SRINAGAR, India – The capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir is seething with rage.

Over the past month, crowds of young men demanding independence from India have held mass protests and pounded police with stones. Authorities hit back with rolling curfews, large-scale arrests and a rare deployment by the army into the streets of Srinagar.

The violence, which has killed 15 protesters and bystanders, set a tense backdrop for a meeting Thursday between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed neighbors that fought two wars over the divided Himalayan region and have been unable to reach agreement over its future.

Hopes for the talks were further clouded after the top official in Pakistan-held Kashmir called on thousands of members of banned militant groups Tuesday to drive India out of all of Kashmir.

Those inside Kashmir say they have run out of patience waiting for the two countries — who each claim the entire region as its own — to get their peace efforts back on track after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Now, they are taking matters into their own hands.

“People have lost faith,” separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said from his home in Srinagar, where authorities are keeping him under house arrest after he led several street marches. “The constituency of peace is shrinking day by day.”

Read the whole hot breaking news

http://www.dccomics.com

BOGOTA, Colombia – After he was captured by leftist rebels, Luis Mendieta’s status in Colombia’s police force suddenly became his curse. The rebels’ military chief told the lieutenant colonel — his highest-ranking hostage — that he would be the last captive freed.

But over 12 years, Mendieta never lost hope, he told The Associated Press in an interview this week — not through forced jungle marches and bouts of malaria, not while tethered by chains to other captives, not even when he was so weak he had to crawl to the latrine.

During that time, he had a unique perspective as Colombia’s once bedraggled military transformed itself into a formidable, professional force, and morale sank among his mostly youthful guerrilla guards of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Until finally, rescue actually seemed possible.

“We would look into the jungle, expecting at any moment for someone to emerge,” Mendieta laughed.

Read the whole hot breaking news

TOKYO – Japan’s ruling Democrats lost seats in a parliamentary election Sunday, according to media exit polls, dealing a setback to the progressive party’s 10-month-old government.

The projected losses were worse than expected and could make it difficult for Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s party to pass bills and forge ahead with plans to slash wasteful government spending, rein in the power of bureaucrats and put more cash in the hands of consumers.

Public broadcaster NHK predicted the Democrats won fewer than 50 contested seats in the upper house election, down from 54 before the vote. Other TV stations say the party likely won 47 to 48 seats.

Official results are not expected until Monday.

But if the projections are correct, the Democrats will lose their 122-seat majority with their tiny coalition partner in the 242-seat upper house. The election, in which half the seats in the upper chamber were up for grabs, won’t directly affect the Democrats’ grip on power because they control the more powerful lower house of parliament.

Read the whole hot breaking news

PANAMA CITY – Panamanian officials say a second banana plantation worker has been killed in clashes with police.

Cabinet chief Jimmy Papadimitriu confirms the man was shot by police. He says officers fired “pellets,” but without specifying what kind.

Striking banana workers began protesting last week in western Bocas del Toro province against a new law that critics say weakens unions.

At least 100 people have been hurt in clashes that also killed a labor leader on Thursday.

Papadimitriu told Radio RPC on Saturday that it’s still not clear what caused the earlier death.

The Cabinet chief was in the city of Changuinola leading a commission that’s seeking to negotiate with the workers. He said he’s hopeful that talks may be imminent.

Read the whole hot breaking news