Sadichchha Pokharel Editor (Asia: South) DHAKA – Budget clothing brand chain Primark has offered to provide long-term compensation to the victims and the families of those who were killed in the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April earlier this year. The disaster killed 1,129 people and injured more than 2, 500. The move comes after campaigners pressured leading brands to provide arrangements for the victims and to improve their working conditions. Five hundred […]
Rhea J. Gurung, Correspondent (Asia: South) GUJARAT – With the general elections drawing closer, opposing party BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi undermined the ruling party Congress’s Gandhi-Nehru clan at the launch of the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat. Patel was the deputy of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, his interior minister and hailed as one of the founding fathers of the Indian Republic. Modi goes back in the independence-era history […]
Anshul Sharma, Correspondent (Asia: South) NEW DELHI – Cyclone Phailin struck India’s eastern coast last Saturday with all its fury – destroying remote villages, making a mess of power lines, felling trees like a deck of cards and blowing away thousands of homes (huts). Although the magnitude of devastation by Phailin is believed to be huge, initial reports confirm that the damage to life was minimal. This can surely, but solely, attributed to the […]
Ritambhara Rai Bhattarai, Correspondent (Asia: South) KATHMANDU — Twenty Bhutanese refugee families were transported back to their camps in Jhapa and Morang-Eastern Nepal, from Kathmandu after the third country resettlement programme was kept on hold by the U.S. government. Impact of the shutdown was felt even by the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. Refugees who could not make it to the states this month had to return to their camps. To their disappointment, their dwelling […]
Diksha Dwivedi Correspondent (Asia: South) THIMPHU — Gross National Happiness (GNH) was adopted in 1972 by Bhutan’s former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck to measure the progress of the nation. Since 1971 GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was rejected as the only measurement of progress by Bhutan. GNH index aims to measure the quality of life in its complete sense. However, GNH is possibly resulting in a “lethal combination” as suggested by recently appointed Bhutanese Prime Minister […]
Sadichchha Pokharel, Editor (Asia: South) COLOMBO – Sri Lanka has taken a major step towards pharmaceutical development by deciding to locally produce essential drugs for its government hospitals. The Ministry of Health has requested an approval from the Cabinet to locally manufacture 49 important drugs for use in its hospitals. The drugs will be purchased from local manufacturers and a committee of five members will be assigned to oversee the process. Hundred out of 900 […]
Sadichchha Pokharel Editor (Asia: South) KARAK — Pakistani reporter Ayub Khattak was shot dead outside his house in the Karak district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on October 11, 2013. The murder has been allegedly linked to Khattak’s investigation on drug dealing and his work with the Karak Times. Khattak was reportedly shot by two men on a motorcycle, who had been waiting for him by his house. After questioning him about his investigation […]
Ritambhara Rai Bhattarai, Correspondent (Asia: South) THIMPHU — Bhutan, a small country with a small economy, has always focused on its Gross National Happiness rather than its Gross National Product. Bhutanese people are trying to make an impact by starting from the root level on sustainable growth which is one of the four pillars on which Gross National Happiness relies. The Yurma Lower Secondary Boarding School located in South-East Bhutan has included “Agricultural Gardening” […]
Anshul Sharma, Correspondent (Asia: South) DATIA — The death toll in last week’s stampede near a temple in Datia, Madhya Pradesh, has risen to 115. The stampede, which also left more than 100 people injured, was triggered by rumours that a river bridge that the devotees were crossing was about to collapse. “So far, we have received reports of 115 deaths in the stampede,” said Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Deputy inspector general (DIG) […]
Sadichchha Pokharel Editor (Asia: South) ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf has yet again been accused of murder– this time for being involved in a deadly operation in Red Mosque in Islamabad, which killed more than 100 people in 2007. The complaint was registered two weeks ago, and sparked tensions between Mosque supporters and security forces in Islamabad. Ever since his return from self-imposed exile last year, Musharraf has been trapped in several criminal […]
