Pakistani cabinet resigns as part of revamp plan
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's federal cabinet resigned on Wednesday to allow Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to set up a new, smaller cabinet and reduce government expenditure, officials said.
The country's opposition parties have long demanded that Gilani trim the size of his cabinet, one of the largest in the world, at a time when Pakistan is struggling to pay down its bills and is dependent on an IMF loan programme.
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India arrests first executive as graft scandal bites
NEW DELHI - Indian police have made the first arrest of a company executive in a multi-billion dollar telecoms corruption scandal that has rocked the Congress party-led government and undermined Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Parliament's last session was halted by opposition protests demanding a probe into the scandal. The government has refused a parliamentary investigation, but there have been recent signs it may cave in, worried more chaos could make the passage of the key Feb. 28 budget difficult, and seriously harm its image ahead of state elections this year.
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Stigma hampers Afghan fight against AIDS
KABUL - Through a blue gate, they come for treatment in the early morning, faces wrapped in scarves against the cold. For now it's a trickle, but their numbers are rising.
"I try to keep it secret, especially from my mother," said a 26-year-old HIV patient at a foreign-run clinic in the Afghan capital, Kabul. "If she knew I had HIV, she would die."
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Afghan war killed 2 children daily in 2010 - report
KABUL - An average of two children per day were killed in Afghanistan last year, with areas of the once peaceful north now among the most dangerous, an independent Afghan rights watchdog said on Wednesday.
The Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) said in a report that, of the 2,421 civilians the group registered as killed in conflict-related security incidents in 2010, some 739 were under the age of 18.
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South Asia faces rising incidence of heart disease, diabetes
HONG KONG - South Asia is facing a health crisis, with rising rates of heart disease, diabetes and obesity, and patients facing impoverishment as they pay for treatment out of their own pockets, the World Bank said on Wednesday.
Although the region is growing economically and people are generally living longer lives, the poor have had little benefit from improved conditions, healthier nutrition, rising incomes or access to good healthcare, the Bank said in a report. (Compiled by World Desk Singapore, +65 6870-3815)
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