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Obama welcomes Iran's election of moderate president
WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama has urged Iran's newly elected president to prove to the world that the Islamic republic was not pursuing a nuclear weapon programme as the White House welcomed election of a moderate leader as a hopeful sign. "I think it says that the Iranian people want to move in a different direction," Obama said of the election results in Iran that saw a surprising ...
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Widespread anti-graft protests rock Brazil
SAO PAULO, Brazil - Anti-graft protests swept Brazil's main cities as some 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets against alleged mis-governance, forcing President Dilma Rousseff Tuesday to acknowledge the need for better public services and effective administration. The assurance from Rousseff came a day after biggest protests rocked at least ten Brazilian cities, including Sao ...
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No breakthrough in talks between UK and Ecuador over Assange
LONDON - Talks between the United Kingdom and Ecuador have ended without any breakthrough over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's fate with the Andean nation. Ecquador said it was vowing not to succumb to diplomatic pressure and was ready to consider any request from Edward Snowden, another whistleblower, for asylum. As the fugitive anti-secrecy advocate marks one year holed up in the ...
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Gaddafi's son to stand trial in Libya in August
LONDON - Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of deceased Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, will stand trial in August along with Gaddafi's last prime minister and a former intelligence director, the prosecutor's office has announced. The men will be tried for crimes against the Libyan people during the 2011 uprising that toppled the former regime. Notorious former spy chief Abdullah ...
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Shenzen to be first Chinese city to begin carbon trading
BEIJING - China, the world's biggest carbon emitter, is set to launch Tuesday its first carbon trading scheme as a pilot project in the southern city of Shenzhen as part of efforts to cut emissions in its key cities. Carbon emissions trading schemes are meant to encourage companies to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by setting a limit or a cap, on the level of emission that can be ...
Movie Review
The Sword of Doom (Dai-bosatsu tôge) [DVD]
Ending a film with a freeze-frame is a potent and powerfully self-conscious decision, one that invariably draws attention to the final image and literally begs it to, if not explain, then cast an interpretive light on the rest of the film. One might think of the freeze frame of Antoi ... ...
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Leaders of G8 call for peace in Syria and pledge humanitarian aid
ENNISKILLEN - The Group of Eight industrialised nations called for a swift end to the bloody civil war in Syria and urgent peace talks but stopped short of calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in its joint statement at the end of talks Tuesday. Despite the lack of consensus among the G8 on the fate of Assad, as well as the use of chemical weapons by his regime, Canadian ...
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5000 Indian expats in Saudi Arabia get new jobs
Around 5,000 expatriate Indians in Saudi Arabia, affected by a new labour policy in the Gulf nation, have found new jobs, the Indian consul general in Jeddah said. Consul General Faiz Ahmed Kidwai said the consulate's various pro-active measures have helped these Indians rectify their residency status and get new jobs, Arab News reported Wednesday. Indian expatriates were badly hit by the new ...
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UN headquarters in Somalia attacked
An attacker Wednesday blew himself up at the entrance to the UN headquarters in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, CNN reported. Others wearing suicide vests entered the UN compound and a gunfight ensued, said police officer Hussein Ahmed. The compound had now been secured and was in the hands of African Union troops, according to the official Twitter account of the African Union Mission to ...
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Over 8000 held for food crimes in China
More than 8,200 people have been arrested in China since a crackdown on food safety crimes was launched in January, authorities said Wednesday. The ministry of public security said police uncovered more than 4,500 cases involving food safety offences and closed about 6,300 workshops and markets that produced or sold illegal food products. Police confiscated more than 150,000 illegal products, ...
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Nepal-Africa film festival opens with Earth Anthem
The third edition of the Nepal-Africa Film Festival opened with the screening of "Earth Anthem", a short film written, produced and directed by Indian poet-diplomat Abhay K. The screening of the 2.5-minute-long film was held Wednesday at the Russian Cultural Centre in the Nepal capital. It was attended by celebrities of the Nepalese film industry. The "Earth Anthem", originally a poem written ...

