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Maoists’ shutdown increases uncertainty over Nepal’s political future
The Communist Party of Nepal Maoist (CPN-Maoist), the breakaway faction of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN-Maoist), has posed a risk to the November 19 Constituent Assembly polls by calling transportation strike for nine days beginning from November 12 to November 19. Although the ultra leftist party that decided…
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Politics
UN Sec-Gen Ban visits Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday visited the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz to pay tribute to Holocaust victims. Ban walked through the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work Makes You Free”) gate to see exhibitions that document the inhumane conditions that the inmates suffered there. Housed in red brick…
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Russia’s interests on the Korean Peninsula
The summit between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Russian President Vladimir Putin has attracted much attention to Russia’s attitude toward the problems of the Korean peninsula. When it comes to Russia’s attitude to South Korea, there is surprisingly little to discuss. In spite of some misunderstandings and minor frictions,…
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South East Asia
Thousands of Thais gather in protest against government’s amnesty bill
An estimated 10,000 Thais demonstrated on Thursday near a Bangkok railway station in protest against a bill aimed to grant amnesty to those involved in previous mass protests. Organized by the opposition Democrat Party, the number of the anti-amnesty demonstrators who began to gather since late afternoon might increase twice…
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South East Asia
Aung San Suu Kyi visits Rome to receive overdue honorary citizenship
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has picked up an overdue honor from Rome, a city she fondly recalled enjoying, along with its gelato, 40 years earlier. The Nobel Peace Prize winner received Rome’s honorary citizenship Sunday night in City Hall on the ancient Capitoline Hill. In 1994, Rome had conferred…
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Emergence of market economy in North Korea
What can we learn from the dramatic transformation that North Korea has undergone in the last two decades? I am afraid that many of my readers might not like my conclusions, but for me, the last two decades are another confirmation that markets and trade are all too natural for…
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South East Asia
Indonesian democracy challenged by local customs
Indonesia is a vast tropical country of sprawling archipelago with extremely diverse cultures and a demographic make-up of over 300 ethnic groups, and more than 700 living languages spoken. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world and also has a significant Christian Protestant and Catholic population. Hindus mostly…
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East Asia
Japanese lawmakers visit Yasukuni Shrine amid protests from China
About 160 Japanese lawmakers from a nonpartisan group on Friday morning worshipped the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine during its autumn festival, according to local media. Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo also paid a visit to the controversial shrine earlier the day, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday…
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East Asia
Philippine President Aquino III visits S. Korea to discuss trade, investment
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III begins a two-day state visit to South Korea on Oct 17 to discuss trade, investment and defense cooperation. It wasn’t clear on Wednesday whether the trip would even take place, as President Aquino rushed to the central Philippines to inspect heavy damage from Tuesday’s 7.2-magnitude…
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South East Asia
Clash of values over Bukit Brown, Singapore’s ‘Angkor’
In 1860, the jungles of Cambodia yielded a hidden secret when French naturalist Henri Mouhot stumbled upon the ruins of Angkor Thom. Intriguing wall figures and building architecture had led him to the long-lost Bagon at Kampong Thom in the deep forests of the Tonle Sap Lake, of whose grandeur…
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