Afghanistan: Blast kills 7 civilians in east

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosion killed seven Afghan villagers Sunday as they tried to pull bodies of insurgents killed from the rubble of a village mosque after a night raid by NATO and Afghan troops in the country's east, officials said. Four insurgents and an Afghan soldier were also reported to have been killed.The predawn operation in Sayedabad district was aimed at capturing a Taliban...

Read More..

6 arrested in new rape of a bus passenger in India

NEW DELHI (AP) — Police said Sunday they have arrested six suspects in another gang rape of a bus passenger in India, four weeks after a brutal attack on a student on a moving bus in the capital outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws.Police officer Raj Jeet Singh said a 29-year-old woman was the only passenger on a bus as she was traveling to her village in northern Punjab state...

Read More..

Roadside bomb kills 14 Pakistani soldiers

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — A roadside bomb hit a Pakistani army convoy Sunday in a mountainous militant stronghold in the northwest, killing 14 soldiers, one of the deadliest attacks against the army in that sector, intelligence officials said.The North Waziristan tribal area is a major trouble spot that the military has been reluctant to tackle. The remote region is home to Pakistani Taliban...

Read More..

Different challenges in Central African Rep., Mali

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Two land-locked, desperately poor African countries are gripped by rebellions in the north that have left huge chunks of both nations outside of government control. Neighboring countries are rushing troops into Central African Republic only a few weeks after rebels started taking towns but Mali's government is still awaiting foreign military help nearly one...

Read More..

Mali's Islamists withdraw cease-fire pledge

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — An Islamist group in northern Mali says it's suspending its pledge to halt hostilities less than a month after it agreed to do so.The group Ansar Dine said negotiations with the Malian government are ultimately aimed at a military intervention to oust the Islamists from the West African nation and are not true peace talks. Still, the group said it remains committed to a dialogue...

Read More..

New child soldier fears in C. African Republic

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The U.N. children's agency says it's concerned about a growing number of children being recruited by armed groups in Central African Republic as President Francois Bozize's government faces a rebellion in the north.UNICEF said Friday it has received "credible reports that rebel groups and pro-government militias are increasingly recruiting and involving children...

Read More..

Mission to Drill Into Buried Antarctic Lake Called Off

After fighting with the Antarctic ice for 20 hours through Christmas Eve, a British Antarctic Survey team has reluctantly called off its mission to retrieve water samples from an ancient subglacial lake.The decision to halt drilling through the ice down toward Lake Ellsworth came after the team failed to connect the project's main and secondary boreholes, Martin Siegert, the lead investigator for...

Read More..

YEARENDER-Rugby-Sting in the tail for All Blacks after stellar year

After ending their World Cup pain in 2011 New Zealand stamped their authority all over 2012, only for their triumphant run to be cut short spectacularly in the final game of the year.When the All Blacks ran out at Twickenham on Dec. 1 within three games of matching their record 23-match unbeaten sequence and, with only an 18-18 draw with Australia blotting their copybook, they were being touted as...

Read More..

OFFICIAL CORRECTION-Cricket-Australia beat S.Lanka by innings and 201 runs

MELBOURNE, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Australia beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 201 runs in the second test on the third day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday to seal their three-match series 2-0.Scores: Sri Lanka 103-9 & 156 (K. Sangakkara 58; M. Johnson 4-63) v Australia 460 (D. Warner 62, S. Watson 83, M. Clarke 106, M. Johnson 92 not out; D. Prasad 3-106, S. Eranga 3-1...

Read More..

Cricket-Australia v Sri Lanka - second test scoreboard

MELBOURNE, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Scoreboard on the third day ofthe second test after Australia beat Sri Lanka by an innings and201 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.Australia sealed the three-match series 2-0.Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to batSri Lanka first innings 156Australia first innings (overnight 440-8)D. Warner c Prasad b Mathews 62E. Cowan c M. Jayawardene b Prasad 36P. Hughes...

Read More..

UPDATE 3-Cricket-Australia thrash Sri Lanka to seal series

(Updates with result)* Australia seal series 2-0* Sangakkara retires hurtMELBOURNE, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Australia humiliated Sri Lanka by an innings and 201 runs to win the second test before tea on day three at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday, and seal their three-match series 2-0.Needing 305 runs to make Australia bat again, Sri Lanka surrendered after adding only 103 in their second innings,...

Read More..

NKorea says it has detained a US citizen

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. News reports in the...

Read More..

Gunmen kill 11 Pakistanis, Afghans in SW Pakistan

An official says gunmen have killed eleven Pakistanis and Afghans in a border town of southwestern Pakistan as they were trying to cross to Iran to travel on to Europe as illegal migrants.Local government official Zubair Ahmed said Saturday the shooting took place late Friday in the Sunsar town of southwestern Baluchistan province.He said the dead and wounded were Afghans and Pakistanis.It was not...

Read More..

People flee Japan nuke disaster to faraway Okinawa

 Okinawa is about as far away as one can get from Fukushima without leaving Japan, and that is why Minaho Kubota is here.Petrified of the radiation spewing from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant that went into multiple meltdowns last year, Kubota grabbed her children, left her skeptical husband and moved to the small southwestern island. More than 1,000 people from the disaster zone have done...

Read More..

Afghan leader: Foreigners to blame for corruption

Afghanistan's president accused on Saturday the countries that fund hisgovernment and military with enabling the widespread corruption that undermines his efforts to establish rule of law in the war-wracked country. Graft and payoffs are widely recognized as a major problem facing Afghanistan as the government works to establish authority over a volatile country and win the trust...

Read More..

Mob in Pakistan kills man accused of burning Quran

 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. Critics say an accusation...

Read More..

What's behind Russia's bill banning US adoptions?

A Russian bill that had seemed initially like a tit-for-tat response to US legislation now looks to be exploding into broad legislation that bars almost any US citizen from engaging in non-business activity in Russia – including the adoption of Russian children.Russia's State Duma on Wednesday passed a bill, in key second reading, that would ban all adoptions of Russian children by US citizens, order...

Read More..

South Korea elects its first woman president, Park Geun-hye

The United States has proposed a boundary between Lebanon and Israel's maritime economic zones to help end a lingering dispute over rival claims and open up oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.If the idea is accepted by both sides, it will reduce the risk of renewed conflict between the two enemy states and hasten Lebanon’s efforts to begin tapping the billions of dollars of natural...

Read More..

Israel moves to further seal off Jerusalem from West Bank

Israeli officials today approved plans for 2,612 new homes to be built on Givat HaMatos, or Airplane Hill, which is set to become the first new Jerusalem neighborhood to be built outside Israel's internationally recognized borders since 1996.The placement profoundly concerns Palestinians and advocates of a two-state solution. They say that it and other building projects under way would make drawing...

Read More..

Newtown shooting cranks up Canada's gun-control debate

Though the massacre in Newtown, Conn., last week has drawn sympathy from all over the world, it has a particular resonance in Canada.The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 26 victims dead, including 20 children, comes just a week after the 23rd anniversary of Canada's own "Montreal Massacre," which reshaped the country's gun laws. Moreover, it occurred even as Canadians recently renewed...

Read More..