Reuters: South Asia News

Pakistan: senior PTI leader Zara Shahid Hussain killed

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:30:08 +0530

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a senior female politician from a reformist party in Pakistan on Saturday night, the latest violent incident in a bloody election campaign and one that set off a war of words between two major opposition parties.

Upmarket Pakistan district votes again as Imran Khan decries killing

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:56:41 +0530

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - An upmarket constituency of Pakistan's violence-plagued city of Karachi voted again under tight security on Sunday, a day after gunmen killed a senior politician from a reformist party in the district and a week after general elections.

Afghan parliament fails to pass divisive women's law

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:21:15 +0530

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's parliament failed to pass a law on Saturday banning violence against women, a severe blow to progress made in women's rights in the conservative Muslim country since the Islamist Taliban was toppled over a decade ago.

Obama seeks to cut Afghan war spending by 10 percent

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:36:38 +0530

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday trimmed his funding request for the war in Afghanistan and other overseas operations by 10 percent, reflecting his plans to wind down the U.S. presence in that country.

Nawaz Sharif free to rule Pakistan without unwieldy coalition

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:06:32 +0530

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif won enough seats in Saturday's parliamentary election that he won't need to form a coalition with other major parties to push through badly needed reforms, final figures showed on Thursday.

Suicide bomber kills two NATO troops in Afghan capital

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:19:54 +0530

KABUL (Reuters) - - Two members of Afghanistan's NATO-led force were killed on Thursday when a suicide car bomber attacked their two-car convoy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, the force said in a statement.

Cyclone Mahasen buffets Bangladesh coast, six dead

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:11:15 +0530

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Cyclone Mahasen buffeted Bangladesh's low-lying coast on Thursday, killing six people after forcing many thousands into emergency shelters, but authorities downgraded warnings later in the day as the storm lost strength.

Bangladesh factories shut by worker protests to reopen Friday

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:33:54 +0530

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh will reopen more than 300 garment factories on Friday, ending a three-day forced closure due to worker protests over pay and working conditions after a building collapse killed more than 1,100 people.

Bomber in Afghanistan kills 15, including six Americans

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:00:21 +0530

KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber in a car attacked a convoy of foreign troops in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 15 people including six Americans, Afghan and foreign officials said, in one of the worst attacks in the Afghan capital in months.

U.S., European groups divided on how to improve Bangladesh factories

Thu, 16 May 2013 05:35:58 +0530

REUTERS - A trans-Atlantic divide between European and U.S. retailers over how best to respond to fatal disasters in Bangladesh textile factories split wide open on Wednesday, with U.S. retailers claiming their European counterparts are giving labor unions too much control over ensuring workplace safety.