WASHINGTON (AP) — About 16 U.S. military personnel, including one general officer, have been disciplined for mistakes that led to the bombing of a civilian hospital in Afghanistan last year that killed 42 people, a senior U.S. official said Thursday. According to officials, no criminal charges were filed and the service members received administrative punishments … Continue reading
NEW DELHI (AP) — The killing of two gay rights activists in the Bangladeshi capital has driven the country’s already secretive and small gay community underground, wondering if they can trust a government that considers their status to be criminal, rights groups said. Police detectives say they are working with evidence including a mobile phone, … Continue reading
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Months before Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded retired Canadian mining executive John Ridsdel in the tropical jungles of the southern Philippines, they showed him pleading for life in a video with three other hostages that demanded a record-high ransom. The scene was all too familiar in a Southeast Asian nation that has … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — An ancient stone sculpture of Buddha’s footprints that was smuggled into the United States and had been expected to sell for more than $1 million was returned to the government of Pakistan on Wednesday. The piece, called a Buddhapada, was taken from a Pakistani region rich in Buddhist history decades ago. … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress urged the Obama administration on Wednesday to order more naval operations close to disputed islands in the South China Sea. The State Department said Beijing risks conflict and isolation through its assertive behavior in those waters. Twice since the fall, the U.S. Navy has sailed by artificial islands built … Continue reading
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine president said Wednesday that Abu Sayyaf militants may have plotted to kill him and kidnap boxing star Manny Pacquiao, disclosing previously unknown details about an extremist group blamed for the beheading of a Canadian hostage. President Benigno Aquino III said the Muslim militants also wanted to explode bombs in … Continue reading
NEW DELHI (AP) — The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid their respects to Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi on Monday and met with young entrepreneurs in India’s financial capital of Mumbai to speak with the country’s next generation of business leaders. On the second day of their weeklong royal tour of India, Britain’s … Continue reading
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least 12 new army recruits have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad, a hospital official said on Monday. Twelve bodies had been taken into the main regional hospital in Jalalabad city, 77.5 miles (125 kilometers) from the capital Kabul, said Ahsanullah Shinwari, the … Continue reading
PARAVOOR, India (AP) — Medical teams on Monday tended to hundreds of people injured in a massive fire that killed at least 110 people, while authorities searched for those responsible for illegally putting on the fireworks display that caused the weekend blaze at a Hindu temple in southern India. Amid the burned wreckage of the … Continue reading
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh is closing its notorious 18th-century prison where sensational political killings over decades have targeted people on both sides of the South Asian country’s 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. The government wants to reopen the old, dilapidated Dhaka Central Jail as a museum to its tumultuous past, while giving its … Continue reading
HOUSTON (AP) — Charley Hoffman birdied half the holes on the Golf Club of Houston and had one bogey Thursday while shooting an 8-under 64 for the first-round lead in the Shell Houston Open. He had a one-shot advantage over a group that included Scott Brown, the Augusta, Georgia, native who has never played in … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the face of mounting threats from North Korea, President Barack Obama on Thursday urged closer security ties among its chief allies in Asia and increased cooperation with strategic rival China to discourage Pyongyang from further advances in nuclear weapons. As world leaders gathered for a nuclear security summit, Obama first met … Continue reading
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The suicide bombing in the city of Lahore on Easter underscores how Pakistan’s Christian minority has become an easy target for the country’s Islamic militants, although Muslims also were among the victims. There are barely 2.5 million Christians in the mostly Muslim country of 180 million, and they say they worry about … Continue reading
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — In an emotional televised address, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed Monday to hunt down and defeat the militants who have been carrying out attacks like the Easter bombing that targeted Christians and killed 72 people. “We will not allow them to play with the lives of the people of Pakistan,” Sharif … Continue reading
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s prime minister on Monday vowed to eliminate perpetrators of terror attacks such as the massive suicide bombing that targeted Christians gathered for Easter the previous day in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 70 people. The attack underscored both the militants’ ability to stage large-scale attacks despite a months-long government … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 