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
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia on Monday welcomed home a 10th-century Khmer statue that was looted during the country’s civil war before spending the past three decades at an American museum. The sandstone Torso of Rama statue, which stands 62 inches (157 centimeters) high and is missing its head, arms and feet, was formally … Continue reading
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jason Day one-putted his last seven holes Thursday and had a 6-under 66 to take a one-shot lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Day felt he was playing better, and he finally has a score to prove it. He reached No. 1 in the world for the first time last September … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks moved little in early trading as investors weighed a report on unemployment benefits and corporate news. Oil prices posted another strong gain Thursday, lifting energy stocks. The Labor Department reported that applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, but they remain at levels consistent with a healthy job … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The Mozambican sandbank where a possible piece of a missing Malaysian airliner was found is in waters with treacherous currents and is not normally visited by tourists, a hotel owner said Friday. Tony Manna, who owns a beachfront hotel in the Mozambican town of Vilankulo, said American adventurer Blaine Gibson was a … Continue reading
SINGAPORE (AP) — South Korea’s Ha Na Jang has developed a habit of making the extraordinary seem normal. In January, she made a hole-in-one on a par-4 and last month she won her first U.S. LPGA Tour title, at the Coates Golf Championship in Florida. Jang was at it again on Friday, holing a monster … Continue reading
BEIJING (AP) — China said Friday it will boost defense spending by about 7 to 8 percent in 2016, the smallest increase in six years, reflecting slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy and a drawdown of 300,000 troops as Beijing seeks to build a more streamlined, modern military. The People’s Liberation Army, being trimmed … Continue reading
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth on Wednesday after an unprecedented year in space for NASA, landing in barren Kazakhstan with a Russian cosmonaut who shared his whole space station journey. Their Soyuz capsule parachuted onto the central Asian steppes and ended a science-rich mission at the International Space Station … Continue reading
ROME (AP) — One of Pope Francis’ top advisers acknowledged he had heard that an Australian Catholic school teacher who serially abused students might be involved in “pedophilia activity” in the 1970s, but said he had no idea how rampant clergy abuse was at the time, during an extraordinary public hearing of an Australian … Continue reading
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A service to commemorate the fifth anniversary of a deadly earthquake in the New Zealand city of Christchurch turned ugly Monday when someone threw goop over the government minister responsible for quake recovery efforts. Hundreds of people attended the botanical gardens service in New Zealand’s second-largest city to memorialize the … Continue reading
SYDNEY (AP) — The commander of the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said Monday that he is wary of the situation in the South China Sea being painted as a battle between the United States and China, but added the presence of a Chinese missile system on a disputed island will not stop the U.S. military … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 