World News Archive

President Vladimir Putin has dusted off another communist relic by restoring a labour medal introduced under Josef Stalin, despite denying he is taking Russia back to the USSR era.

German trade union Verdi has agreed a pay deal with Lufthansa for 33,000 cabin crew and ground staff across the airline group, averting another round of strikes.

BEIJING: China's top newspaper has warned some government officials were avoiding new President Xi Jinping's instructions to be frugal by taking banquets and other lavish displays underground, including hiding liquor in water bottles.

The European Union is considering trade action against Bangladesh, which has preferential access to EU markets for its garments, to pressure Dhaka to improve safety standards after a building collapse killed 402 workers last week.

A BOMB has killed 13 people in central Damascus, a day after Prime Minister Wael al Halki survived an attack on his convoy in the Syrian capital.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated yesterday, handing over to her eldest son, Willem-Alexander, who became the first king of the Netherlands in more than 120 years.

A Pakistani court has imposed a lifetime ban on former President Pervez Musharraf from contesting elections, derailing his efforts to win a seat in parliament.

BEIJING: Security personnel in eastern China are carrying out a nightly harassment campaign against the brother (above) of blind rights activist Chen Guangcheng, throwing rocks, bottles and dead poultry at his house for 12 nights in a row, the two said yesterday.

the owner of a Russian nightclub where a fire killed 156 people has been sentenced to nearly 10 years in jail.

AN explosion in central Prague, believed to have been caused by a gas leak, has left up to 40 people injured.

Bangladeshi lawyers and protesters chanted "hang him" as the owner of a factory that collapsed last week killing nearly 400 people was led into court, dressed in a helmet and bullet-proof jacket.

Tens of millions of US dollars were delivered in cash by the CIA in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags to the office of Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai for more than a decade, the New York Times said, citing current and former advisers to the Afghan leader.

nicosia: Cyprus plans to limit presidential immunity from prosecution as part of a range of new measures.

TOKYO: Babies held by amateur sumo wrestlers break into tears as a gyoji or referee checks how loud they cry during the Nakizumo Festival, or crying baby contest, at the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo.