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Schools Close as Spike in Swine Flu Cases Hits Japan

In a sudden surge that took Asian health officials by surprise, the Japanese health ministry confirmed on Monday at least 125 new cases of the A virus — or swine flu — in the country’s western prefectures of Osaka and Hyogo. Officials have shut down around 1,000 schools since many of the infected were high-school students. Japan, along with the United Kingdom and Spain, is now one of the few countries outside of North America where the World Health Organization fears sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus could lead to the onset of a full-blown pandemic

Indian PM prepares to reclaim power with resounding mandate

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is set to reclaim a second term with a resounding mandate for his Congress party.

2-Min. Bio: Tamil Tiger Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran

For more than a quarter-century, the Tamil Tigers have waged a guerilla war against the Sri Lankan government in their attempt to establish an independent state — which they call Eelam — for minority Hindu Tamils in the north and east of the island nation.

India elections: Facts behind world’s biggest vote

Indians are voting in their tens of millions in a monthlong general election that creates huge logistical issues in the world’s largest democracy. The first round of polling was held on April 16. There are a further five voting phases before the final count is due on May 16

Ruling party surges ahead in India election

The party of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was surging ahead in its bid for re-election as a major opposition party conceded defeat during vote count Saturday. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was leading in 252 of the 543 federal parliamentary boroughs by early afternoon. Congress workers were quick to assemble at the residence of Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, who heads the party, to celebrate with drumbeats and fireworks

The Five Big Players Emerging From India’s Election

The world’s largest electorate has spoken, although figuring out just what it said may still take a few days. India on Wednesday wrapped up its five-week election process, in which 428 million people cast their votes.

Police testify against Mumbai shooting suspect

A handful of policemen armed only with bamboo sticks overpowered a suspected gunman in last November’s terrorist attacks on India’s largest city, prosecutors said Tuesday in the trial of the sole surviving suspect. Prosecution witnesses testified that the suspect, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, shot and killed Assistant Police Inspector Tukaram Omble, who had intercepted Kasab’s car during the four-day siege in Mumbai, according to special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. Even though officers were not carrying firearms, they were able to subdue Kasab, Nikam told CNN

Official: More than 1M child prostitutes in India

Around 1.2 million children are believed to be involved in prostitution in India, the country’s federal police said Monday. After weeks of competition, the 75-year-old dynamo beat out 15 other contestants, including Dennis Rodman, Tom Green and Brian McKnight, to take the top spot in this season’s edition of the reality show hosted by Donald Trump. Rivers went up against poker champion Annie Duke in Sunday night’s finale in which both women were charged with planning a VIP party and silent auction for the last and deciding task.

Out of India: First the $2,000 Nano Car, Now the $7,800 Nano Home

India’s giant Tata conglomerate, whose subsidiary Tata Motors just successfully launched the $2,000 Nano, the world’s cheapest car, is ready for an encore: ultra-cheap homes. Tata Housing Development, the real estate arm of the giant Tata group, is poised to start building apartment-style homes priced from $7,800 to $13,400 in a township being planned at Bhoisar, an industrial suburb located 31 miles north of Mumbai. Like the Nano, which was designed to bring some middle-class comforts to the masses, the homes are geared for the hundreds of millions of Indians making less than $5,000 a year who are unable to afford decent dwellings

British man loses right to Hindu cremation

A Hindu man in Britain lost his court battle Friday for the legal right to be cremated in a traditional Hindu open-air funeral pyre. Davender Ghai, 70, a world-renowned charity advocate in Britain, argued the practice is already legal under British law, but he sought clarification in order to hold such cremations in the future. Ghai tested the law in 2006 when he lit the funeral pyre of a man in the northern English county of Northumberland.