It’s worth nagging your children

October 6th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to take measures to keep children out of political activities. Deploying children for political rallies, particularly during agitations and elections, is a common phenomenon across South Asia.

September 16th, 2009 HONG KONG - Almost a third of middle-aged married women in Hong Kong have had no sex for a year with their husbands, who blame their nagging for the lack of conjugal relations, according to a study published Wednesday. The study by the Chinese University found that 31.6 percent of married women aged 45 to 59 had not had sex with their husband for a year or more.

August 30th, 2009 KARACHI - Pakistan's Minority Affairs ministry has left many people outraged after they found out that cheques distributed to them by the ministry were not worth 5,000 rupees as claimed, but just 1,000 rupees. On Saturday, 200 people from different communities had gathered at Sindh Minister for Minority Affairs Dr Mohan Lal's office to receive the cheques while chanting slogans in his favour, the Daily Times reports.

August 24th, 2009 LONDON - A study conducted by Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels has found a blow-up sheep and a false leg to be among thousands of items left in hotel rooms.he survey further revealed that a printer, crutches, and dentures were also mislaid by absent-minded guests. The surveyors say that 2,000 pounds in cash, a Gucci watch, and a monk fancy dress outfit were also among the recovered items.

August 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least 25,000 Pakistani and Indian companies traded goods worth Rs.74.32 billion ($900 million) last year, the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan's parliament, was informed Thursday. According to figures furnished by the trade ministry, 2,656 Indian companies traded goods worth Rs.8.92 billion with Pakistani companies, while 22,943 Pakistani companies had Rs.65.32 billion of trade with India, Geo TV reported.

August 12th, 2009 LONDON - Children as young as nine are receiving treatment for binge drinking at a clinic in the UK. Andrew Hall, chief executive of Alcohol Support, which runs Albyn House clinic in Aberdeen, revealed the majority of the children involved fell in the age bracket of 11 to 15.

August 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A Shanghai-based woman recently prepaid her cell phone bill worth a staggering 15,000 yuan by mistake. Considering that she never makes more than 20 yuan worth of calls from her phone each month, Zhang may not have to recharge her phone for about 63 years.

July 26th, 2009 LONDON - Truancy rates at a school in the British city of Southampton have dropped after parents were offered free Indian meals to stop their children from skipping lessons. Truancy was reduced by half after the scheme was launched at Glenfield Infant School, following a similar success story at another school in the port city in southern England.

July 4th, 2009 LONDON - A man, who was weary of his wife's nagging, made up a story that he had been kidnapped at knifepoint as he dared not tell her he had been to the bookies. Peter Woodward, 57, told a court that in order to get away from his wife, he made up the story about being abducted by three armed men, and even reported it to the police at Crosby, Liverpool.

July 3rd, 2009 WELLINGTON - A woman who complained to police about an unwanted sexual encounter with a former New Zealand minister has dropped the case, police said Friday. Richard Worth, a lawyer, resigned as minister of internal affairs in the conservative National Party government last month after the Korean businesswoman lodged her complaint.

June 6th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - At least 29 children were killed Friday in a fire at a day care centre in Mexico's northwest city of Hermosillo, officials said. The victims, aged three months to two years, had been staying in a day care centre next to a tire dealership that had caught on fire.

June 5th, 2009 WELLINGTON - A Korean businesswoman, who filed a complaint with police about disgraced New Zealand minister Richard Worth, says she had a "sexual encounter" with him at a hotel, a newspaper reported Friday. The woman, who lives in Auckland, says he invited her to an official function he hosted in parliament in Wellington in March and then took her to a hotel room "where a sexual encounter took place", the New Zealand Herald reported.

June 4th, 2009 WELLINGTON - A disgraced New Zealand government minister made "vulgar and sexually explicit" telephone calls to a woman, parliament was told Thursday, one day after Richard Worth resigned as police revealed an investigation was being conducted in a separate case against him. As the woman's statement was read in the House of Representatives, Worth, who resigned as minister of internal affairs, issued a statement insisting he had not committed any crime.

May 28th, 2009 TORONTO - Authors and educators are doing hyperactive children a disservice by insisting that hyperactivity has always existed. Canadian researcher Matthew Smith said not only is that notion wrong, it misleads patients, their parents and their physicians.

February 12th, 2009 SYDNEY - Five Afghan children were killed when Australian soldiers shot back after coming under fire from Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) said Friday. 'Current reporting indicates...