NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a 2009 lower court decision to decriminalize homosexuality, dealing a blow to gay activists who have fought for years for the chance to live openly in India's deeply conservative society.

BANGKOK (AP) — The Democrat Party has seen the enemy.

By Benjamin Kang Lim and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - China has put Zhou Yongkang, one of the most powerful politicians of the last decade, under virtual house arrest while the ruling Communist Party investigates accusations of corruption against him, several sources said on Wednesday. He was the domestic security tsar and a member of the party's Politburo Standing Committee - the pinnacle of power in the country - when he retired last year. Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered a special task force formed in late November or early December to look into several accusations brought against Zhou by political rivals, sources with ties to the leadership told Reuters, requesting anonymity to avoid repercussions for discussing secretive elite politics. "Zhou Yongkang's freedom has been restricted.

By Isabel Coles and Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - The commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard force has criticized the government, saying it was under the influence of Western ideas and fundamental change was needed. Major General Mohammad Jafari's comments are some of the sharpest to be made by a senior official in public since moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani took office as president in August pledging to improve Iran's relations with regional countries and the West. The Rouhani government's diplomatic initiative led to an agreement with six world powers last month under which Iran is to curb its disputed nuclear program in return for limited relief from sanctions that have squeezed its economy. "The military, systems and procedures governing the administrative system of the country are the same as before, (but it) has been slightly modified and unfortunately infected by Western doctrine, and a fundamental change must occur," Fars news agency quoted Jafari saying on Tuesday.

The 11 European Union countries that have pledged to tax financial transactions will consider excluding several key markets from the levy's scope, an EU document showed. The meeting will consider excluding from the scope of the proposed tax framework repurchase agreements after the sector warned that the tax would crimp its ability to help fund the economy.