Tokyo mega-quake would kill over 9,000: simulation

TOKYO (AFP) - More than 9,600 people would die with nearly 150,000 injured if a mega-quake struck Tokyo, a disaster that would also level large parts of the Japanese capital, a government projection said Wednesday.The frightening simulation was released by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as Japan slowly rebuilds its northeast coast, which was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 quake in March last yea

April 18, 2012

India to test nuclear missile that can hit Beijing

NEW DELHI (AP) _ India is planning to test launch a new nuclear missile that for the first time would give it the capability of hitting the major Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai.The government has hailed the Agni-V missile, with a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), as a major boost to its efforts to counter China's regional dominance and become an Asia power in its own right. The test

April 18, 2012

Pippa Middleton‘s racy party photos cause a stir

LONDON (AP) -- The Parisian costume party featured a man in a dog collar, a dwarf, a nearly naked nun -- and a rather well known guest named Pippa Middleton, younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge.Middleton, 28, was in the headlines Tuesday, with photographs of her appearance at a friend‘s decadent birthday party splashed across the Daily Mail tabloid.The pictures are striking: women in revealing, low-cut period costumes from the 18th-century playacting with men in fancy clothes and spiky le

April 18, 2012

Palestinian prisoners begin hunger strike

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) ― At least 1,200 Palestinian inmates of Israeli jails began an open-ended hunger strike on Tuesday as thousands of people rallied across the occupied territories for Prisoners’ Day.As crowds gathered in towns and cities across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, three-quarters of the 4,700 Palestinians held by Israel began refusing food, said the Israel Prisons Service.Of that number, 2,300 men said they would refuse food throughout the day, while another 1,

April 18, 2012

20 women involved in U.S. Secret Service scandal: senator

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― About 20 women were brought to the hotel in Colombia where Secret Service agents were accused of inviting prostitutes back to their rooms, a U.S. lawmaker said Tuesday after being briefed on the widening scandal.The security breach ahead of last weekend’s Summit of the Americas attended by President Barack Obama is “potentially extremely serious,” Senator Susan Collins, ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said after being briefed by

April 18, 2012

Norway killer expounds on fanatical views at trial

OSLO (AP) ― In a scene unimaginable in many countries, Norway’s worst mass killer got the chance to explain his fanatical views to the court and the world, unrepentant and dressed in a business suit. Prosecutors and lawyers for the families of his 77 victims even shook his hand.Two days into Anders Behring Breivik’s terror trial, the way Norway’s legal system deals with a confessed killer who rejects its authority is baffling ― even to some Norwegians.The 33-year-old far-right militant gave a ra

April 18, 2012

Top Republicans in U.S. Congress back Romney

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― They didn’t come with a flourish or in a much-plugged TV appearance, but endorsements by the top two Republicans in the U.S. Congress finally arrived Tuesday for Mitt Romney, the party’s all-but-certain nominee.Sensing the inevitability of a Romney victory in the battle to see which Republican squares off against President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner ended his neutrality, saying he’d be “proud” to help him win the November election.“It’s clear now Mitt Romney is g

April 18, 2012

U.S. eases Myanmar restrictions for NGOs

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States on Tuesday eased financial restrictions to allow U.S.-based non-governmental groups to operate in Myanmar, putting into place an incentive to encourage democratic reforms.The Treasury Department said that it would no longer bar financial transactions in the country formerly known as Burma if the money is going toward projects that “meet basic human needs” or promote democracy.Such projects include assistance to internally displaced people, English-language sc

April 18, 2012

Police handcuff US 6-year-old for tantrum

A 6-year-old who threw a tantrum at her U.S. school was taken away in handcuffs, firing up a debate over whether teachers and police are overreacting with disruptive students.Salecia Johnson's family lashed out Tuesday over her treatment and said she was badly shaken, while the school system and the police defended their handling of the incident.Civil rights advocates and criminal justice experts

April 18, 2012

China says committed to probing political scandal

China's ruling Communist Party said Wednesday that it is committed to investigating a political scandal that includes the suspected murder of a British businessman, following new appeals from Britain for a swift probe free from political meddling.The statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency came hours after Prime Minister David Cameron and British Foreign Secretary William Hague both h

April 18, 2012

Mother shot dead, newborn taken in Texas

A newborn boy was abducted from his screaming mother after she was repeatedly shot outside a Texas medical center Tuesday, and the suspected shooter sped off with the infant in a blood-stained Lexus, investigators said.Montgomery County sheriff's officials said the mother, 28-year-old Kayla Marie Golden, was killed.Golden was walking to her truck after a checkup with her 3-day-old son, Keegan, whe

April 18, 2012

Police arrest 'Facebook fugitive’

A Washington State fugitive who described his escape from police on Facebook is now in custody. In the end, Travis Nicolaysen decided to go quietly. Port Angeles police surrounded a house there Monday after getting a tip he was in the basement, the Peninsula Daily News reported. "He basically came up from the basement and surrendered," Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said.Nicolaysen's Facebook pos

April 18, 2012

Italian museum starts burning artworks in anti-cuts protest

An Italian museum on Tuesday began burning its collection of contemporary artworks in a singular protest against harsh budget cuts that have left many cultural institutions out of pocket.The Casoria Contemporary Art Museum near Naples held a bonfire in its grounds for the first torching of a painting by French artist Severine Bourguignon, who was in favour of the protest and followed it on Skype.M

April 18, 2012