India set for murder, rape charges in gang attack

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police were preparing Thursday to file rape and murder charges against a group of men accused of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old university student for hours on a moving bus in New Delhi.The Dec. 16 attack on the woman, who later died of her injuries, has caused outrage across India and sparked demands for tough new rape laws, better police protection for women and a sustained...

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Taliban likens US Afghan role to Vietnam War

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban Wednesday likened the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan to America's pullout from Vietnam, calling it a "declare victory and run" strategy.A statement from the militant group said the ongoing transfer of security operations from U.S. troops to Afghan forces was merely a retreat similar to the American withdrawal from South Vietnam prior to the...

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Pakistan child measles deaths surge in 2012

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — An international health body says measles cases surged in southern Pakistan in 2012, with hundreds of children dying of the disease.The World Health Organization did not give a reason for the increase in deaths, but a provincial health official said that the disease hit areas where poor families do not vaccinate their children.Maryam Yunus, a spokesperson for the World Health...

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Asian nations giving enthusiastic welcome to 2013

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Fiscal cliff? Recession? Not in Asia, where the first countries to see 2013 dawn will enthusiastically welcome the new year.Increasingly democratic Myanmar will have a public countdown for the first time. Jakarta plans a huge street party befitting Indonesia's powering economy.In Sydney, eager revelers camped over Sunday night on the shores of the harbor to get the best...

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India rape victim's body cremated in New Delhi

NEW DELHI (AP) — The body of a woman who died after being gang-raped and beaten on a bus in India's capital was cremated Sunday amid an outpouring of anger and grief by millions across the country demanding greater protection for women from sexual violence.The young woman's body was cremated in a private ceremony in New Delhi soon after it arrived in the capital on a special Air India flight from...

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Indian gang-rape victim dies in Singapore hospital

NEW DELHI (AP) — Shocked Indians on Saturday were mourning the death of a woman who was gang-raped and beaten on a bus in New Delhi nearly two weeks ago in an ordeal that galvanized people to demand greater protection for women from sexual violence.Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was aware of the emotions the attack has stirred and that it was up to all Indians to ensure that the young...

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Nowhere to use Japan's growing plutonium stockpile

ROKKASHO, Japan (AP) — How is an atomic-powered island nation riddled with fault lines supposed to handle its nuclear waste? Part of the answer was supposed to come from this windswept village along Japan's northern coast.By hosting a high-tech facility that would convert spent fuel into a plutonium-uranium mix designed for the next generation of reactors, Rokkasho was supposed to provide fuel while...

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China tightening controls on Internet

BEIJING (AP) — China's new communist leaders are increasing already tight controls on Internet use and electronic publishing following a spate of embarrassing online reports about official abuses.The measures suggest China's new leader, Xi Jinping, and others who took power in November share their predecessors' anxiety about the Internet's potential to spread opposition to one-party rule and their...

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Shinzo Abe returns as Japan's prime minister

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's parliament elected Shinzo Abe as the nation's prime minister on Wednesday, ending three years of rule by liberal administrations and bringing back to power the conservative, pro-big business party that has run Japan for most of the post-World War II era.Abe, whose nationalist positions have in the past angered Japan's neighbors, is the country's seventh prime minister in just...

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Afghan policewoman kills US adviser in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan policewoman walked into a high-security compound in Kabul Monday and killed an American contractor with a single bullet to the chest, the first such shooting by a woman in a spate of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies.Afghan officials who provided details identified the attacker as police Sgt. Nargas, a mother of four with a clean record. The...

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Police say Afghan policewoman kills US adviser

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan police official says an Afghan policewoman has killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters.Kabul's Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daoud Amin says an investigation is under way to determine whether the killing Monday was intentional or accidental.It was not known whether the victim was a military or civilian adviser. The NATO military command says it's...

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Bombing at political rally kills 9 in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber in Pakistan killed nine people including a provincial government official at a political rally held Saturday by a party that has opposed the Taliban, officials said.The rally in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban.Among the dead...

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NKorea says it has detained a US citizen

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday that an American citizen has been detained after confessing to unspecified crimes, confirming news reports about his arrest at a time when Pyongyang is facing criticism from Washington for launching a long-range rocket last week.The American was identified as Pae Jun Ho in a brief dispatch issued by the state-run Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang....

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Malala asks Pakistan not to rename college for her

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) — An official says Malala Yousufzai, who was shot by the Taliban for promoting girls' education, has urged Pakistan to reverse a decision to rename a college in her honor to avert militant attacks on students.The 15-year-old who became a symbol of youth resistance to the Taliban made the request after students broke into the school, tore down Malala's pictures and boycotted...

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Thailand to extradite Italian accused of mob ties

BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai court on Thursday ordered the extradition of a fugitive Italian banker found guilty of laundering money for some of Italy's top mobsters through New York pizzerias in the 1970s and '80s.Handcuffed and dressed in an orange prison uniform, Vito Roberto Palazzolo told a judge, "This is not the rule of law!" Guards then escorted him to a prison van where he commented to reporters,...

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Huge crowds vote in SKorean presidential election

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Huge crowds voted Wednesday in a tight presidential race pitting the son of North Korean refugees against the conservative daughter of a late dictator who both favor greater engagement with rival North Korea.Despite bitter cold, turnout was higher than in past elections. Political analysts said that might provide a slight boost to liberal Moon Jae-in over conservative Park...

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China detains 100-plus people for doomsday rumors

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese police have detained more than 100 people, among them members of a fringe Christian group, for spreading rumors about the world's impending end, state media reported Tuesday.Police seized leaflets, video discs, books and other apocalyptic materials in the recent arrests of 101 people across eight provinces and regions, from the prosperous east coast to less developed western...

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Bomb in government office kills 9 in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani official says a bomb in a government office in the country's northwest tribal region has killed at least nine people and wounded over 40 others.Hidayat Khan says the bombing Monday occurred in Jamrud, the main town in the Khyber tribal area.Khan says the bomb was placed in the women's waiting area at the office of the assistant political agent for Khyber, one...

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Rocket still centerpiece as NKoreans mourn Kim

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea's top leadership is calling the successful launch of a satellite proof that Kim Jong Un has the strength to lead the country one year after his father's death.A solemn Kim Jong Un joined top political, government and military officials Sunday in a national memorial service at the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium on the eve of the anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death.The...

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Final campaign push a day before Japanese vote

TOKYO (AP) — Candidates made final impassioned appeals Saturday to voters a day before Japanese parliamentary elections that are likely to hand power back to a conservative party that ruled the country for most of the post-war era.Polls suggest that voters will dump Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's ruling Democratic Party of Japan three years after it swept to power amid sweeping promises for change.The...

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