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East Asia
A N. Korean boy rides in bike’s basket as spring flowers bloom
A North Korean woman sells cigarettes and snacks along a rural road near the demilitarized zone which separates the two Koreas in south of Kaesong, North Korea on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. A North Korean boy rides in a bicycle’s basket on a road north of Kaesong, North Korea on…
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South East Asia
Cambodian opposition calls for electoral reforms before July election
Kem Sokha (1st R), vice-president of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), and Mu Sochua, opposition lawmaker, give their regards to supporters in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, April 24, 2013. Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the kingdom’s main opposition party, staged a non-violent protest on Wednesday to call for reforms within the…
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South Asia
At least 161 dead in Bangladesh building collapse
SAVAR, Bangladesh — Rescuers tried to free people believed trapped in the concrete rubble of a building housing mainly garment factories that collapsed in Bangladesh a day after workers complained cracks had developed in the structure. The death toll jumped to 161 on April 25 after searchers worked through…
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Central Asia
A Russian roller-skater plays prior to celebration of victory anniversary
Russian military cadets look at a young man enjoying his roller skates prior to a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Squarein St.Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Russia celebrates the anniversary of the allied victory over Nazi Germany on May 9. <AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky>
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Asia’s raw material consumption unsustainable, UN warns
The Asia-Pacific region has surpassed the rest of the world in its consumption of materials and will continue to dominate world material flows, according to a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report. The data indicate that at this rate, the region will be increasingly dependent on imports and unable…
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South Asia
Can India’s government empower its people?
Commercial forestry: A legacy of British rule The Indian politician and the bureaucrat have struggled for the past 65 years to shed the legacy and the mechanisms of British rule and empower the people but have failed…why? As is well known across the world, the regimes of the newly born…
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South Asia
Indian Kashmiri Muslim devotees carry out torch light procession
Kashmiri Muslim devotees carry wooden torches as they prepare for a torch light procession on a hilltop near the shrine of Muslim saint Sakhi Zain-ud-din Wali, in Aishmuqaam, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Srinagar, India, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. The farming community in south Kashmir celebrated the festival…
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West Asia
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ⑫
[17] The phone in the small bedroom where Nargis was a few minutes earlier rang and Saadiya hurried to answer. She shut the door to prevent noise. She lifted the receiver : “Alnuzha Hospital?” “Yes, sir.” “I’m the brother of patient Marwa Wagih Essamuldin. May I talk to her?” Saadiya…
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West Asia
IPAF Surprise: Younger and less popular novelists stand out
The shortlist for the International Prize for Arabic fiction (IPAF) has been announced in Tunisia. It came as a surprise as many famous novelists who were included in the long list didn’t make it to the shortlist. The unexpected shortlist included these six novels: “Ave Maria” by the Iraqi novelist…
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East Asia
Buddha’s lamp carried to Korea to ease tensions
The ‘peace lamp’ kindled in the Buddha’s birthplace Lumbini has been travelling to the nuclear crisis-ridden Korean Peninsula. Nepali President Ram Baran Yadav and the Buddhist community of Lumbini presented a perennial holy peace lamp on April 19 to South Korean Buddhist monks to appease the winds of war between…
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