China seeks relaxation of U.S. financial sanctions against N. Korea
January 26, 2006China asked the United States last week to relax some financial sanctions imposed against North Korea, and presented the U.S. side with a compromise proposal to that end, according to diplomatic sources at the United Nations. The proposal was made Jan. 18 when Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs and the chief U.S. delegate to the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, met in Beijing with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, the country's head delegate to the talks, according to the multiple sources from countries involved in the six-way talks.
General strike cripples life in Nepal
January 26, 2006Towns and cities across Nepal were paralyzed Thursday by an anti-government strike called by Nepal's seven-party alliance demanding the restoration of democracy. Demonstrators took to the cities in the capital Kathmandu and other parts of the country as riot police stood guard.