Peru's famed hostage raid investigated
LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Peruvians traumatized by years of guerrilla violence cheered in 1997 when government troops raided the Japanese ambassador's residence to rescue hostages held for 126 days by leftist rebels....
Filipino Christian group protests Lady Gaga shows
MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- About 70 Christian youths in the Philippines have chanted "Stop the Lady Gaga concerts" at a rally calling for the singer's shows in Manila next week to be canceled....
Vietnam bus plunges off bridge into river; 34 dead
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- A crowded overnight bus plunged off a bridge into a river in central Vietnam, killing 34 passengers and injuring 21 others in one of the country's deadliest road accidents....
China sentences fugitive smuggler Lai to life term
BEIJING (AP) -- The man once considered China's most-wanted fugitive was sentenced to life in prison for smuggling and bribery in a lurid corruption case that reached into the highest echelons of the Communist Party and involved a decade-long extradition fight....
China shadow looming, Taiwan's Ma set for 2nd term
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has leveraged growing economic ties with China to reduce tensions to their lowest level since the two sides split in 1949. China's incessant effort to draw the democratic island closer politically has been on the back burner, and as Ma's second term begins Sunday the question is whether he can keep it there....
Myanmar president feeling ill, resting at home
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's President Thein Sein was resting at his home in Yangon on Friday after military doctors paid a house call but an adviser said his condition was "nothing to worry about."...
Japan launches rocket with first foreign satellite
TOKYO (AP) -- A rocket has lifted off in Japan in the country's first commercial launch of a foreign satellite - one from South Korea designed to monitor the environment....
Global leaders seek to corral Europe crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The leaders of eight of the world's biggest economies meet this weekend outside Washington, seeking to keep Europe's debt crisis from spiraling out of control and jeopardizing fledgling recoveries in the U.S. and elsewhere....
Miss World boss plans Fiji trip after fiasco
The head of the Miss World beauty queen franchise says she plans to travel to Fiji "as soon as possible" to address the problems that turned last month's pageant in the island nation into a fiasco....
New Zealand police charge driver in Boston U crash
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealand police filed charges Friday against a 20-year-old Boston University student who drove a minivan in a crash that killed three of his college classmates last week....
