site.news_by_theme policy
China's reform pledges: the main points
China's Communist Party leaders this week emerged from a closed-door meeting in Beijing bearing a raft of promises on issues from the controversial one-child policy to the scope of the death penalty.
17 November 2013
US report says little progress on China rights
A US government commission said Thursday that China's human rights record has not improved under the country's new leadership and raised concerns on issues from minority rights to forced abortion.
12 October 2013
Salaries in Kazakhstan still calculated along 1996 rates of remuneration
6 out of 16 regions of Kazakhstan have low standard of living. Increasing living standards without providing adequate remunerations is a joke: Brimbetova.
30 September 2013
Rowhani election creates surge of hope in Iran
The election of moderate Hassan Rowhani as Iran's next president has sent a surge of expectation through a nation anxious.
28 June 2013
New Pakistan government to hold firm on Taliban
Pakistan's incoming prime minister Nawaz Sharif looks set to be a pragmatic ally of Washington, unlikely to end the war against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban as he seeks to focus on fixing the economy.
13 May 2013
US billionaire Warren Buffett optimistic on stocks
Billionaire Warren Buffett is praising the policies of both President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush for moving the US economy in the right direction.
06 May 2013
New Italy PM to unveil programme for change
Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta was set to unveil his coalition government's programme on Monday, under the watchful gaze of international markets and European partners.
30 April 2013
'Time has come' for immigration reform: Obama
US President Barack Obama said Monday the time has come to reform America's "broken" immigration policy, renewing his appeal to lawmakers to clinch a deal that he said is now within reach.
26 March 2013
Xi's 'Chinese dream' aims to boost party: analysts
New leader Xi Jinping has urged China to pursue the "Chinese dream" but experts say behind the grandiose words, he is single-minded in his aim to bolster Communist Party rule.
18 March 2013
S. Korea leader offers North 'flexible' engagement
South Korea's new president Park Geun-Hye offered a "more flexible" engagement with North Korea on Friday if Pyongyang chooses a path of trust-building rather than provocation.
01 March 2013
Obama, Japan PM firm on N.Korea, measured on China
US President Barack Obama on Friday pledged with Japan's new leader to take a firm line on a defiant North Korea but the two sides also tried to calm rising tensions between Tokyo and China.
23 February 2013
Kazakhstan Government will adjust oil prices for Customs Union
At times the price gap was so large that we saw reverse export of diesel to Russia, which caused deficit in Kazakhstan: Sauat Mynbayev.
28 January 2013
BoJ starts first meeting under new Japan government
The Bank of Japan on Monday began its first policy meeting since the new premier took office with a pledge to pressure it into aggressive monetary easing to revive the long-suffering economy.
22 January 2013
Nazarbayev to meet with heads of foreign diplomatic missions
Nursultan Nazarbayev will meet with representatives of the foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations accredited in Kazakhstan.
16 January 2013
Japan's new govt to review zero-nuclear policy
Japan's new leaders set to work Thursday on dismantling plans to rid the country of nuclear power by 2040, pledging to review a post-Fukushima policy.
28 December 2012
Japan's new China envoy urges stronger economic ties
Japan's new envoy to China urged stronger economic ties with Beijing in an interview broadcast Monday, after the incoming premier pledged to mend bilateral ties strained by a bitter territorial row.
24 December 2012
Egypt's Morsi assumes sweeping powers, branded new pharaoh
Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi assumed sweeping powers, drawing criticism that he is seeking to become a "new pharaoh".
24 November 2012
Top Republican 'confident' of US immigration deal
US House Speaker John Boehner expressed confidence Thursday that he and his Republicans can work with President Barack Obama to hammer out a comprehensive deal on immigration.
09 November 2012
EU 'regrets' Israeli settlement plan
The European Union's foreign policy chief on Thursday criticised Israel's plan to build hundreds of homes in annexed east Jerusalem and called for it to hold fresh talks with the Palestinians.
20 October 2012
Australia defends refugee policy after boat surge
Canberra insisted on Monday that a new deterrent policy of locking up refugees on remote Pacific islands was working despite a weekend surge in arrivals and self-harm attempts among detainees.
15 October 2012