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HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police said Saturday that they have arrested 19 people, some of whom are believed to have organized crime ties, after mobs tried to drive pro-democracy protesters from the streets where they have held a weeklong, largely peaceful demonstration. At least 12 people and six officers were injured during the clashes, district commander Kwok Pak-chung said at a pre-dawn press briefing. Protest leaders called off planned talks with the government on political reforms after the battles kicked off Friday afternoon in gritty, blue-collar Mong Kok, across Victoria Harbor from the activists' main protest camp.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The man seen as North Korea's No. 2 and other senior officials plan to travel to the South on Saturday for the close of the Asian Games sporting event, South Korean officials said, a rare visit by Pyongyang's inner circle that will include a meeting with Seoul's top official for North Korean affairs. After months of tensions, including an unusual number of missile and rocket test firings, expectations for any breakthrough will be low, but even the visit itself is significant. It will be a rare opportunity for high-level officials from the bitter rivals to hold face-to-face talks.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan army desperate for more advanced military equipment is suffering death rates 30 percent higher in the 2014 fighting season, the army's first against the Taliban without large-scale assistance from the U.S.-led international military force, officials said. A bigger worry than the increased deaths, though, is the havoc the military could unleash on the country if the army rips at its ethnic seams, an increased possibility as U.S. and other NATO forces continue to draw down their forces, Afghan and American military experts say.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday pledged support for Afghanistan's newly sworn-in president and the country's new unity government, saying during a surprise visit to Kabul that Britain is committed to helping Afghans build a more secure and prosperous future. Cameron was the first of world leaders to meet Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai since his inauguration on Monday. The two had a meeting in Kabul on Friday morning and later held a joint press conference.
BANGKOK (AP) — The university students who organized a seminar in Thailand on the demise of dictatorships knew that one particularly sensitive topic had to stay off-limits: their own country. Since overthrowing an elected government in May, this nation's military rulers have jailed opponents who dared speak out and silenced the rest with the threat of prosecution. They have censored the media, dispersed protesters and forbidden open debate over the nation's fate.
PATNA, India (AP) — At least 32 people were killed Friday in a stampede in eastern India triggered by rumors that an electrical wire had fallen on people during a religious festival, an official said. State administrator Aamir Subhani said the stampede occurred in Patna, the capital of Bihar state, as thousands of people were returning home after attending the major Hindu festival, Dussehra.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. says under Myanmar's draft action plan to address tension between Buddhists and stateless Muslims, those who do not receive citizenship will be held in temporary camps. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki expressed U.S. concern over the provision Friday. She urged Myanmar to incorporate suggestions from the international community for the plan's revision and implementation.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police investigating the death of a Chicago woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase say the woman's daughter told them her boyfriend killed her mother after she called him a racial slur. Denpasar police detective chief Capt. Nengah Sadiarta said Thursday that Heather Mack told police that Tommy Schaefer became angry when her mother called him the N-word, and that he killed her while Mack watched in a hotel room on the Indonesia resort island of Bali.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A magnitude 5.7 earthquake jolted the central Philippines on Friday, sending workers out of their offices and causing cracks on a building's wall. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The quake's epicenter was Antique province's Culasi municipality, 360 kilometers (224 miles) south of Manila, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. It added that some damage and aftershocks were expected.
BANGKOK (AP) — Two migrant workers from Myanmar were arrested Friday after police said they confessed to killing two British tourists whose battered bodies were found on a beach in southern Thailand last month, in a case that damaged the image of the country's tourism industry. Thailand's national police chief Gen. Somyot Poompanmoung said the DNA results released late Thursday night backed up the confessions of the two men to raping and killing 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge, and killing David Miller, 24, on Koh Tao, an island known for its pristine diving sites.
In this photo by Kin Cheung, India's kabaddi team catches Iranian player Malihe Miri during the women's gold medal match at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. India's women's and men's teams both won gold in the sport that originated in India centuries ago. The game is played like a rougher game of tag. The offense sends a raider into the rival half of the court to gain points by trying to touch opponents, who then leave the game. The raider chants "kabaddi" until running out of breath. The defending team tries to either evade the touch or grapples with the raider to stop the player's return to the offensive side of the court.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Friday that he had asked officials to reconsider a new security measure that segregates Muslim women who wear face veils from other visitors to Parliament House. The government department that runs Parliament House announced Thursday that "persons with facial coverings" would no longer be allowed in the open public galleries of the House of Representatives or the Senate. They would be directed to galleries usually reserved for noisy school children where they could sit behind sound-proof glass.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities in Indonesia's conservative Muslim province of Aceh caned four gamblers Friday inside a mosque compound as hundreds of people watched. The four were caned five times each at Al Makmur Lamprit mosque in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.
SYDNEY (AP) — A man had part of his arm torn off by a suspected great white shark while surfing off the coast of Western Australia on Thursday, officials said. The man was surfing at Wylie Bay in the town of Esperance on Western Australia's remote southern coast when he was attacked by what is believed to be a 4-meter (13-foot) great white, Esperance Shire President Malcolm Heasman said.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Six Australian F/A-18F Super Hornet jet fighters will launch airstrikes against Islamic State targets in northern Iraq within days as part of the U.S.-led coalition, officials said on Friday. The announcement of an Australian combat role on Friday has been widely anticipated since the Super Hornets were pre-deployed to the United Arab Emirates more than two weeks ago in response to a formal request from the United States for specific contributions to the international coalition.
- Politics & Government
- Unrest, Conflicts & War
- Prime Minister David Cameron
- South Korea
