India may suspend lawmakers accused of sex crimes

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian lawmakers facing sexual assault charges could be suspended from office if the country's top court rules in favor of a petition submitted after a gang-rape and murder that shocked the country.Six state lawmakers are facing rape prosecutions and two national parliamentarians are facing charges of crimes against women that fall short of rape, said Jagdeep S. Chhokar, an official...

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1 Indian gang rape suspect may be juvenile

NEW DELHI (AP) — A bone test is being conducted to confirm the age of a young suspect in custody in the fatal assault and gang rape of a woman on a bus in India's capital, while prosecutors will seek the death penalty for five other men arrested with him, police said.The six will be formally charged in court on Thursday on accusations that they kidnapped, gang raped and murdered the 23-year-old woman...

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US, Europe hope the new year brings better times

NEW YORK (AP) — From teeming Times Square to a once-isolated Asian country celebrating its first public New Year's Eve countdown in decades, the world looked to the start of 2013 with hope for renewal after a year of economic turmoil, searing violence and natural disasters.Fireworks, concerts and celebrations unfolded around the globe to ring in the new year and, for some, to wring out the old."With...

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Afghan violence falls in 2012, insider attacks up

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Violence in Afghanistan fell in 2012, but more Afghan troops and police who now shoulder most of the combat were killed, according to statistics compiled by The Associated Press.At the same time, insider killings by uniformed Afghans against their foreign allies rose dramatically, eroding confidence between the sides at a crucial turning point in the war and when NATO troops...

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India rape victim's body cremated in New Delhi

NEW DELHI (AP) — The body of a young woman who was gang-raped and brutally beaten on a moving bus in India's capital has been cremated.Indian police have charged six men with murder in the Dec. 16 attack, which shocked the country and triggered protests for greater protection for women from sexual violence.The murder charges were laid Saturday, hours after the woman died in a Singapore hospital, where...

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Sweaters knit by Myanmar's Suu Kyi sell for $123K

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's cash-strapped opposition party is tapping into the prestige of its leader: Two sweaters hand-knit by Aung San Suu Kyi have been auctioned for $123,000.A green-and-white sweater with a floral design sold at a Friday night auction to an anonymous bidder for 63 million kyat, or $74,120.On Thursday, a Myanmar-based radio station won a bidding war for a multicolored V-neck...

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AP Exclusive: Photos show NKorea nuclear readiness

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Recent satellite photos indicate North Korea has repaired flood damage at its nuclear test facility and could conduct a quick atomic explosion if it chose.But analysis provided by the 38 North website to The Associated Press on Friday also shows water streaming out of a test tunnel that may cause problems.Washington and others are pushing for U.N. sanctions in response to...

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India gang-rape victim in Singapore for treatment

SINGAPORE (AP) — A young woman who was gang-raped and assaulted on a moving bus in the Indian capital was flown Thursday to a Singapore hospital for treatment of severe internal injuries that could last several weeks, officials said.The 23-year-old student, who is in critical condition, arrived in Singapore on an air ambulance and was admitted to the Mount Elizabeth hospital, renowned for multi-organ...

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Afghan bomber attacks NATO convoy; no casualties

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan police say a suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy in eastern Afghanistan but report no casualties in the strike.Police Gen. Abdul Qayum Baqizai says the assailant struck Wednesday as the convoy was traveling to the airport near the capital of Khost province, which borders Pakistan. NATO command could not confirm the attack and Afghan authorities had no further details.NATO...

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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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Taliban not demanding Afghan power monopoly

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban representatives at a conference did not insist on total power in Afghanistan and pledged to grant rights to women that the militant Islamist group itself brutally suppressed in the past, according to a Taliban statement received Sunday.The pledges emerged from a rare meeting last week involving Taliban and Kabul government representatives.The less strident substance...

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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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Pakistani polio workers get police protection

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Under police guard, thousands of health workers pressed on with a polio immunization program Thursday after nine were killed elsewhere in Pakistan by suspected militants who oppose the vaccination campaign.Immunizations were halted in some parts of Pakistan and the U.N. suspended its field participation everywhere until better security was arranged for its workers. The violence...

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SKorea's 1st woman leader vows new NKorea effort

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Park Geun-hye's election as South Korea's first female president could mean a new drive to start talks with bitter rival North Korea, though it's unclear how much further she will go than the hard-line incumbent, a member of her own conservative party.After five years of high tension under unpopular President Lee Myung-bak, Park has vowed to pursue engagement with Pyongyang...

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Both SKorean presidential hopefuls promise change

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Koreans wrapped in mufflers and parkas braved frigid weather Wednesday to vote in a presidential election heading for a close finish between the two top candidates — the liberal son of North Korean refugees and the conservative daughter of a late dictator.For all their differences, the candidates hold similar views on the need to engage with Pyongyang and other issues.One...

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Crippled NKorean probe could orbit for years

TOKYO (AP) — Amateur astronomers tracking a North Korean satellite launched into space last week say that although it appears to be malfunctioning it could remain in orbit around the Earth for several years.Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said Tuesday that data from trackers in South Africa and Britain show the brightness of the satellite has been fluctuating,...

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Rocket still centerpiece as NKoreans mourn Kim

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un solemnly reopened the sprawling, granite mausoleum where his father's body lies in state as the nation marked the first anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death Monday with sadness as well as celebration over last week's successful satellite launch.Kim Jong Un joined top Workers' Party, military and government officials in a brief ceremony at...

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Conservative party favored as Japanese vote

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese were voting Sunday in parliamentary elections that were expected to put the once-dominant conservatives back in power after a three-year break — and bring in a more nationalistic government amid tensions with big neighbor China.Major newspapers were predicting the Liberal Democratic Party, led by the hawkish former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, would win a majority of the seats...

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Final campaign push a day before Japanese vote

TOKYO (AP) — Candidates are making final impassioned appeals to voters before parliamentary elections Sunday that are likely to hand power back to a conservative party that ruled Japan for most of the post-war era.Polls suggest that voters will dump the ruling Democratic Party of Japan three years after it swept to power and give the most seats in the 480-member lower chamber to the opposition Liberal...

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