperity, and this has been exemplified in the government’s recent decision to open a stock exchange in the country, which it is hoped will bring much-needed capital flowing into the country to fund investment projects in industry and infrastructure, catalysts for further growth in the economy. Read more
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