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China OKs 4 foreign rescue teams for quake zone
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5.15.2008 : 11:58 pm
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BEIJING -- After days of refusing foreign relief workers, China has accepted offers from four countries to send in rescue teams. Hours after saying it will accept a Japanese rescue team, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement early Friday that specialist crews from Russia, South Korea, and Singapore would be welcome as well.
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Myanmar junta warns against hoarding cyclone aid
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5.15.2008 : 11:46 pm
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YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar's junta warned Thursday it will punish anyone found hoarding or trading foreign aid meant for cyclone survivors, but relief groups said they had seen no evidence of people selling or stockpiling donated goods.
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China: Quake death toll could reach 50,000
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5.15.2008 : 11:37 pm
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LUOSHUI TOWN, China -- Troops dug burial pits in this quake-shattered town and black smoke poured from crematorium chimneys elsewhere in central China as priorities began shifting Thursday from the hunt for survivors to dealing with the dead. Officials said the final toll could more than double to 50,000.
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Iraqi forces mount al-Qaida hunt in Mosul
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5.15.2008 : 5:54 pm
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BAGHDAD -- U.S. and Iraqi troops moved against al-Qaida on two separate fronts Thursday, with house-to-house searches in Mosul and an operation in the desert to stanch the flow of insurgents and weapons to that northern city.
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After disasters and death tolls, world moves on
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5.15.2008 : 4:47 pm
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NEW DELHI -- Long after the waves had ripped through her life with the force of a jet, long after the rubble had been cleared away, the woman sat in her half-built house and talked about what had become of her family, her village, her idea of community.
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Survivors from apartment building recount quake
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5.15.2008 : 4:37 pm
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DUJIANGYAN, China -- Tang Xiaomin had just left her fourth-floor apartment to buy groceries when the building started crumbling around her. An upstairs neighbor was thrown against the kitchen table and grabbed her purse before rushing out. Another resident, who was expecting a baby, was resting and became trapped.
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UN hopes to send top aid coordinator to Myanmar
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5.15.2008 : 4:14 pm
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UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations wants to send its top emergency relief coordinator to Myanmar -- if he can get a visa from the ruling military junta.
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Long wait for medical care after China quake
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5.15.2008 : 3:41 pm
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DEYANG, China -- After 11-year-old Zhang Jiazhi crawled free of the rubble that remained of his middle school, his parents began a 20-hour ordeal to get medical care for their son, whose arms were crushed to a pulp.
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Indonesia hands over bird flu data to new database
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5.15.2008 : 2:54 pm
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JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia announced Thursday it would start sharing all information about its bird flu cases with a new global database to monitor whether the disease is mutating into a dangerous pandemic strain.
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US pushes for helicopters to ferry Myanmar relief
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5.15.2008 : 1:46 pm
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BANGKOK, Thailand -- The door is open. But just a crack. Myanmar's isolationist ruling junta is now allowing U.S. military cargo planes to regularly fly relief supplies into their largest city to provide aid to cyclone survivors.
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UN official says foreign agents are killing Afghans
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5.15.2008 : 1:43 pm
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- Foreign intelligence agents are leading secret, deadly raids on suspected insurgents in Afghanistan and shirking responsibility when innocent civilians are killed, a U.N. official alleged Thursday.
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Local heroes step in to help cyclone victims
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5.15.2008 : 1:36 pm
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YANGON, Myanmar -- From shopkeepers handing out free rice porridge to medical students caring for the sick, ordinary people in Myanmar are stepping in to help cyclone victims as the military regime severely restricts international aid.
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Incoming president of Taiwan doubts China unification
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5.15.2008 : 1:32 pm
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TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's president-elect said Thursday that unification with China is unlikely "in our lifetimes," but pledged to reach out to the longtime rival while maintaining good relations with the United States.
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Top Taliban leader vows revenge on America
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5.15.2008 : 1:01 pm
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KHAR, Pakistan -- A top Taliban leader vowed Thursday to target the U.S. after an alleged missile strike killed several people in northwest Pakistan, a threat that could undermine the new government's efforts to negotiate peace deals with militants.
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Militant group claims it was behind India bombing
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5.15.2008 : 10:56 am
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JAIPUR, India -- A previously unknown Islamic militant group claimed Thursday to have used explosive-laden bicycles to plant bombs that tore through this historic Indian city, warning in an e-mail of more attacks on popular tourists sites.(AP) --
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UN: Most schools ravaged in Myanmar's cyclone zone
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5.15.2008 : 10:02 am
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BANGKOK, Thailand -- Children in Myanmar may be forced to attend school in relief camps and tents because 85 percent of the educational buildings have been destroyed or damaged in a cyclone-ravaged region, the U.N. said Wednesday.
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Video shows China earthquake's first moments
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5.15.2008 : 8:58 am
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CHENGDU, China -- The moment that a devastating earthquake struck central China, the hills surrounding the city of Chengdu shook, people ran outside in confused panic, and a thick, white cloud of dust enveloped a mountain reserve.
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UN: Foreign agents behind spate of Afghan killings
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5.15.2008 : 7:17 am
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.N. rights official alleged Thursday that foreign intelligence agents were acting with impunity in Afghanistan and have taken part in secret raids that have killed civilians.
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India: 2 die after being pushed off bus
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5.15.2008 : 6:55 am
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BHUBANESHWAR, India -- A poor Indian worker and his 4-year-old daughter were crushed to death by a bus after the conductor pushed them off for not having the fare for the journey, police said Thursday.
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Suspected rebels kill 11 in northeastern India
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5.15.2008 : 6:54 am
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GAUHATI, India -- Suspected rebels gunned down 11 people in two attacks in remote northeastern India on Thursday, officials said. The rebels allegedly stopped four cement company trucks and shot 10 employees in the vehicles before setting the trucks on fire, said Assam state police official D.K. Pathak.
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South Korea will aid North on food 'if asked'
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5.15.2008 : 6:45 am
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SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's foreign minister said Thursday his government is willing to talk with North Korea about food aid to the communist country.
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Earthquake in China struck in 2 stages
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5.15.2008 : 6:35 am
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TOKYO -- The fault line that caused this week's devastating earthquake in China probably buckled in two stages, and the hardness of the terrain contributed to the wide reach of the damage, Japanese scientists said Thursday.
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Dalai Lama arrives for 5-day visit to Germany
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5.15.2008 : 6:11 am
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FRANKFURT, Germany -- The Dalai Lama arrived Thursday for a five-day tour of Germany, where his last visit sent German-Chinese relations into a spiral.
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Myanmar says military-backed constitution approved
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5.15.2008 : 5:31 am
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YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar announced Thursday that a constitution won massive support in a referendum -- a claim slammed by a leading rights group as an insult to the country's people.
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Chinese wonder if animals can predict earthquakes
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5.15.2008 : 4:42 am
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BEIJING -- First, the water level in a pond inexplicably plunged. Then, thousands of toads appeared on streets in a nearby province. Finally, just hours before China's worst earthquake in three decades, animals at a local zoo began acting strangely.
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China: Troops rush to plug dam cracks
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5.14.2008 : 6:10 pm
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DUJIANGYAN, China -- Hundreds of dams around the epicenter of China's earthquake have been damaged and Chinese troops scrambled Wednesday to plug cracks and open sluices to prevent flooding of already devastated communities.
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China media unusually aggressive in covering quake
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5.14.2008 : 4:30 pm
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BEIJING -- Bodies buried under mounds of rubble, bloodied survivors pulled from debris, weeping family members begging for information -- the stark images are blanketing Chinese newspapers and television broadcasts.
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China quake shows flaws in building boom
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5.14.2008 : 4:26 pm
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DUJIANGYAN, China -- Modern apartment buildings and schools crumbled, smoothly paved highways buckled and bridges collapsed -- their flimsy construction no match for the awesome forces of nature.
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Chinese grapple with homelessness after quake
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5.14.2008 : 4:09 pm
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DUJIANGYAN, China -- Li Ande ran a convenience shop, a solidly middle-class citizen in this quiet tourist town, until the earthquake pulverized his store and his home. Two days on, he's squatting under a tarp with seven members of his extended family.
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Pakistan swaps prisoners with Taliban militants
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5.14.2008 : 1:00 pm
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani authorities and Taliban militants exchanged dozens of prisoners Wednesday, officials said in the latest breakthrough in a peace process that is stirring growing alarm in the West.
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Marines stay in Afghan town after Taliban influx
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5.14.2008 : 12:46 pm
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GARMSER, Afghanistan -- U.S. Marines who once planned to be in this southern Afghan town for just a few days are extending their mission by several weeks after facing an influx of Taliban fighters.
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Pregnant woman rescued from quake rubble in China
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5.14.2008 : 10:18 am
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DUJIANGYAN, China -- A Chinese woman -- eight months pregnant -- was pulled to safety Wednesday after spending 50 hours trapped under earthquake rubble, setting off celebrations among beleaguered rescuers.
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UN: Myanmar at risk for prolonged food shortages
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5.14.2008 : 7:37 am
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BANGKOK, Thailand -- The U.N. food agency says cyclone-battered Myanmar faces prolonged food shortages if farmers are not able to return to their fields in the next 90 days.
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India army says Pakistan fires across frontier
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5.14.2008 : 7:13 am
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SRINAGAR, India -- Pakistani troops fired at an Indian army post Wednesday across the heavily guarded frontier dividing Kashmir between the two South Asian rivals in a rare violation of the cease-fire, the Indian military said.
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Bangladesh editors call for free press
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5.14.2008 : 7:11 am
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DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Senior editors and journalists from more than a dozen leading Bangladesh newspapers and television stations have demanded an end to the country's state of emergency and called for greater press freedom.
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Afghanistan seeks $50 billion in aid
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5.14.2008 : 5:39 am
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan will ask international donors next month for $50 billion to fund a five-year development plan, a presidential aide said, despite growing criticism that aid money is being wasted.
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Different responses to disasters in Myanmar, China
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5.14.2008 : 5:38 am
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UNITED NATIONS -- Two natural disasters in tightly controlled Asian nations this month have produced two very different responses: Myanmar's very slow reaction to Cyclone Nargis and China's speedy response to a killer earthquake.
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Families wait for news of quake victims in China
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5.14.2008 : 4:30 am
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DUJIANGYAN, China -- Li Zhenhua sank to her knees in front of the police officers blocking one of the few roads leading to the earthquake's epicenter.
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Vietnam media decry reporters' arrests
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5.14.2008 : 3:10 am
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HANOI, Vietnam -- The arrests of two Vietnamese reporters for their coverage of a bribery, gambling and corruption scandal have led to a highly unusual confrontation between Vietnam's Communist government and the country's state-controlled newspapers.
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Malaysia considers teaching sex to graduates
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5.14.2008 : 2:58 am
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's government is worried that high school graduates may not know enough about sex. Authorities in the conservative, Muslim-majority nation are considering teaching sex education to teenagers when they undergo national service after leaving school, Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil, director general of the National Service Department, said Wednesday.
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Train collision in Bangladesh kills 8
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5.14.2008 : 1:50 am
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DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Two trains collided Wednesday in eastern Bangladesh, killing at least eight people, a railway official said. Bangladesh Railway spokesman Shafiqul Alam Khan said an additional 16 people were injured in the morning accident in Brahmmanbaria district, 50 miles east of the capital, Dhaka.
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Aid agencies see China coping with quake, focus on Myanmar
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5.13.2008 : 9:26 pm
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GENEVA -- International aid agencies are standing ready to help China recover from its massive earthquake, but the Chinese appear to have operations well in hand, officials said Tuesday.
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AP editors on the challenges of disaster reporting
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5.13.2008 : 5:17 pm
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Spending hours in a gas station line. Filing a story by text message, a few words at a time. Arriving in unfamiliar territory to report on a fast-moving story.
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China's panda preserves reported safe
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5.13.2008 : 4:23 pm
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CHENGDU, China -- All the pandas at the world's most famous panda preserve were reported safe late Tuesday, more than a day after China's worst earthquake in three decades closed off the remote, mountainous area.
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US couple helps Myanmar cyclone victims
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5.13.2008 : 4:21 pm
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BANGKOK, Thailand -- As frustrated foreign aid workers plead to enter Myanmar, one American couple is already ferrying supplies to cyclone victims. Curt and Cathy Bradner, who have been working on a water treatment project in Myanmar for two years, have secured the military regime's trust -- and that has paid off with visas allowing them to come and go as they please.
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China moves quickly to deal with quake
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5.13.2008 : 3:49 pm
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BEIJING -- Within 24 hours of China's deadly quake, some 20,000 troops converged on the disaster area to help dig out the dead and injured, and military planes and trucks ferried in another 30,000 reinforcements.
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Trapped students had little time to escape quake
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5.13.2008 : 2:22 pm
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JUYUAN, China -- The high school students were settling in to afternoon arts and humanities classes when the massive quake struck. The school collapsed so rapidly -- one floor "pancaking" atop another -- that there was practically no time to escape.
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Party moves to quit Pakistan Cabinet
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5.13.2008 : 7:06 am
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Ministers from the party of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif submitted their resignations from Pakistan's Cabinet on Tuesday, shaking the fragile coalition government that took power just six weeks ago.
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Bhutto's husband cleared of smuggling artifacts
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5.13.2008 : 6:50 am
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KARACHI, Pakistan -- A lawyer says a Pakistani court has cleared the widower of slain ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of charges of smuggling artifacts.
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Dalai Lama prays for China earthquake victims
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5.13.2008 : 6:49 am
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DHARMSALA, India -- The Dalai Lama offered his condolences and prayers Tuesday for the victims of the massive earthquake that hit central China, killing some 12,000 people.
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Dozens die in Bangladesh ferry sinking during storm
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5.13.2008 : 5:58 am
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KISHOREGANJ, Bangladesh -- A crowded ferry sank during a tropical storm in northern Bangladesh, killing at least 42 people and leaving more than 40 missing, officials said Tuesday.
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Japan lower house OKs space defense bill
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5.13.2008 : 5:57 am
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TOKYO -- Japan's powerful lower house of parliament voted Tuesday to allow the country's space programs to be used for national defense, the latest move by Tokyo to give more freedom to the tightly controlled military.
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12 militants killed in southern Afghanistan
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5.13.2008 : 5:39 am
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- U.S.-led coalition forces called in airstrikes against the Taliban, killing a dozen militants during fighting in southern Afghanistan that has displaced many families, officials said Tuesday.
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Dangers of reporting on Myanmar's cyclone
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5.13.2008 : 4:17 am
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BANGKOK, Thailand -- "I can't talk now, I think I'm in danger," a reporter in Myanmar whispered into the phone. Click. Phones are tapped and the few foreign journalists inside Myanmar are operating in secret, making it dangerous and difficult to tell the story of the cyclone that has devastated the Southeast Asian country.
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Some of the world's deadliest natural disasters
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5.12.2008 : 11:44 pm
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A look at some of the deadliest natural disasters around the world in the past 40 years: -- May 2008: Earthquake (magnitude 7.9) hits Sichuan province in central China. Thousands are killed.
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