Asia News

Community rebuilds 2 years after tsunami

AP - 9 minutes ago

PERALIYA, Sri Lanka - At nightfall, quiet descends quickly on the narrow street that runs through the center of this seaside village. On unpaved side roads, many windows remain dark. In house after newly built house scattered across Peraliya, no one is around to turn on the lights.

  • This undated photo, which has been handed out by the U.S military shows Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani. A top Taliban military commander described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar was killed in an airstrike this week close to the border with Pakistan, the U.S. military said Saturday Dec. 23, 2006. A purported Taliban spokesman denied the claim. U.S. military spokesman Col. Tom Collins said that officials waited four days to announce the news in part so that they could be sure it was Osmani who died in the strike. (AP Photo/DOD)
    U.S. strike kills Afghan Taliban leader AP - 1 hour, 57 minutes ago

    KABUL, Afghanistan - A top Taliban military commander described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar was killed in an airstrike this week close to the border with Pakistan, the U.S. military said Saturday. A Taliban spokesman denied the claim.

  • North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan waves as he walks into Beijing airport before departing for Pyongyang Saturday, Dec. 23, 2006. The first full-fledged international talks on North Korea's nuclear program in the wake of its atomic test failed to reach any breakthroughs, ending Friday with renewed bluster from the communist nation demanding concessions first and threatening to bolster its arsenal. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
    N. Korea decries sanctions as talks end AP - Sat Dec 23, 8:52 AM ET

    SEOUL, South Korea - The North Korean army's chief of staff vowed Saturday to take strong countermeasures against U.S. sanctions, official media said a day after international disarmament talks on the North's nuclear arms program ended without any breakthrough.

  • North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan speaks during a news conference marking the end of the six party talks in Beijing December 22, 2006. North Korea's official media on Saturday placed the blame for an impasse in talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program squarely at the feet of the United States. (Nir Elias/Reuters)
    N.Korea says it is not afraid of war after impasse Reuters - Sat Dec 23, 8:49 AM ET

    SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's official media blamed the United States on Saturday for an impasse in talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and said it was not afraid of war.

  • Undated picture of the head of the al-Qaeda terror network, Osama bin Laden. US-led coalition forces have killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a close associate of bin Laden and a Taliban leader, in southern Afghanistan, a military statement has said.(AFP/File)
    Bin Laden's "close associate" killed in southern Afghanistan AFP - Sat Dec 23, 8:14 AM ET

    KABUL (AFP) - US-led forces have killed a Taliban leader and close associate of Osama bin Laden in southern Afghanistan in a major blow to the deadly insurgency, a military statement has said.

  • North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan (L) and US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill (R) in Beijing, December 22. The chance of a breakthrough in talks on North Korea's nuclear program remain as remote as ever, analysts say, as negotiators left Beijing empty-handed after the discussions ended in deadlock.(AFP/POOL/File/Greg Baker)
    Chances for NKorean nuclear talks breakthrough remote AFP - Sat Dec 23, 7:49 AM ET

    BEIJING (AFP) - The chance of a breakthrough in talks on North Korea's nuclear program remain as remote as ever, analysts say, as negotiators left Beijing empty-handed after the discussions ended in deadlock.

  • Indonesian residents wade knee-deep in flood water in Pekanbaru. Twelve people are dead and dozens remain missing while more than 70,000 have fled their homes as floods swept the Indonesian island of Sumatra.(AFP/Bobby Triadi)
    Indonesian floods leave 12 dead, 70,000 homeless AFP - Sat Dec 23, 6:52 AM ET

    JAKARTA (AFP) - Twelve people are dead and dozens remain missing while more than 70,000 have fled their homes as floods swept the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

  • Police in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand are hunting for a container packed with highly radioactive material stolen from a research facility.(AFP/File/Manan Vatsyayana)
    Police hunt launched after uranium stolen in India AFP - Sat Dec 23, 6:29 AM ET

    RANCHI, India (AFP) - A container packed with radioactive material has been stolen from a fortified research facility in eastern India, prompting a major hunt and fears of contamination, officials said.

  • Veteran Australian paceman Glenn McGrath, history's most successful fast bowler, announced his retirement in a fresh blow to his team two days after Shane Warne revealed he was bowing out.(AFP/File/Saeed Khan)
    Australian paceman McGrath to quit all forms of cricket AFP - Sat Dec 23, 6:22 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Veteran Australian paceman Glenn McGrath, history's most successful fast bowler, announced his retirement in a fresh blow to his team two days after Shane Warne revealed he was bowing out.

  • Indian paceman Shantakumaran Sreesanth was 'man of the match' in a surprise win over South Africa in the first Test in Wanderers.(AFP/Alexander Joe)
    South Africa under pressure ahead of second Test AFP - Sat Dec 23, 6:22 AM ET

    DURBAN, South Africa (AFP) - South Africa are under pressure ahead of the second Test against India starting at Kingsmead on Monday.

  • Residents use an aquarium to carry their belongings as they wade through flooded waters on a road leading to Kota Tinggi, southern state of Johor, Malaysia, Saturday, Dec. 23, 2006. On Friday officials said widespread floods in southern Malaysia this week have killed at least six people and displaced nearly 80,000. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
    Malaysia floods kill 7, displace 90,000 AP - Sat Dec 23, 6:17 AM ET

    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Seven people have died and more than 90,000 have been displaced during the last week as the country recorded heavy rainfall, officials said Saturday.

  • An Amphibious Reconnaissance Platoon from the US Marines' 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Forces and their Philippine counterpart storm the beach to simulate an amphibious assault of high value individual during an amphibious landing exercise at a beach in Palawan in southwestern Philippines, in this Oct. 23, 2006, file photo. On Friday Dec. 22, 2006 the United States has canceled large-scale military manueuvers in the Philippines dubbed 'Balikatan 2007 ' in a thorny dispute over custody of a U.S. Marine while he appeals a rape conviction, officials said. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez,FILE)
    U.S. exercises in Philippines canceled AP - Sat Dec 23, 3:40 AM ET

    MANILA, Philippines - The cancellation of a large-scale U.S. military exercise due to a dispute over the custody of a U.S. Marine convicted of rape will set back Philippine efforts to modernize its armed forces, the Philippine government said Saturday.

  • An Afghan police officer passes by the damaged vehicle used in a suicide bombing attack apparently targeted a member of Afghan parliament, in Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Dec. 22, 2006. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a lawmaker's home in Kabul on Friday, missing the parliamentarian but wounding eight others, police said. The bomber apparently thought lawmaker Bacha Khan Zadran was in a car pulling out of his compound, and the blast near the vehicle injured three people inside and five people on the street, said district police chief Mohammad Khan Katawzi. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
    Roadside bomb kills 5 Afghan police AP - Sat Dec 23, 3:34 AM ET

    KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A roadside bomb exploded next to a police patrol in southern Afghanistan on Friday, killing five policemen, an official said.

  • Moderate earthquake hits Andaman islands AP - Sat Dec 23, 12:39 AM ET

    NEW DELHI - A moderate earthquake struck off India's Andaman islands early Saturday, but no casualties or damage were reported, the India Meteorological Department said.

  • South Korea asks U.S. to explain beef AP - Fri Dec 22, 10:26 PM ET

    SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea has asked the United States to explain why a shipment of American beef rejected for having banned bone fragments also contained unacceptable levels of the toxic chemical dioxin, an official said Friday.

  • Security tight for Gandhi after threat AP - Fri Dec 22, 8:52 PM ET

    NEW DELHI - Indian authorities have tightened security around Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi after intelligence agencies warned she could be the target of a suicide bombing plot by Islamic militants, including al-Qaida, an official said Friday.

  • Activist criticize China toy factory AP - Fri Dec 22, 5:03 PM ET

    1 SHANGHAI, China - The pouty Bratz dolls so popular as Christmas presents are made at a factory in southern China where workers are obliged to toil up to 94 hours a week, among other violations, a labor rights group said in a report released Friday.

  • Japanese pet owners turn to acupuncture AP - Fri Dec 22, 3:08 PM ET

    TOKYO - Andy has sprouted white whiskers, suffers from lower back pain and no longer bounds up the stairs like he used to. Still, the 11-year-old Siberian husky isn't lying idle: every week he meets his personal trainer for a run on an underwater treadmill, does laps in a doggy pool to strengthen his hind legs and unwinds with a hot spa and massage session.

  • Pakistani police officers escort to Rashid Rauf, center, a British Muslim of Pakistani origin and suspect in London terror plot, for his court appearance, Friday, Dec. 22, 2006 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A Pakistani judge on Friday adjourned the trial of the key suspect in an alleged plot to blow up jets flying from London to the United States until January, a court official said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
    Suspect denies role in alleged jet plot AP - Fri Dec 22, 7:22 AM ET

    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A British Muslim appearing before a Pakistani court on Friday denied that he was involved in an alleged plot to blow up passenger jets flying from London to the United States.

  • U.S. cancels Philippines military exercise AP - Fri Dec 22, 6:05 AM ET

    MANILA, Philippines - The United States canceled a joint military exercise with the Philippines scheduled for next year because of a dispute over the custody of a U.S. Marine appealing his rape conviction, officials said Friday.

  • Report: China lawyer's sentence suspended AP - Fri Dec 22, 4:51 AM ET

    BEIJING - A Chinese activist lawyer was convicted of subversion for posting political essays on foreign Web sites and received a suspended three-year prison sentence, a state news agency reported Friday.

  • Muslim insurgency escalates in Thailand AP - Fri Dec 22, 4:47 AM ET

    BANGKOK, Thailand - Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand have intensified their deadly attacks and imposed greater control over the local populace despite offers of peace and reconciliation by the country's military-backed government.

  • Turkmenistan's Saparmurat Niyazov, left, poses with Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, in the Kremlin, Moscow, in this May 9, 2005. file photo. Authoritarian President Saparmurat Niyazov, who has ruled energy-rich Turkmenistan for more than two decades, has died, Turkmen state television reported Thursday. He was 66. State television showed Niyazov's portrait in a black frame, and a news presenter was reading his merits. In a terse statement, the report said Niyazov died early Thursday of sudden heart failure. (AP Photo/ Sergei Grits, File)
    After Niyazov dies, nation at crossroads AP - Fri Dec 22, 2:47 AM ET

    MOSCOW - He was, by his own decree, the "Father Of All Turkmen," and his death Thursday leaves an energy-rich, strategically situated swath of Central Asia without an heir apparent — and potentially at the heart of a global tussle between Russia, China and the United States.

  • Colorful Turkmen leader dies AP - Fri Dec 22, 2:12 AM ET

    No matter where you went in Turkmenistan, there was no getting away from President Saparmurat Niyazov.

  • Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir smiles during a press conference at his residence in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia after his release from prison, in this Thursday, June 15, 2006 file photo. Indonesian Supreme Court overturned a terror conviction Thursday, Dec. 21, 2006, against the militant Islamic cleric who served 2 1/2 years for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)
    Indonesia overturns terror conviction AP - Thu Dec 21, 11:56 PM ET

    JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia overturned a terror conviction Thursday against the militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who served 2 1/2 years for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people.

  • Indian court extends bail for actor AP - Thu Dec 21, 9:44 PM ET

    MUMBAI, India - A court extended the bail of an Indian actor by almost a month Thursday while he awaits sentencing for illegal arms possession in connection with the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed 257 people.

  • Turkmen president's name was omnipresent AP - Thu Dec 21, 2:27 PM ET

    A look at some of the notable initiatives of the late Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled Turkmenistan for two decades: