Japan PM postpones trip to India's violence-hit northeast

GAUHATI, India (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday postponed traveling for a summit with India's leader in the violence-wracked northeast, where two people have been killed in ongoing protests over a new law that grants citizenship based on religion and excludes Muslims. Nearly 10,000...

Police kill 2 protesters defying curfew in Indian state

GAUHATI, India (AP) — Police shot and killed two protesters who defied a curfew and arrested dozens of others Thursday in India's northeastern Assam state, where thousands protested against legislation that would grant citizenship to non-Muslims who migrated from neighboring countries. Hundreds of...

India's Parliament passes contentious citizenship bill

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian lawmakers approved legislation granting citizenship to non-Muslims who migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, even though critics said it undermines the country's secular constitution. The Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to grant Indian nationality to Buddhists,...

Indian lawmakers pass bill giving citizenship to non-Muslims who migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan

Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea

BEIJING (AP) — A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple territorial disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons. The waters are a major shipping route for global commerce and are rich in fish and possible oil and gas reserves. ...

Devastating factory fire kills at least 43 in Indian capital

NEW DELHI (AP) — A fire believed to be caused by an electrical short circuit engulfed a building in India's capital on Sunday where handbags and other items were made by workers earning as little as 2 dollars per day, killing at least 43 people. The blaze in New Delhi's Karol Bagh neighborhood, a warren of...

Thousands protest Indian citizenship bill excluding Muslims

GAUHATI, India (AP) — More than 1,000 students marched Friday in India’s northeast against a bill approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from India's three Muslim-majority neighbors. The marchers took to the streets of Gauhati, the...

India's Muslims split in response to Hindu temple verdict

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s largest Muslim political groups are divided over how to respond to a Supreme Court ruling that favors Hindus’ right to a disputed site 27 years after Hindu nationalist mobs tore down a 16th century mosque, an event that unleashed torrents of religious-motivated...

Maldives wants to restructure debt to China

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The Maldives foreign minister says his country needs to restructure its massive debt to China, which he says has put the Indian ocean archipelago in a difficult situation. Abdulla Shahid said the country's Chinese debt currently totals about $1.4 billion. He told reporters in...

Former Indian finance minister protests economic policies

NEW DELHI (AP) — A former Indian finance minister just released on bail in a bribery case joined a protest Thursday of the government’s economic policies, which are being blamed for India’s slowest economic growth in six years. Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the lower growth rate...