Spartan Echo

  MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two people died early Friday, June 14,  after their ferry sank in Philippine waters, but 54 passengers and crew were saved when rescuers pulled them to safety. The ferry was going from Albay province in the center of the Philippines to the nearby province of Masbate when it sank. Coast [...]

  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns into a convoy carrying goods to the Afghan capital on Monday, June 17,  killing three drivers and wounding two others, an official said. Two of the container trucks caught fire and burned from the grenade blasts at about 2:30 a.m. on the [...]

  LONDON (AP) — A newspaper report that British eavesdropping agency GCHQ repeatedly hacked into foreign diplomats’ phones and emails has prompted an angry response from traditional rival Russia and provoked demands for an investigation from Turkey and South Africa. Although spying on diplomats is as old as diplomacy itself, the Guardian’s report laid out [...]

  TEKANI, Bangladesh (AP) — Moushumi’s family now has one of the largest homes in their village — two bedrooms plus a living area with walls made of sturdy brick. Her father and brother will soon have a small business out front, selling furniture her dad will make. There will be money to pay for [...]

    BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police found 14 albino lions imported from Africa and hundreds of other protected animals in a warehouse near Bangkok and have arrested a pet shop owner. Birds, meerkats, tortoises, peafowls, capuchin monkeys and other species from overseas and Thailand were found at the warehouse, police Col. Ek Ekasart said. [...]

  WASHINGTON (AP) — After years of gridlock, this may be the moment when Congress at last does something about the millions of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. All eyes are on a more than 1,000-page Senate proposal with the you-said-a-mouthful title of the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013.” [...]

  BEIJING (AP) — In the capital of tropical Laos, two dozen students who see their future in trade ties with neighboring China spent their school year attending Mandarin classes in a no-frills, rented room. It’s the start of China’s first, and almost certainly not its last, university campus abroad. “There are a lot of [...]

    KOLKATA, India (AP) — Police said Wednesday, June 5, they have arrested a man accused of raping an Irish woman who volunteered at a children’s charity in the Indian city of Kolkata. The suspect, a local businessman, had attended a party the woman hosted to celebrate her 21st birthday on Friday, said a police [...]

    SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) — A 19-year-old seamstress who survived for 17 days in the rubble of a collapsed garment factory building left the hospital Thursday, May 30, with a new job at an international hotel chain. Reshma Begum had vowed never again to work in a garment factory after she was rescued from the [...]

    JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Miss World has axed the famed bikinis from this year’s pageant in Indonesia, replacing the skimpy swimsuits with conservative beach sarongs amid mounting protests from hard-line Muslim groups, organizers said Thursday. All of the more than 130 contestants will be required to wear Bali’s traditional long sarongs instead of [...]

  PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone strike killed the No. 2 commander of the Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday, May 29,  Pakistani intelligence officials said, although the militant group denied he was dead. If confirmed, the death of Waliur Rehman would be a strong blow to the militant group responsible for hundreds of [...]