Pakistan has ordered Save the Children’s foreign staff members to leave the country. An official with the U.S.-based aid agency, Ghulam Qadri, told reporters Thursday that the Interior Ministry ordered six foreign employees to leave Pakistan, but gave no reason for the expulsion. Save the Children is said to have come under increased government scrutiny […]
Pakistan Expels Save the Children’s Foreign Staff
Diplomacy Keeps Hillary Clinton Away from Democratic Convention
While former U.S. president Bill Clinton was delivering a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention, his wife, Hillary, was nearly 16,000 kilometers away fulfilling her duties as U.S. secretary of state. Hillary Clinton was in the tiny nation of East Timor Thursday as part of a tour of five Pacific Asian nations and Russia. […]
EU Opens Anti-Dumping Probe on Chinese Solar Panels
The European Union has opened an investigation into whether solar panels are being sold by Chinese firms below the cost of production, drawing an immediate protest from Beijing. The EU said Thursday it launched the anti-dumping probe after a group of more than 20 European solar panel makers presented evidence that the Chinese products had […]
Clinton’s Asia Tour Lands in Brunei
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has landed in Brunei, becoming the first top U.S. diplomat to visit all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Clinton is on a six-nation tour of the Asia-Pacific that has largely focused on urging the ASEAN regional bloc to present a unified front in managing territorial […]
Rights Group: Pakistan Govt Should Act on Shi’ite Killings
Human Rights Watch is urging Pakistan to act to protect Shi’ite Muslims and not stand by as members of the country’s religious minority are “slaughtered.” In one of the deadliest attacks, gunmen last month killed 22 Shi’ites after ordering them off buses in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. Just last week, eight Shi’ite members of […]
Turkish Ammunition Depot Blast Kills 25
An explosion at an ammunition depot in western Turkey has killed 25 soldiers and injured four others. Forestry and Water Minister Veysel Eroglu said the blast occurred late Wednesday in Afyonkarahisar at a section of the depot where hand grenades were stored. The soldiers’ remains were discovered early Thursday after a fire caused by the […]
Indian Police Detain Suspects Following Deadly Factory Blaze
Indian police have made arrests in connection with a fire in a fireworks factory that killed at least 39 people in southern India. Indian media had earlier put the death toll from Wednesday’s fire at more than 52. Firefighters worked for hours to control the blaze at the factory on the outskirts of Sivakasi in […]
Chinese Driver Jailed in Toddler Hit-and-Run Case
A Chinese court has given a three-and-a-half year prison sentence to the driver who struck a toddler in a hit-and-run case that prompted a public outcry. The official Xinhua news agency said Thursday that Hu Jun was convicted of involuntary homicide in the southern city of Foshan, where the girl was hit by his minibus […]
Rights Group Slams China for Forcibly Returning Burma Refugees
Human Rights Watch has sent a letter to China accusing it of violating international law by forcing thousands of Burmese to return to their conflict-torn homeland. The group says Beijing recently returned at least 4,000 ethnic Kachins who had fled to China’s Yunnan province. It said they were sent home in late August after the […]