JERUSALEM (AP) ― A Palestinian rights group said Monday that half of about 5,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel are on a hunger strike, demanding an end to imprisonment without trial as well as better conditions.Ehteram Ghazawneh of the Palestinian group Addameer said prisoners object to “administrative detention” that incarcerates some of them for months or years without charges.More than 300 Palestinians are held in administrative detention, where an Israeli military court allows impriso

Thousands rally for higher wages at Asia’s May Day marches, Europeans to protest austerityMANILA, Philippines (AP) — May Day moved beyond its roots as an international workers’ holiday to a day of international protest Tuesday, with rallies throughout Asia demanding wage increases and marches planned across Europe over government-imposed austerity measures.Europeans will take to the streets to protest against the measures that are being blamed for a big increase in the number of unemployed, part

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Muslim majorities in an arc of five countries from Egypt to Pakistan have little good to say about al-Qaida one year after American commandos killed the Muslim terror group’s leader, a poll shows.Most of the views expressed by Muslims in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Pakistan were overwhelmingly negative in the poll conducted as part of the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, released Monday.The organization cautioned that findings in Pakistan, where U.S. Navy

YANGON (AFP) ― U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon met Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi Tuesday for talks about the country’s political future after a surprise climbdown by the Nobel laureate in her boycott of parliament.The talks at the opposition leader’s lakeside mansion in Yangon, where she was locked up by the former junta for much of the past two decades, come a day after Ban became the first visiting foreigner to address Myanmar’s legislature.It is the first meeting between Suu Kyi and Ba

U.S. college dropout has turned a mathematics genius after being brutally attacked by a group of street robbers.Jason Padgett, 41, was ambushed outside a karaoke club and repeatedly kicked in head, causing brain damage.But since the attack, Padgett he sees mathematical formulas wherever he looks, turning them into intricate diagrams he can draw by hand.He is the only person who can visually depict infinite pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.Experts say the transformat

Members of a Russian Orthodox organization used holy water to disperse dozens of protesters supporting jailed punk band Pussy Riot in downtown Moscow.Members of the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers dumped holy water on the protesters Sunday at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow while chanting "no Sodom," RIA Novosti reported Monday.The unsanctioned demonstration was in support of members of

An overcrowded river ferry broke in two and sank in northeast India during a severe storm on Monday, leaving at least 105 people dead and almost as many missing, police said.As rescuers struggled in heavy rain to find survivors weeping relatives lined the shores of the fast-flowing Brahmaputra river in Assam state, desperate for news of family members on board the vessel.It was carrying around 350

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Sunday started a visit to the United States aimed at turning the page on an uneasy few years in the alliance, days after a deal on a thorny troop dispute.Noda, who arrived at Andrews Air Force Base for his three-day trip, is the first Japanese premier to visit Washington for a solely bilateral visit since his center-left Democratic Party of Japan took power in 2009 elections.At a White House meeting Monday, Noda is expected to talk to President Barack Ob

On a recent hot and dusty Sunday afternoon, a crumbling neighbourhood in downtown Yangon was heaving with local pop music.In smoky roadside kiosks, young men and women traded giggles over cold beers, while watching a Thai television soap opera.Myanmar is better now. Not like before when you cannot talk about anything, said a young man who wanted to be identified only as Thant Min just before the April 1 by-elections.Outside, street vendors pushed colourful T-shirts printed with the picture of op

An unfolding scandal over an under-age call girl has shaken Singapore's political and economic elite after businessmen, civil servants and uniformed officers were charged in the case.Prostitution is legal in Singapore, but 48 men ranging in age from their early 20s to late 40s have so far been charged under a 2008 law making it a crime to pay for sex with a girl under 18.Singapore has long been pe