China faces 'most complex time in history' at home and abroad - Xi Jinping
Moscow (Voice of Russia) Apr 19, 2014 -
Chinese President Xi Jinping held the first meeting of a new national security commission on Tuesday, saying China needed a coordinated approach to domestic and foreign challenges, including social unrest, in "the most complex time in history".
China announced the formation of the commission in November at the end of a key party meeting to map out reforms, Reuters reports.
Experts sa ...
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Japan PM makes offering to war shrine, but skips visit
Tokyo (AFP) April 21, 2014 -
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a gift to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine Monday, sparking a Chinese charge that he was offering "a slap in the face" to US President Barack Obama days ahead of his visit.
The unapologetically nationalist Abe donated a sacred "masakaki" tree to coincide with the start of a three-day festival, a shrine official said.
The sending of a gift has b ...
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Myanmar army says 22 dead in clashes with rebels
Yangon (AFP) April 20, 2014 -
Fighting between the military and ethnic minority rebels in northern Myanmar has left at least 22 people dead this month, the army said Sunday, dimming hopes of a nationwide peace deal.
Bloodshed in the state of Kachin, the scene of the last major active civil war in the former junta-ruled country, has uprooted tens of thousands of people and tempered optimism about sweeping political reform ...
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Iraq attacks kill 14 as bomber hits university
Baghdad (AFP) April 20, 2014 -
Attacks in Iraq, including a suicide bombing at a university in north Baghdad, killed at least 14 people on Sunday, security and medical officials said.
The attacks, which come as Iraq suffers a prolonged surge in bloodshed, took place less than two weeks before a parliamentary election that will be a major test for security forces.
Officials gave varying accounts of the bombing of Baghd ...
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France has 'information' Assad regime using chemical weapons: Hollande
Paris (AFP) April 20, 2014 -
France has "information" but no firm proof that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is still using chemical weapons, President Francois Hollande said Sunday.
"We have a few elements of information but I do not have the proof," Hollande said in a radio interview after he was asked about reports that Assad was currently using chemical weapons.
"What I do know is what we have seen fro ...
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Drone strike in Yemen kills 5 'Qaeda' militants: source
Aden (AFP) April 20, 2014 -
A drone strike in south Yemen killed at least five Al-Qaeda militants on Sunday, the latest in an intensified aerial campaign in the impoverished country, a tribal chief said.
The unmanned plane targeted a gathering of militants in the town of Al-Mahfad, in Abyan province, where Al-Qaeda remains active despite being driven out from main cities in a 2012 army offensive, the source said.
A ...
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Palestinians mull handing territory 'keys' back to Israel
Ramallah, Palestinian Territories (AFP) April 20, 2014 -
Palestinian negotiators have warned they may pass responsiblity for their territory back to occupying power Israel if peace talks remain stalled, a senior Palestinian official said on Sunday.
The official said the Palestinians told US peace envoy Martin Indyk on Friday that unless Israel releases Palestinian prisoners as agreed and freezes settlement building, they could dismantle the Wester ...
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