10 January 2015

Crashed AirAsia's tail hoisted from sea in search for boxes

An Indonesian rescue helicopter flies as Indonesian navy divers conduct search operations for AirAsia Flight 8501 on the Java Sea, Indonesia, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Underwater ping-like sounds were heard Friday in an area where searchers are scouring the Java Sea for the crashed AirAsia plane, but it was unclear if they were coming from the all-important black boxes, an official said.
Investigators searching for the crashed AirAsia plane's black boxes lifted the tail portion of the jet out of the Java Sea on Saturday, two weeks after it went down, killing all 162 people on board.
It was not immediately clear whether the cockpit voice and flight data recorders were still inside the tail or had detached when the Airbus A320 plummeted into the sea Dec. 28. Their recovery is essential to finding out why it crashed.

AP PHOTOS: French security forces end 3 days of terror

In this Jan. 7, 2015, file photo, an injured person is transported to an ambulance after a shooting, at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's office, in Paris. Masked gunmen stormed the offices of a French satirical newspaper Wednesday, killing at least 12 people before escaping, police and a witness said. French police hunted down the two heavily armed brothers suspected in the massacre on Friday.
In this Jan. 7, 2015, file photo, an injured person is transported to an ambulance after a shooting, at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's office, in Paris. Masked gunmen stormed the offices of a French satirical newspaper Wednesday, killing at least 12 people before escaping, police and a witness said. French police hunted down the two heavily armed brothers suspected in the massacre on Friday.  

Biographical information on Sri Lanka's Sirisena

Sri Lanka's main opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena gets his finger marked with indelible ink after casting his vote at a polling station in Polonnaruwa, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. Monitors on Thursday expressed concerns that voters are being prevented from casting their ballots in some parts of Sri Lanka in an election where President Mahinda Rajapaksa faces a fierce political battle after Sirisena, his onetime ally, suddenly defected from the ruling party to run against him.
NAME: Maithripala Sirisena (pronounced my-three-PA'-la si-ri-SAY'-na)
AGE-BIRTHPLACE: 63. Born in the village of Yagoda, north of Colombo, but moved in the 1950s with his family to the farming district of Polonnaruwa under a government agriculture development project.

8 January 2015

10 Things to See: A week of top AP photos

People watch fireworks exploding over Copacabana beach during New Year celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015.
People watch fireworks exploding over Copacabana beach during New Year celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015.  

Pakistan cricket legend Khan marries ex-BBC journalist

In this handout photograph released by the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) party on January 8, 2015, Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan (L) and new wife Reham Khan pose for a photograph during their wedding ceremony at his house in Islamabad. Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan wed a TV journalist in a simple ceremony at his Islamabad home January 8, ending years of speculation surrounding the former playboy cricketer widely considered his country's most eligible man.
Pakistan's legendary cricket star and politician, Imran Khan, tied the knot Thursday, ending weeks of speculation about whether one of the country's most famous bachelors was getting married for a second time.

Monitors say voters obstructed in Sri Lankan election

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrives to cast his vote for president elections at a polling station in Tangalle, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) south of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. Monitors on Thursday expressed concerns that voters are being prevented from casting their ballots in some parts of Sri Lanka in an election where Rajapaksa faces a fierce political battle after Maithripala Sirisena, his onetime ally, suddenly defected from the ruling party to run against him.
Election monitors said Thursday that voters in northern Sri Lanka were prevented from casting their ballots in an election that pits President Mahinda Rajapaksa against an ally who suddenly defected from the ruling party to run against him.
The Center for Monitoring Election Violence, based in the capital of Colombo, also said a hand grenade exploded near a voting station in the northern Jaffna peninsula in the Tamil minority heartland, but that no injuries were reported.

President faces fierce battle in Sri Lanka vote

Sri Lankan Muslim women leave after casting their votes at a polling station during the presidential elections in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. Voters went to the polls Thursday in Sri Lanka, where President Mahinda Rajapaksa faces a fierce political battle after Maithripala Sirisena, a onetime ally, suddenly defected from the ruling party to run against him.
Voters went to the polls Thursday in Sri Lanka, where President Mahinda Rajapaksa faces a fierce political battle after his onetime ally suddenly defected from the ruling party to run against him.
November defection by former Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena turned the race, which Rajapaksa had been widely expected to easily win, into a referendum on the president and the enormous power he wields over the island nation of 21 million.

7 January 2015

India police: Ex-minister, UN diplomat's wife was murdered

In this Sept. 4, 2010 file photo, former Indian Junior Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor listens to his wife Sunanda Pushkar at their wedding reception in New Delhi, India. Indian police said Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015, that they are now treating the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of the prominent former government minister and U.N. diplomat, as a murder and have set up a special team to investigate her death in a New Delhi hotel last year.
Indian police said Wednesday that they are now treating the death of the wife of a prominent former government minister and U.N. diplomat as a murder and have set up a special team to investigate her death in a New Delhi hotel last year.
Sunanda Pushkar's death last January was previously believed to have been a suicide. But Delhi police chief Bhimsen Bassi said Wednesday that after an investigation, a medical board had concluded that she had been poisoned.

5 January 2015

AP PHOTOS: Editor selections from the Middle East

Pakistani boys take part in a rally marking the birthday of Islam's Prophet Muhammad in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015. Thousands of Pakistani Muslims celebrated by participating in religious ceremonies and distributing free meals for the poor.
Pakistani boys take part in a rally marking the birthday of Islam's Prophet Muhammad in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015. Thousands of Pakistani Muslims celebrated by participating in religious ceremonies and distributing free meals for the poor.  

3 January 2015

Pakistan, India trade fire in Kashmir, killing 2

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) officers carry the coffin of their colleague who was killed in a India Pakistan cross border firing, in Jammu, India, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015. Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire Wednesday near the cease-fire line that divides the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, leaving two dead on the Pakistani side and one on the Indian side, officials said.
Pakistani and Indian border guards traded artillery fire along the disputed border region of Kashmir, killing two people and wounding eight, officials said Saturday.
Both Pakistan and India blamed each other for starting the fire that began Friday night. This latest violence comes after Islamabad accused Indian forces of killing two of its soldiers Wednesday in a crossfire that also killed an Indian soldier.

Bollywood-Hollywood Lookalikes

Deepika Padukone and Irina Shayk 

Deepika Padukone and Irina Shayk

Political revolt roils Sri Lanka presidential vote

In this Dec. 24, 2014 photo, supporters hold portraits of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and cheer during an election campaign rally in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was the president hailed as a king after crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 and ending the island nation's 25-year civil war. But an internal revolt now threatens Rajapaksa's hold on power. Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, a close Rajapaksa aide and the No. 2 person in the president's Freedom Party, defected in a secretly choreographed news conference in late November, announcing he would run as an opposition candidate in the Jan. 8, 2015 election. Posters read " Leader of the Common.”
Until just a few weeks ago, Sri Lanka's upcoming election seemed a mere formality. Nothing, it seemed, could keep President Mahinda Rajapaksa from rolling to a third term in office.
He was the president hailed as a king after crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 and ending the island nation's 25-year civil war. He is a charismatic campaigner with vast campaign funds. He has turned the government into an extended family business, with politically powerful brothers, sons and nephews who can all help his candidacy.
But times change. Quickly.

2 January 2015

Lebanon's domestic workers move to protect rights

In this Sunday, April 28, 2013 file photo, migrant domestic workers dance during a march demanding the same basic labor rights as that of the Lebanese workers in Beirut, Lebanon. Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon are set to protect their rights under a trade union - the first such syndicate in the Arab world where more than 2.4 million foreign domestic workers labor under often harsh conditions. The Labor Ministry said Monday, Dec. 29, 2014, that they received a proposal from the National Federation of Labor Unions to form the syndicate in Lebanon. Migrant workers in Lebanon - mostly from Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines - have fallen victim to unpaid wages, forced labor and even physical and sexual abuse.
Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon are set to protect their rights under a trade union — the first such syndicate in the Arab world where more than 2.4 million foreign domestic workers labor under often harsh conditions.
The Labor Ministry said Monday they received a proposal from the National Federation of Labor Unions to form the syndicate in Lebanon. Migrant workers in Lebanon — mostly from Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines — have fallen victim to unpaid wages, forced labor and even physical and sexual abuse.