Chinese Internet users already cope with extensive censorship, especially over politically sensitive topics like human rights and elite politics, and popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked.展开全文 原微博
The constitution says Chavez can be sworn in before the country's Supreme Court. The constitution isn't clear on whether the inauguration before the Supreme Court must happen Jan.10, whether it must occur inside the country, and who should run Venezuela in the meantime.展开全文 原微博
The Swiss like to think their country is to gold what Bordeaux, France, is to wine. Thanks to a dark red merlot produced in the hills surrounding this town in the south of Switzerland, it has both, the real gold and the wine.展开全文
Just two weeks after the launch, Kim Jong-un, who took over after his father died in December 2011, called in his New Year's address for "an end to the division of the country" and to "remove confrontation".展开全文 原微博
The New Year address was the first in 19 years by a North Korean leader after the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un's grandfather. Kim Jong-il rarely spoke in public and disclosed his national policy agenda in editorials in state newspapers.展开全文 原微博
China will stick to a prudent monetary policy next year and keep consumer prices stable, its outgoing central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, said on Monday, in fresh sign that Beijing won't be changing direction when the new government takes over in 2013.展开全文
President Barack Obama has said he is "modestly optimistic" that Senate leaders can craft a bill that could win approval in both chambers of Congress. If they fail, taxes will significantly rise for most Americans, raising fears of a US economic slowdown.展开全文 原微博
New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to police figures. Government data show the number of reported rape cases in India rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.展开全文 原微博
The outcry over the attack caught the government off-guard. It took a week for Singh to make a statement, infuriating many protesters. Issues such as rape, dowry-related deaths and female infanticide rarely enter mainstream political discourse in India.展开全文 原微博
The growth of China's foreign trade in 2012 will come in at about 6 percent, while the Ministry of Commerce set a growth target of 8 percent for 2013, Commerce Minister Chen Deming told the annual meeting of the ministry on Friday.展开全文 原微博
Yet the one that China’s leaders are probably most loath to confront is the sight of Communist Party officials becoming modern-day Rockefellers and Vanderbilts.展开全文 原微博
So far, they have not. In response, the United States and the European Union this year took a step they had long resisted, imposing trade sanctions to choke off Iran's lifeblood: oil revenue.展开全文 原微博
In his first week as U.S. president, Barack Obama told Iran's leaders he would extend a hand if they would "unclench their fist" and persuade the West they weren't trying to build a nuclear bomb.展开全文
From the outside, the hold the Communist Party has on China looks as solid as a rock. It wields absolute power over China's 1.3 billion people. But after six decades there are fears that the party is corroding from the inside, its ranks riddled with corruption.展开全文 原微博
The Chinese authorities closely monitor internet content that crosses its borders and regularly block sensitive stories through use of what is known as the Great Firewall of China.展开全文 原微博
Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. said in November that it would require its 249 supplier factories in China to cap the number of temporary or contracted workers at 30 percent of regular full-time employees.展开全文 原微博
Obama arrived back at the White House on Thursday from a brief vacation in Hawaii . He is likely to meet the toughest resistance from Republicans in the House, where a group of several dozen fiscal conservatives have opposed any tax hikes at all.展开全文 原微博
Indian demonstrators burn an effigy representing rapists during a protest calling for better safety for women following the rape of a student in the Indian capital, in New Delhi on December 26, 2012.展开全文
The economy is at the bottom. It's our first mission to turn it around," Shinzo Abe says. Abe, 58, is the nation's seventh prime minister in six years. He faces a major task of reviving the economy and making a decision on nuclear power.展开全文
The presidency said Mursi signed a decree enforcing the charter late on Tuesday after the official announcement of the result of a referendum approving the basic law, Egypt's first constitution since Mubarak's overthrow.展开全文 原微博
In China, Japanese automakers will play catch-up as they step up efforts to regain market share lost after tensions soared over sovereignty of a group of uninhabited islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.展开全文 原微博
Sales for VW’s mass-market brand Skoda, the Czech carmaker that it took over after the collapse of Communism, rose 6.8 percent to 181,900 units in China in the first nine months. China became Skoda’s biggest market in 2010, three years after it started local production.展开全文 原微博
Pope Benedict used his Christmas message to the world on Tuesday to say people should never lose hope for peace, even in conflict-riven Syria and in Nigeria where he spoke of "terrorism" against Christians.展开全文
The referendum follows Islamist victories in parliamentary and presidential elections, representing a decisive shift in a country at the heart of the Arab world where Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood was suppressed for generations by military rulers.展开全文 原微博
Two years since waves of unrest broke out across the Middle East and North Africa - sweeping away long-entrenched rulers in Tunisia, Libya and Yemen as well as Egypt - well-organized Islamist parties have emerged as the main beneficiaries.展开全文 原微博
While Romney campaigned on repealing the health care law if elected, the Supreme Court decision strengthened Obama's ability to tout the benefits of the reforms to avoid the issue becoming an election liability.展开全文 原微博
While buffeted at times by Europe's deficit and currency woes, an overall perception of growing economic stability was a major reason Obama defeated GOP challenger Mitt Romney in November by more than 4 million votes.展开全文 原微博
In December 2011, Obama's signature health care reform law faced a Supreme Court challenge and unrelenting criticism from Republicans, especially conservatives who depicted it as a socialism-inspired government takeover of almost 20% of the U.S. economy.展开全文 原微博
Important things happen in Beijing. You can feel this everywhere in the city of nearly 20 million people. There are the majestic imperial buildings, perfectly preserved in their gold and blood-red, sharing the same sidewalk with Soviet masterpieces designed to intimidate.展开全文
Under the hukou system, migrant workers can secure temporary residence certificates but getting them is a lengthy process. In some cases, their employers are obligated to pay exorbitant fees to the city government for such certificates.展开全文 原微博
