SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Key North Korean websites were back online Tuesday after a nearly 10-hour shutdown that followed a U.S. vow to respond to a crippling cyberattack on Sony Pictures that Washington blames on Pyongyang. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the Internet stoppage in one of the least-wired and poorest countries in the world, but outside experts said it could be anything from a cyberattack to a simple power failure. The White House and the State Department declined to say whether the U.S. government was responsible.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An hours-long Internet outage Tuesday in one of the world's least-wired countries was probably more inconvenient to foreigners than to North Korean residents, most of whom have never gone online. Even for wired Koreans south of the heavily armed border separating the rivals, the temporary outage made little difference — southerners are banned by law from accessing North Korean websites. While North Korea tightly controls its citizens' activities, especially their access to information on the outside world, it does have a cyberspace. Here's a look at North Korea's unique broadband and mobile Internet, the country's use of email and its tightly controlled use of a domestic Intranet.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — When a powerful tsunami smashed into this Indonesian city 10 years ago, the only structures left standing in many neighborhoods were mosques. For the hundreds who found refuge within their walls, the buildings' lifesaving role has not been forgotten — and for many, that experience strengthened their faith. Architectural experts say the mosques in Banda Aceh survived because they were sturdily built and had stronger foundations than surrounding structures, many of which were likely constructed of shoddier materials.
Friday marks the 10th anniversary of one of the deadliest natural disasters in world history: a tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake off the Indonesian coast, leaving more than 230,000 people dead in 14 countries and causing about $10 billion in damage. Countries from Indonesia to India to Africa's east coast were hit, leaving shocking scenes of death and destruction. Here is a gallery of images from the tsunami taken by photographers from The Associated Press:
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Villagers refusing to leave their homes for the expansion of a Chinese-backed copper mine in northwestern Myanmar remained in a tense standoff with security forces for a second straight day Tuesday, with two reported wounded. The confrontation, which left one woman dead Monday when guards and police fired at the protesting villagers, is the latest in a string of land disputes since a nominally civilian government was elected in 2011 and accelerated opening up the economy to foreign investors.
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — India's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party emerged Tuesday as an important political player in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, with vote counting in local elections showing that it made heavy gains in the regional legislature. The party had led an ambitious campaign aiming for a majority in India's only Muslim-majority state, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting and addressing rallies four times.
SYDNEY (AP) — Two victims of a deadly siege in Sydney were remembered Tuesday at private memorial services, one week after a gunman took them hostage inside a downtown cafe. The memorial for Tori Johnson was held at a church just around the corner from the Lindt Chocolat Cafe, where he and 17 others were taken hostage on Dec. 15 by a shotgun-wielding Man Haron Monis, a 50-year-old Iranian-born, self-styled cleric with a long criminal history.
In this photo by Aaron Favila, Filipino workers cook pigs at a roasting pit in suburban Quezon City outside Manila on Tuesday. Roasted pig is popular during celebrations in the Philippines and is traditionally served during a Christmas Eve dinner called "Noche Buena" in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. The traditional dinner is usually served after the midnight Mass.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least 151 Taliban fighters have been killed by government forces during 12 days of fighting in the volatile east, near the border with Pakistan, the police chief of Kunar province said Tuesday. Gen. Abdul Habib Sayedkhaili said at least another 100 insurgents were wounded in the fighting in Dangam district.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised Tuesday to reform his country's powerful presidency as part of a new constitution that he intends to introduce if he is elected to a third term next month. Rajapaksa's promise in his policy statement comes in response to increasing public support for his main challenger in the Jan. 8 election, Maithripala Sirisena, whose campaign has centered on democratic reforms, including heavily reducing presidential powers and strengthening Parliament.
SEINT PAING, Myanmar (AP) — Of all the moments to chase a dream, May Aye Nwe chose the morning of Dec. 26, 2004. A child of rural Myanmar, she boarded a small boat seeking a better life in Thailand, just as the Indian Ocean tsunami raced in.
Some 230,000 people were killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami set off by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004. A dozen countries were hit, from Indonesia to India to Africa's east coast. Scores of Associated Press journalists covered the disaster, and as the 10th anniversary approached, the AP asked 10 of them to describe the images that have stuck with them the most. This is the seventh of their stories, which are being published daily through Dec. 26. ___
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council took up the issue of North Korea's bleak human rights situation for the first time Monday, a groundbreaking step toward possibly holding the nuclear-armed but desperately poor country and leader Kim Jong Un accountable for alleged crimes against humanity. North Korea quickly denounced the move. The meeting appeared to be the first time that any country's human rights situation has been scheduled for ongoing debate by the U.N.'s most powerful body, meaning that the issue now can be brought up at any time. It also came amid U.S. accusations that North Korea was behind a devastating hacking attack.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Tuesday sentenced a former Cabinet member to death after convicting him of collaborating with the Pakistani army to help carry out several killings of civilians during Bangladesh's 1971 independence war. Judge Obaidul Hasan announced the verdict against 73-year-old Syed Mohammed Kaiser in a packed courtroom in Dhaka.
HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court sentenced a billionaire property developer Tuesday to five years in prison for corruption after a high-profile trial that galvanized public anger over the city's elite. High Court Justice Andrew Macrae sentenced Thomas Kwok after a jury found him guilty last week of conspiracy for making HK$8.5 million ($1.1 million) in payments to city official Rafael Hui. Macrae also fined Kwok HK$500,000 ($64,000).
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