Indian police charge 5 in New Delhi gang rape

NEW DELHI (AP) — Authorities filed rape and murder charges Thursday against five men accused of the gang rape of a 23-year-old university student on a New Delhi bus, a crime that horrified Indians and provoked a national debate about the treatment of women.Police said they plan to push for the death penalty in the case, as government officials promised new measures to protect women in the nation's...

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Pakistanis bury slain teachers, aid workers

SWABI, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of villagers in northwest Pakistan turned out Wednesday to bury five female teachers and two health workers who were gunned down a day earlier by militants in what may have been the latest in a series of attacks targeting anti-polio efforts in the country.The seven had worked at a community center in the town of Swabi that included a primary school and a medical clinic...

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Afghan negotiator welcomes prisoner release

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A top Afghan negotiator said Tuesday he hopes that eight members of the Taliban freed by Pakistan will serve as peace mediators, describing Islamabad's move as a major step forward for Kabul's effort to enlist its neighbor's help in reaching a negotiated end to its 11-year war.The eight released Monday include a man who was justice minister when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan...

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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 are enthusiastically welcoming the new year.Increasingly democratic Myanmar is having a public countdown for the first time. Jakarta plans a huge street party befitting Indonesia's powering economy.In Sydney, eager revelers camped Sunday night on the shores of the harbor to get the best vantage points...

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India rape victim's body cremated in New Delhi

NEW DELHI (AP) — A young 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 cremation took place during a private ceremony in New Delhi soon after the woman's body arrived in the capital on a special Air India flight from...

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Pakistan: Cough syrup suspected in 33 deaths

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities are investigating cough syrup believed to have killed 33 people in eastern Pakistan in the past three days, a government official said Saturday, the second time in recent months that suspect medicine is thought to have caused multiple deaths.Also Saturday, an explosion ripped through a passenger bus while it was at a terminal in the southern city of Karachi, killing...

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Myanmar to allow daily private newspapers

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar said Friday it will allow private daily newspapers starting in April for the first time since 1964, in the latest step toward allowing freedom of expression in the long-repressed nation.The Information Ministry announced on its website that any Myanmar national wishing to publish a daily newspaper will be able to submit an application in February. New papers will be...

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India rape victim in Singapore; PM pledges action

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged Thursday to take action to protect the nation's women while the young victim of a gang rape on a New Delhi bus was flown to Singapore for treatment of severe internal injuries.The Dec. 16 rape and brutal beating of the 23-year-old student triggered widespread protests, including a march on Thursday, demanding a government crackdown on the...

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Shinzo Abe returns as Japan's prime minister

TOKYO (AP) — Old-guard veteran Shinzo Abe was voted back into office as prime minister Wednesday and immediately named a new Cabinet, ending three years of liberal administrations and restoring power to his 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...

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Attack on Sunni cleric in south Pakistan kills 4

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Police say gunmen have wounded a prominent Sunni cleric and killed his three guards and his driver in an apparently sectarian attack in southern Pakistan.Police official Imran Shaukat says the vehicle with Auranzeb Farooqi came under attack on Tuesday as the cleric was passing through the heart of the port city of Karachi. Farooqi leads Ahle Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat, a small political...

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Afghan policewoman kills US adviser in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, the latest in a rising tide of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies, senior Afghan officials said.The killing of the American, who worked as a contractor with the NATO command, was the first known insider attack by a woman in Afghanistan.The woman,...

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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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Pakistan says 29 nationals beaten by Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials say they are investigating allegations by neighboring Pakistan that Afghan forces severely beat Pakistani nationals.The Saturday protest note from Islamabad's Foreign Office provided no details other than to say that all 29 had valid travel documents.Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai says he has no information about the allegations, but Kabul...

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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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SKorea's president-elect faces NKorea uncertainty

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Park Geun-hye promises to reach out to North Korea with more humanitarian aid and deeper engagement after she moves into South Korea's presidential Blue House on Feb. 25. Pyongyang, however, may be in no mood to talk anytime soon.Park's declarations ahead of Wednesday's election that she will soften five years of hard-line policy rang true with voters, even as they rejected...

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Outrage in India over gang rape on bus

NEW DELHI (AP) — The hours-long gang-rape and near-fatal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi triggered outrage and anger across the country Wednesday as Indians demanded action from authorities who have long ignored persistent violence and harassment against women.In the streets and in Parliament, calls rose for stringent and swift punishment against those attacking women, including...

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Both SKorean presidential hopefuls promise change

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The liberal son of North Korean refugees faces the conservative daughter of a late dictator in South Korea's presidential election Wednesday. For all their differences, they've made remarkably similar campaign promises.Liberal Moon Jae-in and conservative Park Geun-hye both want to extend a hand to rival North Korea, fight widespread government corruption, strengthen social...

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N. Korea displays Kim Jong Il a year after death

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea unveiled the embalmed body of Kim Jong Il, still in his trademark khaki jumpsuit, on the anniversary of his death Monday as mourning mixed with pride over a recent satellite launch that was a long-held goal of the late authoritarian leader.Kim lies in state a few floors below his father, national founder Kim Il Sung, in the Kumsusan mausoleum, the cavernous...

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Exit polls: Conservative LDP wins Japan election

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party stormed back to power Sunday after three years in opposition, exit polls showed, signaling a rightward shift in the government that could further heighten tensions with rival China.The results were a sharp rebuke for the Democratic Party of Japan, showing widespread unhappiness for its failure to keep promises and get the economy going.The...

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Schools and students are targets worldwide

BEIJING (AP) — A half-day before a young gunman committed one of the deadliest school attacks in U.S. history, a Chinese farmer took a kitchen knife and hacked at more than 20 children as they entered their rural elementary school.Though the outcomes are different — 28 dead in Connecticut, and 23 injured in China — the Friday attacks show how disturbingly frequent rampages against children and schools...

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