Suicide bombers attack Afghan government compound

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials say two suicide bombers have attacked a government compound in the country's south, killing a guard and wounding at least 10 others. The district chief of Spin Boldak said the two militants were targeting a Sunday meeting of local officials at a compound in a district of Kandahar province near...

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Suicide bombers kill 3 at Afghan district compound

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Two suicide bombers penetrated a government compound in the country's south Sunday, killing three people, Afghan officials said.The district chief of Spin Boldak said the two militants were targeting a meeting of local officials at a compound in a district of Kandahar province near the Pakistani border. There were no reports of foreign troops or civilians at the site.Mohammad...

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Pakistani officials say US drones kill 9 militants

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Suspected American drones fired several missiles into three militant hideouts near the Afghan border on Sunday, killing nine Pakistani Taliban fighters, intelligence officials said.The strikes targeted the group's hideouts in the South Waziristan tribal region, the three officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to...

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In Hezbollah stronghold, Lebanese Christians find respect, stability

In a home in a Shiite neighborhood in southern Beirut, images of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah share mantel and wall space with the Virgin Mary.The face of the revered Shiite militant leader appears on posters, a calendar, and in several photographs nestled amid those of Christian homeowner Randa Gholam's family members. Mr. Nasrallah is, Ms. Gholam asserts amid a string of superlatives, “a gift...

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Delhi gang-rape case could be turning point for India's rape laws

The gang-rape and beating of a 23-year-old woman on a private bus as it cruised around Delhi Sunday could be the turning point for improvements in the country’s rape laws.After nearly a week of massive protests across the capital demanding tougher punishments for rapists and better protection of women, the parliamentary standing committee will meet next week to discuss creating fast-track courts for...

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Good Reads: gun laws, lottery winners, online education, and tech gets sensory

The Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut brought a deluge of media attention to gun control. One useful perspective came from the Lexington’s Notebook column in The Economist magazine. Britain’s gun-related homicide rate is drastically lower than that of the United States not only because guns are harder to purchase, but because ammunition is scarce, the writer points out. In one recent incident...

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Deep emotions run beneath Russia's adoption ban

You usually can judge Vladimir Putin’s dislike of a reporter's question by the intensity of his expression. Such was the case this week at his annual news conference, when he greeted with a hard scowl the subject of pending Russian legislation that would ban Americans from adopting orphaned children. Mr. Putin unleashed invective on the fact that consular representatives aren’t allowed to visit adopted...

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Japanese firms set spending record in buying up foreign assets

In the late 1980s, when Mitsubishi Estate bought Rockefeller Center and Sony snapped up Columbia Pictures, the Western media were full of stories of Japan’s imminent global economic domination. "Japan as No. 1" was a best-seller, and US autoworkers dramatically took sledgehammers to Japanese imports.But by the end of 2012, Japanese corporations will have bought more foreign companies, spending more...

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Mexico frees ex-Marine jailed for bringing in gun

A Marine veteran jailed for months in Mexico after trying to carry a family heirloom shotgun across the border has been freed, U.S. officials and his lawyer said late Friday.The attorney for 27-year-old Jon Hammar tweeted Friday night that his client had been released from a detention center in Matamoros, Mexico."Jon is out, going home!" Eddie Varon Levy tweeted.Patrick Ventrell, the acting deputy...

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List of 1000s of missing raises doubts in Mexico

Federal police officer Luis Angel Leon Rodriguez disappeared in 2009 along with six fellow police as they headed to the western state of Michoacan to fight drug traffickers.Since then, his mother, Araceli Rodriguez, has taken it into her own hands to investigate her son's disappearance and has publicized the case inside and outside Mexico. She's found some clues about what happened but still doesn't...

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3-day trip becomes 3-week ordeal for 2 Jamaicans

 It was supposed to be a three-day fishing trip at most. It turned into a three-week ordeal, drifting under an intense sun for hundreds of miles in the Caribbean in a small boat with a broken motor.The two Jamaican fishermen survived by eating raw fish they caught and drinking water from melted ice they had brought to preserve their catch. The Colombian navy finally plucked them from the sea...

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Peru's capital highly vulnerable to major quake

The earthquake all but flattened colonial Lima, the shaking so violent that people tossed to the ground couldn't get back up. Minutes later, a 50-foot (15-meter) wall of Pacific Ocean crashed into the adjacent port of Callao, killing all but 200 of its 5,000 inhabitants. Bodies washed ashore for weeks.Plenty of earthquakes have shaken Peru's capital in the 266 years since that fateful night of Oct....

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Argentina import controls put brake on bike sales

Summer has arrived in the Southern Hemisphere, and bicyclists all over the Argentine capital have hit the streets to enjoy the warm weather. That means this should be peak season for bicycle manufacturers and shops all over town, but the ride hasn't been so smooth this year.Instead, economic dysfunction has curtailed any possible boom. Cardboard boxes full of partially assembled mountain bikes, missing...

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Highlights from Egypt's draft constitution

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's draft constitution, which is being voted on in a referendum Saturday, is made up of an introduction, an 11-part preamble and 236 articles. Critics have raised concerns over issues including Islamic law and women's rights:— Shariah (Islamic) lawLike a previous constitution, the draft states, "Principles of Islamic Shariah are the principal source of legislation." For the first...

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Oman holds first municipal elections

MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Oman says more than 1,400 candidates are competing in the Gulf nation's first municipal elections, a concession following Arab Spring-linked unrest. Oman has seen sporadic protests demanding more job opportunities and a greater public voice in the tightly run sultanate. The official Omani News Agency says the candidates, including 46 women,...

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Egyptians vote on disputed constitution

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians voted on Saturday in the second and final phase of a referendum on an Islamist-backed constitution that has polarized the nation, with little indication that the result of the vote will end the political crisis in which the country is mired.For some supporters, a 'yes' vote was a chance to restore some normalcy after nearly two years of tumultuous transitional politics following...

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Correction: Bahrain-Security Summit story

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — In a story Dec. 8 about a security summit in Bahrain, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Saudi Arabia's Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah said in a speech that Gulf states should quash any Arab Spring-inspired unrest. Prince Abdulaziz said, "Tampering with the stability and security of any Gulf Arab state is considered as tampering with the security...

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Yemen court sentences 3 militants to up to 6 years

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's state security court has sentenced three al-Qaida militants to up to six years in prison for planning attacks on security forces, foreign diplomatic missions and state institutions.The court on Saturday gave the three militants between two and six years each. They have the right to appeal.The judge also accused the three of running a training camp for al-Qaida in the southern...

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