ASIA:
MALAYSIA-PLANE
PERTH, Australia — A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing jetliner found a possible plane debris field containing 122 objects, a top Malaysian official says, calling it "the most credible lead that we have." Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the objects were more than 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Australia, near where other satellites previously detected objects. The objects ranged in length from one meter (yard) to 23 meters (25 yards). By Todd Pitman and Rob Griffith. SENT: 1,200 words, photos, video.
MALAYSIA-PLANE-ENDURING MYSTERY
Over an extraordinary 17 days and nights, until the moment Malaysia's prime minister stepped to a lectern to deliver investigators' sobering new findings, the fate of vanished Flight 370 hung on morbid conjecture and fragile hope. Many previous tragedies have transfixed us by revealing their power in cruel detail. But the disappearance of the Beijing-bound Boeing 777 without warning or explanation captivated imaginations around the world in no small part because of the near vacuum of firm information or solid leads. By Adam Heller and Kristen Gelineau. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.
— MALAYSIA-PLANE-RELATIVES — Chinese relatives still skeptical after Malaysia says plane lost at sea. By Didi Tang and Christopher Bodeen. UPCOMING: 800 words by 1300 GMT, photos.
— MALAYSIA-PLANE-SEARCH — A list of the countries taking part in the search for the missing plane and what they have sent to help. SENT: 130 words, photos.
— MALAYSIA-AIRLINE INCIDENT — A plane from a new Malaysian airline is forced to turn back on a domestic flight because one of its engines caught fire. Malindo Air says the plane landed safely and no one was hurt. SENT: 160 words.
— MALAYSIA-PLANE-FILM SHELVED — A disaster movie about a jet that crashes into the ocean on its way to Beijing has been put on hold because of its similarities to the missing Malaysian plane. Arclight Films, the company behind "Deep Water," says pre-production has been halted for the time being. SENT: 320 words.
PAKISTAN
ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani government team is en route to a secret location in the country's northwest for the first-ever direct talks with the Taliban, according to a cleric representing the militants. The negotiations are part of a push by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban that would end a bloody insurgency that has killed thousands of people in recent years. By Munir Ahmed. SENT: 360 words, photos.
KOREAS-TENSIONS
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea test-fires two medium-range ballistic missiles, South Korea and the U.S. say, a defiant challenge to a rare three-way summit of its rivals Seoul, Tokyo and Washington that focused on the North's security threat. By Jung-Yoon Choi and Foster Klug. SENT: 750 words, photos.
CHINA-MICHELLE OBAMA
BEIJING — Michelle Obama ends her weeklong trip to China with a Tibetan theme, having lunch in a Tibetan restaurant, meeting students who presented her with a Tibetan silk scarf and tapping Tibetan prayer wheels. Her staff said the restaurant choice in Chengdu city in southwest Sichuan province, which borders the Tibetan region, was in accordance with the American first lady's interest in the rights of minorities in China. SENT: 210 words, photos.
FRANCE-CHINA
LYON, France — Chinese President Xi Jinping is the toast of France as he embarks on a state visit — and what better time just days after China ended an anti-dumping, anti-subsidy investigation of French wine. By Laurent Cipriani. SENT: 460 words, photos.
CHINA-LAND SEIZURES
BEIJING — A real estate developer and a village official in eastern China directed the arsonists who set a fire in which a farmer burned to death in a tent that he had pitched to guard his land against development, police say. By Louise Watt. SENT: 390 words.
AFGHAN-ELECTIONS
KABUL, Afghanistan — When Afghans select their new president next month, it will largely be up to tens of thousands of Afghan poll watchers to catch signs of ballot box stuffing and other vote-rigging that tarnished Hamid Karzai's re-election five years ago. The international observer mission is far smaller this time, and relentless violence has driven away many foreigners who signed up. By Kim Gamel. SENT: 950 words, photos.
UNITED STATES-ASIA-MILITARY
WASHINGTON — Top U.S. military officers in the Asia-Pacific say budget cuts could hurt the ability of American forces to respond to a security crisis, including on the Korean Peninsula. By Matthew Pennington. SENT: 500 words.
MYANMAR-CENSUS
YANGON, Myanmar — As Myanmar continues its transition from decades of military rule and self-imposed isolation, it is about to carry out a census that experts say is crucial for national planning and development, but also likely to inflame already soaring ethnic and religious tensions. By Aye Aye Win. SENT: 800 words, photos.
UNITED STATES-MYANMAR-ROHINGYA
WASHINGTON — The House Foreign Affairs Committee calls for an end to persecution of Myanmar's minority Rohingya Muslims in one of the strongest U.S. congressional criticisms yet of Myanmar's reformist government. By Matthew Pennington. SENT: 400 words.
BUSINESS AND FINANCE:
PHILIPPINES-BRACING FOR DISASTER
CALAMBA, Philippines — The aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines has added urgency to finding a solution to a longstanding problem: less than 10 percent of farmers have crop insurance, and while its advantages are widely understood, few can afford it. Raymundo dela Vina, an 81-year-old farmer in Laguna province near Manila, likened raising crops to betting in a lottery: you go against so many odds including pests and an average of 20 typhoons that pummel the country each year, flooding small rice paddies like his. The country's 10.8 million farmers are the second poorest industry after fishermen. Many are tenant tillers who share their harvest with land owners and go into debt to pay for seeds, fertilizer and pest control. Crop insurance is the least of priorities when there is often not even enough money for food. By Teresa Cerojano. SENT: 870 words, photos.
WORLD DISASTERS-INSURANCE
GENEVA — A leading Swiss firm says insurance claims paid out because of natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2013 totaled $45 billion globally, much of it due to floods in Europe and Typhoon Haiyan in Asia. Zurich-based Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd., known as Swiss Re, says the tab covered by insurance companies represents only about a third of the $140 billion in economic losses, not to mention 26,000 lives lost, from 308 catastrophes worldwide last year. SENT: 330 words.
U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL:
WEST RESPONSE-RUSSIA
WAREGEM, Belgium — President Barack Obama reaches back 100 years to reinforce the U.S.-European bond, calling for a recommitment to peace Wednesday during a solemn pilgrimage to a World War I cemetery as European tensions run high over Russia's incursion into Ukraine. By Jim Kuhnhenn. SENT: 800 words, photos, video, interactive.
— UKRAINE — Russia accuses Ukraine of forcing Russian airline crews to stay in planes. SENT: 250 words, photos.
— CONGRESS-UKRAINE — Senate on track to pass bill to aid Ukraine, sanction Russia after Democrats remove roadblock. SENT: 790 words.
— OBAMA-WWI — At Flanders Field, Obama pays tribute to fallen troops from World War I, says "we caught the torch." SENT: 140 words.
MUDSLIDE
ARLINGTON, Wash. — With search and cadaver dogs leading the way, rescuers using small bulldozers and their bare hands pushed through sludge strewn with splintered homes and twisted cars to find 10 more bodies in the debris of a Washington state mudslide, authorities say. Despite the grim discoveries as the search entered its fifth day Wednesday — and the likelihood that more bodies will be found — officials were still hoping to find survivors as the death toll will likely rise to at least 24. By Phuong Le and Manuel Valdes. SENT: 650 words, photos, video.
SECRET SERVICE-MISCONDUCT
WASHINGTON — The Secret Service sends three agents home from the Netherlands just before Obama's arrival after one agent was found inebriated in an Amsterdam hotel, the Secret Service says. The incident represents a fresh blemish for an elite agency struggling to rehabilitate its reputation following a high-profile prostitution scandal and other allegations of misconduct. By Josh Lederman. SENT: 530 words, photo.
NSA SURVEILLANCE
WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee three years ago secretly considered — but ultimately rejected — alternate ways for the National Security Agency to collect and store massive amounts of Americans' phone records, The Associated Press has learned. By Eileen Sullivan. SENT: 880 words, photo, interactive.
TEXAS BAY-OIL SPILL
HOUSTON — A century ago one of the nation's busiest ship channels was nothing more than a bayou meandering into the Gulf of Mexico. Today, massive ocean-going vessels carrying thousands of containers and cargo zip in and out of the Houston Ship Channel, where a barge collided with a ship over the weekend, spilling 170,000 of gooey tar-like oil into the waterway. Though the cause of Saturday's crash is still under investigation, the increase in ship congestion highlights what some operators in the channel say is the need for more maintenance, dredging, high-tech navigation systems and other improvements to ensure ships of all sizes can move safely and that collisions don't become more commonplace. By Ramit Plushnick-Masti. SENT: 860 words, photos, video.
GREAT ALASKA EARTHQUAKE
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Electric clocks on walls in Anchorage shut down at 5:36 p.m. on March 27, 1964. Time stopped at the start of the '64 Great Alaska Earthquake, the second largest recorded at magnitude 9.2. The ground shook for four to five minutes, roughly twice through "I Want to Hold Your Hand," the Beatles No. 1 song that year. Some thought the Russians had attacked. The power outage was a blessing: Anchorage water lines had failed. Fires caused by sparking power lines would have burned out of control. The USGS estimates the property loss in Alaska and elsewhere at $2.3 billion in 2013 dollars. By Dan Joling. SENT: 870 words, photos, video.
FACEBOOK-OCULUS
NEW YORK — Facebook is buying virtual reality company Oculus, betting $2 billion that its technology will become a new way for people to communicate, learn or be entertained. By Technology Writers Barbara Ortutay and Ryan Nakashima. SENT: 630 words, photo.
SPACE STATION
MOSCOW — An engine snag delays the arrival of a Russian spacecraft carrying three astronauts, including one American, to the International Space Station until Thursday. NASA and Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, said shortly before the planned docking that the arrival had been delayed after a 24-second engine burn that was necessary to adjust the Soyuz spacecraft's orbiting path "did not occur as planned." By Nataliya Vasilyeva. SENT: 380 words, photos.
GREECE GRAFFITI-PHOTO GALLERY
ATHENS, Greece — The ancient Greeks chiseled their messages, often rude or boastful, into marble. But they would probably be amazed how the illicit art form had evolved in the country's capital all these centuries later. Graffiti covers entire buildings, trains, and is disrespectfully scrawled on the statues of respected ancestors. SENT: 150 words. AP photos by Dimitri Messinis.
CUBA-RODEO-PHOTO GALLERY
HAVANA — Cuba's eight-day international rodeo festival is half party and half a cowboy-skill showcase that would seem right at home in Nevada, Wyoming or anywhere else in the American West. By Peter Orsi. SENT: 390 words, photos. AP photos by Ramon Espinosa.
SOCIAL PAINTING
PHILADELPHIA — The Fox and Hound pub in downtown Philadelphia boasts all the fixings of a standard sports bar: huge TVs, numerous beers on draft and a menu filled with burgers, wings and nachos. So what are all these easels and canvases for? Welcome to Paint Nite, an opportunity to tap your inner van Gogh. Just order a drink, put on a smock and lighten up as a friendly instructor takes you step-by-step through the brush strokes of a landscape, still life or skyline. "Social painting" is seeing explosive growth in cities across the U.S. as people seek to imbibe and relax while rediscovering their creative side. By Kathy Matheson. SENT: 630 words, photos, video.
GETTING ATTENTION
— NAVY FOOTBALL PLAYER DIES — Navy football player Will McKamey, 19, dies in coma three days after collapsing in practice. SENT: 130 words, photo.
— JUDGE JOE BROWN ARRESTED — Ordered to jail for contempt of court, former TV judge Joe Brown challenging charges. SENT: 200 words, photo.
— MISSOURI EXECUTION-FERGUSON — Missouri executes man for 1989 kidnapping, rape, killing of teen; state's fifth execution in five months. SENT: 680 words, photo.
— HAWAII PROSTITUTION-POLICE SEX — Honolulu police officers approve making it expressly illegal to have sex with prostitutes as long as undercover officers can still say they'll have sex so they can make arrests. SENT: 430 words.
— PAUL WALKER CRASH — The investigation of the crash that killed actor Paul Walker shows the Porsche he was riding in was traveling up to 94 mph when it went out of control on a suburban street. SENT: 640 words, photos.
— PEOPLE-GWYNETH PALTROW-CHRIS MARTIN — Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin announce separation after more than 10 years of marriage. SENT: 290 words, photo.
— BURGER KING BABY — A woman who as a baby just a few hours old was abandoned in the bathroom of a Pennsylvania fast-food restaurant says she has found her birth mother. SENT: 550 words.
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YOUR QUERIES: The editor in charge at the AP Asia-Pacific Desk in Bangkok is David Thurber. Questions and story requests are welcome. The news desk can be reached at (66) 2632-6911 or by email at asia@ap.org.
The Asia Photo Desk can be reached at (81-3) 6215-8941 or by fax at (81-3) 3574-8850.
Between 1600 GMT and 0000 GMT, please refer queries to the North America Desk in New York at (1) 212-621-1650.
News Topics: General news, International relations, Violations of environmental law, Legislature, Landslides and mudslides, Accidents and disasters, Government and politics, War and unrest, Lost at sea, Intelligence agencies, Crime, Crop farming, Environmental concerns, Environment, Environment and nature, Natural disasters, Accidents, Agriculture, Industries, BusinessPeople, Places and Companies: Nawaz Sharif, Michelle Obama, Xi Jinping, Hamid Karzai, Barack Obama, Paul Walker, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin, China, United States, Myanmar, Malaysia, Beijing, Chengdu, South Korea, Seoul, Afghanistan, Philippines, Southeast Asia, East Asia, France, Cuba, Russia, Anchorage, Ukraine, Washington, Indian Ocean, Philadelphia, Alaska, Greece, Greater China, Asia, North America, Central Asia, Western Europe, Europe, Caribbean, Latin America and Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Pennsylvania
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