31 December 2014

Beach parties, fireworks: World rings in new year

Happy New Year
After a turbulent year marred by terror woes, Ebola outbreaks and a horrific series of airline disasters, many could be forgiven for saying good riddance to 2014 and gratefully ringing in a new year.
Across the globe, revelers looking for a respite from the gloom will converge on the beaches of Brazil, the shores of Sydney harbor and the potentially snowy streets of Las Vegas (yes, really) to welcome 2015. Here's a look at how the world is celebrating:

India, Pakistan trade fire in Kashmir; 1 dead

Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire Wednesday near the border that divides the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, leaving one dead on the Indian side and two wounded on the Pakistani side, officials said.
One side blamed the other for initiating the shooting.

10 Tech Toys That Died This Year and 5 Predictions for 2015

Certain tech toys and consumer goods will invariably fall by the wayside as the years pass. Here we take a look at ten tech items which bit the dust in 2014, as well as predictions for five more gadgets whose time draws near.

30 December 2014

Religion in India bubbles over into politics

In this Friday, May 16, 2014 file photo, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and India's next prime minister Narendra Modi greets the gathering at the home of his 90-year-old mother in Gandhinagar, in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Modi was catapulted to power on promises to develop India’s economy and root out the corruption and incompetence that had crippled the previous government, but he had launched his political career in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a militant Hindu group that combines religious education with self-defense exercises, and parent organization of the ruling party. Powerful Hindu nationalist leaders, some with close ties to Modi’s government, say they intend to ensure India becomes a completely Hindu nation. Modi, on his part, has remained silent as nationalist demands have bubbled into day-to-day politics, and amid growing fears among minority religious groups of creeping efforts to shunt them aside.
In small-town northern India, Muslims are offered food and money to convert to Hinduism. If that doesn't suffice, they say they're threatened. Across the country, the Christmas holiday is canceled for hundreds of government servants who spend the day publicly extolling the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Powerful Hindu nationalist leaders — some with close ties to Modi's government — say they intend to ensure India becomes a completely Hindu nation.

29 December 2014

Pakistan court suspends detention of Mumbai attack planner

In this Saturday, June 28, 2008 file photo, Pakistani Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi speaks during a rally at Muzaffarabad, in Pakistani controlled Kashmir, Pakistan. A Pakistani prosecutor says, Monday, Dec. 29, 2014, a court has suspended a detention order keeping the Lakhvi, alleged mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks in jail, possibly paving the way for his release.
A Pakistani court Monday suspended a detention order keeping the alleged planner of the Mumbai terror attacks in jail, possibly paving the way for his release, officials said.
The prospect of Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi going free presents an embarrassing turn of events for the Pakistani government that has vowed to crack down hard on militancy following the Dec. 16 Taliban school attack in Peshawar that left at least 148 people dead, mostly schoolchildren. It also raises the prospect of a serious political conflict with India, which has long-accused Islamabad of being soft on its home-grown militants.
Lakhvi is one of seven men on trial in Pakistan in connection with the 2008 attack in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people.

26 December 2014

Top News Photos of 2014

A Coast Guard helicopter flies along the Hudson River, which is full of ice floes, on January 9, 2014 in New York, United States. A recent cold spell, caused by a polar vortex descending from the Arctic, caused large ice floes to form in the Hudson, delaying ferry traffic.
A Coast Guard helicopter flies along the Hudson River, which is full of ice floes, on January 9, 2014 in New York, United States. A recent cold spell, caused by a polar vortex descending from the Arctic, caused large ice floes to form in the Hudson, delaying ferry traffic.

Asia marks 10 years since Indian Ocean tsunami

Tourists enjoy a quiet afternoon reading on the beach Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014 in Khao Lak, Thailand, which was not spared from massive destruction from the Asian tsunami 10 years ago. Dec. 26 marks the 10th anniversary of one of the deadliest natural disasters in world history: a tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake off the Indonesian coast, that left more than 230,000 people dead in 14 countries and caused about $10 billion in damage
Beachside memorials and religious services were planned across Asia on Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami that left more than a quarter million people dead in one of modern history's worst natural disasters.

The devastating Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami struck a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean rim. It eradicated entire coastal communities, decimated families and crashed over tourist-filled beaches the morning after Christmas. Survivors waded through a horror show of corpse-filled waters.

25 December 2014

Survivors huddle after violence in India kills 72

An Indian tribal child drinks water in a bowl at a relief camp at Tinsuti village in Sonitpur district of Indian eastern state of Assam, India, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014. Police says the death toll from rebel violence in remote northeastern India has risen to over 70 with the recovery of more bodies from abandoned villages. Authorities have said rebels belonging to a faction of an indigenous separatist group called the National Democratic Front of Bodoland attacked tribal settlers known as Adivasi late Tuesday. Most of the Adivasis, whose ancestors migrated to Assam more than 100 years ago, work on tea plantations.
Instead of celebrating Christmas in her home, Rina Vor and her four young children were huddled in a church Thursday along with hundreds of other survivors of a rebel massacre that killed 72 members of her tribe.
Vor said she putting her kids to sleep in her village in India's remote northeast when she heard the gunfire. She quickly gathered the children and ran to the church for safety, leaving behind her house and belongings.

24 December 2014

Curfew in India state after rebels kill 63

Indian tribal settlers take refuge in a local church after their village was attacked by an indigenous separatist group called the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, in Shamukjuli village in Sonitpur district of Indian eastern state of Assam, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. Hundreds of survivors of a brutal rebel attack that killed at least 63 people in northeastern India sought shelter Wednesday in a church and school while security forces imposed a curfew in a bid to contain the latest bout of ethnic violence.
Hundreds of survivors of a brutal rebel attack that killed at least 63 people in northeastern India sought shelter Wednesday in a church and school while security forces imposed a curfew in a bid to contain the latest bout of ethnic violence.

Long-simmering land and ethnic disputes in Assam state erupted in bloodshed Tuesday when authorities said rebels belonging to a faction of an indigenous separatist group called the National Democratic Front of Bodoland attacked tribal settlers known as Adivasi. Most of the Adivasis, whose ancestors migrated to Assam more than 100 years ago, have worked on tea plantations.

Rebels in northeast India kill 34

Separatist rebels gunned down at least 34 people and wounded a dozen more in India's remote northeast Tuesday in a series of coordinated attacks, police said.
At least 30 tribal settlers were killed in north Assam's Sonitpur district, said S.N. Singh, a top local police officer.
All those killed were Adivasis who largely work in tea gardens in the region.
Four others were shot dead in the western Kokrajhar district.

19 December 2014

10 Things to See: A week of top AP photos

The uncle and cousin of injured student Mohammad Baqair, center, comfort him as he mourns the death of his mother who was a teacher at the school, which was attacked by Taliban, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing more than 100, officials said, in the highest-profile militant attack to hit the troubled region in months.
The uncle and cousin of injured student Mohammad Baqair, center, comfort him as he mourns the death of his mother who was a teacher at the school, which was attacked by Taliban, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing more than 100, officials said, in the highest-profile militant attack to hit the troubled region in months.  

16 December 2014

Taliban storm Pakistani school, killing 126

A Pakistani man comforts a student standing at the bedside of a boy who was injured in a Taliban attack on a school, at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing and wounding scores, officials said, in the worst attack to hit the country in over a year.
Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing 126 people, officials said, in the worst attack to hit the country in years.
The overwhelming majority of the victims were students at the army public school, which has children and teenagers in grades 1-10. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the assault and rushed to Peshawar to show his support for the victims.

12 December 2014

Tree Cutting Gone Wrong

10 Things to See: A week of top AP photos

A man carries an umbrella as he crosses Montgomery Street in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014. The San Francisco Bay Area reached or exceeded normal annual rainfall totals for the first time in years.
A man carries an umbrella as he crosses Montgomery Street in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014. The San Francisco Bay Area reached or exceeded normal annual rainfall totals for the first time in years.  

4 December 2014

10 Things to See: A week of top AP photos

In this Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014 photo provided by Johnny Nguyen, Portland police Sgt. Bret Barnum, left, and Devonte Hart, 12, hug at a rally in Portland, Ore., where people had gathered in support of the protests in Ferguson, Mo.
In this Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014 photo provided by Johnny Nguyen, Portland police Sgt. Bret Barnum, left, and Devonte Hart, 12, hug at a rally in Portland, Ore., where people had gathered in support of the protests in Ferguson, Mo.