COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Sri Lanka's opposition and rights activists are demanding that the government punish those responsible for military's fatal shooting of three civilians during a recent protest demanding clean drinking water.About 1,000 demonstrators including opposition lawmakers, rights activists, journalists protested outside the country's main railroad station in the capital Colombo on Wednesday. They condemned the killing of three civilians and an attack on people seeking protectio

MUMBAI, (AFP) -- Indian navy divers have entered a stricken submarine which exploded and sank Wednesday in Mumbai but have detected no signs of life from the 18 crewmen on board, the navy said.Asked if there had been any communication with survivors, chief of naval staff D.K. Joshi told a press conference: "Of course not. I would have said so if we had."He added: "There is a possibility of an air pocket. Whilst the indicators are negative, one cannot lose hope."Joshi added that divers had entere

BEIJING (AP) -- Tens of thousands of people were evacuated as a powerful typhoon thundered into southern China on Wednesday after shutting down the bustling Asian financial center of Hong Kong and sinking a cargo ship. Packing high winds and torrential rain, Typhoon Utor forced the closure of schools, offices, shopping centers and construction sites in cities along its path northwest across Guangdong province.More than 60,000 people were evacuated in the city of Maoming alone, while another 98,0

BEIJING (AP) -- Tens of thousands of people were evacuated as a powerful typhoon thundered into southern China on Wednesday after shutting down the bustling Asian financial center of Hong Kong and sinking a cargo ship. Packing high winds and torrential rain, Typhoon Utor forced the closure of schools, offices, shopping centers and construction sites in cities along its path northwest across Guangdong province.More than 60,000 people were evacuated in the city of Maoming alone, while another 98,0

Koreas reach agreement to reopen suspended inter-Korean industrial parkMOSCOW (AP) -- Competitors at the world athletics championships are keeping their eyes focused on the finish line and relegating the controversy over Russia's new ban on gay "propaganda" to their peripheral vision.The law, passed in late June, has prompted strong calls among Western activists for a boycott of the Winter Olympics, which Russia will host in Sochi early next year.The intersection of politics and sports can be aw

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold his first meeting with new Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on the sidelines of a regional summit in Kyrgyzstan next month, the Kremlin said Friday.Russia has agreed to a proposal from Tehran for the meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on September 13 in Bishkek, Putin's top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said, quoted by Russian news agencies.

BEIJING (AFP) - A detained Chinese activist has managed to release a video from behind bars urging citizens to fight for their rights in an act likely to further antagonize authorities. Xu Zhiyong, who has been detained since mid-July, is among two dozen activists rounded up this year for criticizing corruption and other sensitive topics -- despite a government campaign to fight graft. "Let us come together and work to make the rights of citizens’ matter, the identities of citizens’ matter, and

MOSCOW (AP) _ The International Olympic Committee is waiting for more clarifications from the Russian government on the anti-gay law that is overshadowing preparations for the Winter Games in Sochi, IOC President Jacques Rogge said Friday. The law, signed by President Vladimir Putin in June, bans ``propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations'' and imposes fines on those holding gay pride rallies. It has caused a major international outcry and spawned calls for protests ahead of the Feb. 7-23 O

PAKISTAN (Reuters) - Gunmen in Pakistan fired on the vehicle of a politician driving past worshippers leaving a mosque on a Muslim holiday on Friday, killing nine people and wounding 27 in the city of Quetta, police said. Quetta is the capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan, where several militant groups are active, including the Pakistani Taliban, who claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack that killed 30 people at a policeman's funeral on Thursday. The United States has w

TOKYO (AP)-The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said Tuesday it is struggling with its latest efforts to stop contaminated underground water leaks from running into the sea.Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that some of the water was seeping over or around a ``liquid glass wall'' it has created by injecting chemicals into the soil that solidify into a wall.The latest problem involves underground water which has built up over the last month, since the company started creating the

WASHINGTON (AP) --The U.S. State Department on Tuesday ordered non-essential personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen to leave the country following the threat by al-Qaida that has caused temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Middle East and Africa.The department said in a travel warning that it had ordered the evacuation ``due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks'' and said U.S. citizens in Yemen should leave immediately because of an ``extremely high'' securi

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is not expected to visit the controversial war shrine on the anniversary of the end of World War II, most likely in a bit to avoid further tension with its neighbors South Korea and China.Citing a government source, Kyodo News reported that Abe will not pay homage to Japan's war dead at the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the end of World War II, and also Liberation Day in South Korea.The South Korean government has yet to commentThe shr

About six out of 10 Japanese see the South Korean islets of Dokdo as their territory, a Japanese government survey showed Thursday.In an apparent attempt to reiterate its claim to South Korea's easternmost islets, Japan's Cabinet Office released the findings of its first survey on the Japanese people's thoughts on Dokdo, called Takeshima in Japan.The government polled 3,000 Japanese adults aged 20 or older, and 1,784 responded.According to the survey, 60.7 percent said they view Dokdo as Japanes