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Mosques in Urumqi open for Friday prayers
Mosques opened for worshippers in Urumqi on Friday, but shops nearby were forced to shut as security forces kept a tight grip on this far west city still reeling from ethnic riots earlier this month. (Associated Press Writer, 3 a.m.)
Report: 6 Japan climbers die of hypothermia
At least six of the 10 mountain climbers found dead in northern Japan died of hypothermia during strong winds and rain, a news report said Friday. (AP, 2:49 a.m.)
Yen advances; shares edge higher, cheer earnings
Asian shares extended gains on Friday on hopes the global recession is receding after key U.S. companies beat earnings expectations, but deadly blasts in Jakarta weighed on Indonesian stocks and the rupiah. (Reuters, 3 a.m.)
Roadside bomb kills 11 Afghan civilians
A roadside bomb ripped though a vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Friday, killing 11 civilians, including five children, a border police official said. (AP, 2:29 a.m.)
Jakarta hotel bombs kill 9, dent investor confidence
Bomb blasts ripped through the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta's business district on Friday, killing nine people and wounding dozens in attacks that could dent investor confidence in Indonesia. (Reuters, 2 a.m.)
U.N. council sanctions North Korea entities, officials
The U.N. Security Council on Thursday expanded the list of North Korean bodies and individuals under sanctions for nuclear and missile activities, adding its atomic energy agency and two of its top officials. (Reuters, 2 a.m.)
Pakistan lifts ban on Sharif running for office
Pakistan's top court acquitted opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on Friday of hijacking charges stemming from the 1999 coup against his government, clearing the last obstacle to Sharif's running for office. (Associated Press Writer, 1:49 a.m.)
Recent deadly attacks targeting hotels
Deadly attacks targeting hotels in recent years: -- July 17, 2009: A pair of bombs explode at the neighboring Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP, 12:59 a.m.)
'Indications' Jakarta blasts were suicide bombs
A senior lawmaker says there are "indications" suicide attackers carried out the twin bombings on hotels in downtown Jakarta that killed nine and wounded 50. (Associated Press Writer, 3 a.m.)
Japan PM set to keep job ahead of tough election
Japan's unpopular Prime Minister Taro Aso looks set to keep his job and hold an election next month after efforts to force a ruling party meeting that could have pushed him to quit were blocked by party heavyweights. (Reuters, 12:40 a.m.)
Chinese engineer guilty of espionage
SANTA ANA, Calif. - A Chinese-born engineer was convicted yesterday of stealing trade secrets critical to the US space program in the nation’s first economic espionage trial. (Boston Globe, 12 a.m.)
North Korea hit with new UN sanctions
UNITED NATIONS - The UN imposed new sanctions yesterday against five North Korean officials, four companies, and a state agency, and banned imports of two weapons-making materials, in a rare unified push by the world’s powers to thwart Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. (Associated Press, 1:37 a.m.)
India and Pakistan agree to share intelligence information
NEW DELHI - India and Pakistan agreed yesterday to increase communication and information-sharing in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks, and said dialogue was the only way forward after violence such as November’s siege in Mumbai. (Washington Post, 12 a.m.)
Taliban threaten to kill US soldier
KABUL - Local Taliban commanders threatened yesterday to kill a captured American soldier unless the US military stops operations in two districts of southeastern Afghanistan. (Boston Globe, 12 a.m.)
China to issue arrest warrants for riots
URUMQI, China - An investigation into ethnic riots that left 192 people dead in China’s restive Western region has been completed, and arrest warrants will be issued soon, the chief prosecutor for Xinjiang said yesterday. (Boston Globe, 12 a.m.)
Iran opposition sees opportunity at Friday prayers
TEHRAN - The opposition is planning a dramatic show of strength on one of Iran’s most important and resonant political stages: the main Islamic prayers in the capital. (Associated Press, 12 a.m.)
UN worker killed in Pakistan ambush
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A senior Pakistani staff member of the United Nations refugee agency was shot and killed yesterday morning in an apparent kidnapping attempt while leaving a refugee camp near this northwestern city, UN officials said. (Boston Globe, 12 a.m.)
Blasts at Jakarta hotels kill at least 9
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Nine people were killed and 50 more were wounded in nearly simultaneous bomb blasts at the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in central Jakarta today, Indonesian officials said. (Boston Globe, 1:16 a.m.)
Stimulus boom fuels growth in China
BEIJING - China’s second-quarter growth accelerated on a stimulus-fed investment boom, the government reported yesterday, sparking a rise in Asian stocks on hopes the world’s third-largest economy could help to lead a global recovery. (Associated Press, 12 a.m.)
Rio rejects Chinese bribe reports
Global miner Rio Tinto on Friday strongly defended its four employees being held in China on accusations of industrial espionage, saying claims they bribed Chinese steel mills were unfounded. (Reuters, 12:20 a.m.)
Recent deadly attacks targeting hotels
Deadly attacks targeting hotels in recent years: -- July 17, 2009: A pair of bombs explode at the neighboring Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP, 7/16/09)
Six killed in central Jakarta hotel bombings
Six people were killed and many more were wounded in nearly simultaneous bomb blasts at the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in central Jakarta on Friday, Indonesian police said. (Reuters, 12 a.m.)
U.S. wants to boost Japan nuclear umbrella: paper
The United States plans discuss with Japan how to boost the nuclear deterrent it provides for its Asian ally, a senior U.S. official was quoted as saying on Friday amid regional tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests. (Reuters, 7/16/09)
Police say 10 climbers die on Japanese mountains
Ten climbers have died as strong winds and rain struck two mountains in northern Japan, police said Friday. (AP, 12 a.m.)
U.N. council sanctions N.Korea entities, officials
The U.N. Security Council on Thursday expanded the list of North Korean bodies and individuals under sanctions for nuclear and missile activities, adding its atomic energy agency and two of its top officials. (Reuters, 7/16/09)
Official: 9 dead, 50 wounded in Jakarta blasts
Indonesia's security minister says nine people have been killed and 50 wounded in hotel blasts in downtown Jakarta. (Associated Press Writer, 12 a.m.)
Explosion heard at central Jakarta hotel: TV
Indonesia's Metro TV reported an explosion was heard and felt on Friday morning at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Kuningan, Jakarta. (Reuters, 7/16/09)
US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 666
As of Thursday, July 16, 2009, at least 666 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT. (AP, 7/16/09)
India, Pakistan meet, no formal peace talks yet
But Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, speaking after talks with his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani in Egypt, ruled out a resumption of formal peace talks, known as the "composite dialogue," that Islamabad has been seeking. (Reuters, 7/16/09)
Gates says famine is eroding North Korean military threat
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday that North Korea's famine has reduced the threat posed by its armed forces. (Reuters, 7/16/09)
Opponents seek to deny Karzai first-round win
Critics decry his government as corrupt and ineffectual, the economy is in the tank and the country is racked by an insurgency led by the very people he helped oust from power eight years ago. (Associated Press Writers, 7/16/09)
Nepal to free child soldiers from Maoist camps
Nepal will release thousands of former child soldiers living in Maoist camps by early November, a minister said on Thursday, more than two years after a peace deal ended a deadly civil war in the Himalayan nation. (Reuters, 7/16/09)
Khmer Rouge trial hears harrowing tribunal testimony
A senior Khmer Rouge prison guard on Thursday told a war crimes tribunal he was forced to send thousands of detainees to an execution site, where they were brutally killed and their bodies thrown into mass graves. (Reuters, 7/16/09)
U.S. praises Pakistan handling of Swat crisis
The United States' top military officer on Thursday praised Pakistan's handling of the humanitarian crisis resulting from an assault on Taliban strongholds in the northwest. (Reuters, 7/16/09)
China boycotts opening of World Games in Taiwan
The 100-strong Chinese delegation boycotted the opening ceremony of the World Games in Taiwan on Thursday, underscoring the limits of the historic breakthrough in relations between Taipei and Beijing. (Associated Press Writer, 7/16/09)
Turkmenistan creates vast lake in the desert
Turkmenistan has begun channeling water across hundreds of miles to create a lake in the heart of a barren desert, state media reported Thursday, in a Soviet-style engineering feat that some experts fear could unleash an environmental catastrophe. (Associated Press Writer, 7/16/09)
China's economy accelerates with help of stimulus
China has bought a rebound in economic growth with a flood of government spending and bank loans, averting a surge in politically dangerous unemployment and fueling hopes that it might help lead a world recovery. (AP Business Writer, 7/16/09)
China's population of Web users hits 338 million
More people now go online in China than there are people in the United States. (AP, 7/16/09)
Ex-SKorean leader put on respirator, not in danger
Ailing former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, a Nobel laureate, has been put on a respirator because of complications from pneumonia but is not in "immediate danger," hospital officials said Thursday. (Associated Press Writer, 7/16/09)
Taliban threaten to kill captured US soldier
Local Taliban commanders threatened Thursday to kill a captured American soldier unless the U.S. military stops operations in two districts of southeastern Afghanistan. (Associated Press Writer, 7/16/09)
Khmer Rouge victims tricked on way to execution
A senior security guard at the most notorious Khmer Rouge prison told a genocide tribunal Thursday that prisoners were told they were being freed as they were led to Cambodia's killing fields. (Associated Press Writer, 7/16/09)
China to issue arrest warrants for Xinjiang riots
Authorities have completed an initial investigation into ethnic riots that left 192 people dead in China's restive Western region and arrest warrants will be issued soon, the chief prosecutor for Xinjiang said. (Associated Press Writer, 7/16/09)
US detainees hold protest at Bagram jail
Hundreds of prisoners at the U.S. military's main detention center in Afghanistan are refusing privileges like recreation time and family visits to protest their lack of legal rights, U.S. military and humanitarian officials said. (Associated Press Writer, 7/16/09)
U.N. team digs into Pakistan's Bhutto conspiracy theories
A three-member U.N. commission arrived in Pakistan Thursday to conduct an inquiry into the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. (Reuters, 7/16/09)
NKorean biopic celebrates life of Kim Jong Il
Kim Jong Il's childhood in a secret guerrilla camp and early years before becoming leader of communist North Korea are the focus of a multipart film in the works in Pyongyang, state media said Thursday -- widely seen as another sign the ailing 67-year-old is paving the way for a successor. (Associated Press Writer, 7/16/09)