TOKYO (AP) — The mother of a Japanese hostage held by Islamic State extremists appealed publicly Wednesday to Japan’s leader to save her son after his captors issued what they said was a final death threat. Junko Ishido, mother of journalist Kenji Goto, read to reporters her plea to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s highest court on Wednesday narrowly ruled that Australia acted legally when it held 157 Sri Lankan asylum seekers at sea for almost a month last year. The High Court judges voted 4-3 to reject a claim for damages for false imprisonment by one of the ethnic Tamils held aboard an Australian customs vessel in the Indian Ocean.
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) — The last time I encountered escargots they were served up by a French waiter, sizzling in garlic and herb butter. Now, one is slithering up the bridge of my nose while five others are being stuck onto other parts of my face by a Thai beautician, all secreting snail slime to hopefully smooth out some wrinkles and otherwise give me a younger-than-my-age look. That this latest addition to the global beauty and wellness craze — snail facials — should surface in the hills of northern Thailand is only natural. This Southeast Asian country ranks among the world’s top spa destinations, with massage treatments of every description offered around just about every corner. Other members of the animal kingdom are also enlisted, including fish at some 4,000 pedicure spas.
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese regulators accused e-commerce giant Alibaba on Wednesday of permitting sales of fake goods and hurting consumers in a report that was withheld until now to avoid disrupting the company’s U.S. stock market debut. Alibaba allowed unlicensed merchants to use its sales platforms and failed to protect consumers’ rights adequately, according to the sternly worded report by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials asked lawmakers Tuesday not to withdraw their support from a new government peace deal with the country’s largest Muslim rebel group after some insurgents were involved in a clash that killed 44 anti-terror police commandos. The government’s biggest single-day combat loss in recent memory shocked many and prompted at least two senators to withdraw their backing for a bill that would create a new Muslim autonomous region in the restive south under a peace deal signed last March. Many more lawmakers and influential Roman Catholic bishops defended the deal.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister on Wednesday promised to consult more widely before bestowing knighthoods in the future as he weathered an avalanche of criticisms over his decision to make the husband of Queen Elizabeth II an Australian knight. Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that the Duke of Edinburgh would be awarded Australia’s highest honor on Australia’s national holiday on Monday, prompting some to question the wisdom of knighting a British royal on a day meant to commemorate Australians.
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese Communist Party agency says investigators have found that 15 officials in Tibet joined underground Tibetan independence organizations, provided intelligence to the Dalai Lama and his supporters or participated in activities harmful to China’s security. The publicizing of party officials supporting Tibetan separatism is highly unusual and suggests continuing unrest in the Himalayan region, which has prompted a heavy security presence since a wave of rioting and protests against Chinese rule in 2008.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani military jets struck suspected militant hideouts Tuesday near the Afghan border, killing 76 militants, the army said. Two rounds of airstrikes targeted the suspected militants in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, which has long been a safe haven for local and foreign extremists carrying out attacks on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — An American-built helicopter once used in the Vietnam War crashed Wednesday during a training mission in the Southeast Asian nation, killing all four soldiers aboard, the military said. Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, army deputy chief of staff, said the Huey chopper disappeared from radar about eight minutes after taking off from an air base in Ho Chi Minh City.
NEW DELHI (AP) — President Barack Obama gently nudged India Tuesday to fulfill its constitution’s pledge to uphold the “dignity of the individual,” drawing on his own experience as a minority in the United States as he closed out a three-day visit to New Delhi. Obama said that while he has had extraordinary opportunities, “there were moments in my life where I’ve been treated differently because of the color of my skin.” As he touted the importance of religious tolerance, he noted the persistent false rumors that he is a Muslim, not a Christian.
PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s military has halted its recovery efforts for the crashed AirAsia plane, including attempts to locate more bodies and raise the fuselage from the Java Sea, an official said Tuesday. The Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency, however, said it would continue looking for victims with its own ships and helicopters.
BEIRUT (AP) — In the moments after her husband blew himself up in the ballroom of a Jordanian hotel as part of an al-Qaida plot, Sajida al-Rishawi fled the scene of chaos wearing her own explosive belt. The 2005 assault on three hotels in Amman, the worst terror attack in Jordan’s history, killed 60 people. Al-Rishawi, an Iraqi, was sentenced to death. But now, almost a decade later, she has emerged as a potential bargaining chip in negotiations over Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State group, a breakaway group from al-Qaida in Iraq that orchestrated the Jordan attack.
TOKYO (AP) — The plight of freelance journalist Kenji Goto, taken captive by Islamic State group militants, has gripped Japan, and the people’s hopes for his safety are now on Facebook with a simple, unifying plea: “I am Kenji.” The video, posted online last week, showing Goto and another Japanese hostage, has dominated mainstream media here, a relatively crime-free nation unaccustomed to such violence.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India and America’s declaration of a breakthrough in contentious nuclear energy cooperation has been met with a lukewarm response from industry and analysts. Few expect the potentially lucrative Indian market to suddenly become less complicated for U.S. nuclear companies. President Barack Obama’s three-day visit to New Delhi raised hopes for concrete plans to tackle India’s fossil fuel dependency and to resolve a four-year standoff over liability that prevented U.S. and Japanese nuclear energy development on Indian soil. Instead, there were vague commitments and public displays of chumminess between Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Acclaimed Indian cartoonist R. K. Laxman, creator of the innocuous character the Common Man, who held up a mirror to the absurdity and silliness of Indian politicians, has died of multiple-organ failure, his doctor said. He was 94. Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Laxman died Monday evening, said Sameer Jog of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in the western Indian city of Pune.
