Video fuels rumor NKorean leader's wife gave birth

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The seemingly pregnant belly sported by the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in mid-December appeared to be gone by New Year's Day.That's sent South Korean media into a frenzy of speculation that there's a new baby in the ruling Kim dynasty.Video broadcast Dec. 17 showed Ri Sol Ju wearing a billowing black dress that covered what appeared to be a swollen belly.Rumors...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

NKorea's Kim wants better living standards, arms

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday called for improving the economy and living standards of his impoverished nation with the same urgency that scientists showed in successfully testing a long-range rocket recently.Kim's first New Year's speech, delivered on state TV, was peppered with rhetoric, with calls for boosting the military's capabilities and making the science...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

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, adding it was up to all Indians to ensure that the young...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Thai 'Yellow Shirt' leaders charged for 2008 rally

BANGKOK (AP) — Protest leaders in Thailand were indicted Thursday for storming the prime minister's office compound and sealing off Parliament during massive anti-government rallies in 2008 at the height of political turmoil, which left the country deeply divided to this day.Prosecutors filed charges against Sondhi Limthongkul, Chamlong Srimuang and other leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy,...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

8 dead after Christmas Day fires in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Authorities in the Philippines say at least eight people are dead after two separate Christmas Day fires in the capital region. One of the blazes left about 1,500 people homeless when it razed their shantytown.Arson investigator Rosendo Cabillan says a predawn fire Tuesday razed two apartment buildings in Quezon City, a Manila suburb. A veterinarian and six household members...

Read More..

Afghan policewoman kills US adviser, police say

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, a senior Afghan official said. The circumstances of the killing were not immediately clear but the shooting could be another insider attack by Afghans against their foreign allies.A NATO command spokesman, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Lester T. Carroll, said the shooter...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Mob in Pakistan kills man accused of burning Quran

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A mob in southern Pakistan stormed a police station to seize a mentally unstable Muslim man accused of burning a copy of Islam's holy book, beat him to death, and then set his body afire, police said Saturday.The case is likely to raise further concerns about the country's harsh blasphemy laws, which can result in a death sentence or life in prison to anyone found guilty....

Read More..

NKorea says it has detained a US citizen

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday that it has detained an American citizen who has confessed to unspecified crimes.State media said in a short dispatch that someone named Pae Jun Ho entered North Korea on Nov. 3 as a tourist but was detained because of crimes.The North said the crimes were "proven through evidence" but didn't elaborate.Pyongyang has detained and eventually released...

Read More..

Pakistan reports 9th death in polio team attacks

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Another victim from attacks on U.N.-backed anti-polio teams in Pakistan died on Thursday, bringing the three-day death toll in the wave of assaults on volunteers vaccinating children across the country to nine, officials said.Hilal Khan, 20, died a day after he was shot in the head in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said health official Janbaz AfridiSince Monday, gunmen...

Read More..

Gunmen kill 4 female polio workers in Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A senior health official says gunmen have killed four women working on a government polio vaccination campaign in the Pakistan's largest city, Karachi.Sagher Ahmed, health minister for surrounding Sindh province, says the gunmen on Tuesday also wounded two men who were with the women.The Taliban have spoken out against polio vaccination in recent months, claiming the health...

Read More..

After landslide, Abe says Japan has difficult road

TOKYO (AP) — After leading his conservative party to a landslide victory that will bring it back to power after a three-year hiatus, Shinzo Abe stressed Monday that the road ahead will not be easy as he tries to revive Japan's sputtering economy and bolster its national security amid deteriorating relations with China.The Liberal Democratic Party, which led Japan for most of the post-World War II...

Read More..

Rocket still centerpiece as NKoreans mourn Kim

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Just days after launching a satellite into orbit in defiance of international critics, North Korea formally began mourning the death of late leader Kim Jong Il on Sunday, the eve of the first anniversary of his death.At a somber memorial service honoring Kim, North Korea's top leadership parlayed the success of Wednesday's rocket launch into praise not only for the late...

Read More..

Sympathy over US school shooting stretches globe

BANGKOK (AP) — Images of a tearful President Barack Obama speaking after a shooting rampage in Connecticut resonated around the world, with many outside the United States expressing hope Saturday that America's latest school massacre would prompt the country to strengthen gun control.Shock and sympathy were the initial reactions to the rampage that left 28 people dead, including 20 children at an...

Read More..

Pentagon to send missiles, 400 troops to Turkey

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (AP) — The Pentagon says it will send Patriot air defense missiles and 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO force meant to protect Turkish territory from potential Syrian missile attack.Pentagon press secretary George Little said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed a deployment order Friday en route to Turkey from Afghanistan.The order calls for 400 U.S. soldiers to operate...

Read More..