Sarah Lancashire on 'Last Tango in Halifax' and why she'd play Caroline 'til the day I die'

North Korea has compared President Barack Obama to a monkey and blamed the U.S. for shutting down its Internet amid the hacking row over the movie "The Interview." The North has denied involvement in a crippling cyberattack on Sony Pictures, but has expressed fury over the comedy, which depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Sony Pictures initially called off the release of the film, citing threats of terror attacks against U.S. movie theaters. Obama criticized Sony's decision, and the movie opened this past week.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Cabinet on Saturday approved about 3.5 trillion yen ($29 billion) in fresh stimulus, including subsidies and job creation, to help pull the world's third-largest economy out of recession. The Cabinet endorsed the plan proposed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as it wrapped up work for 2014. It includes 420 billion yen ($3.5 billion) earmarked for helping stagnant regional economies.

BEIJING (AP) — In the grainy video, Zhang Xiuhong can see her daughter ride her bike down a country road on her way to school one spring afternoon six years ago. In the next shot, Yao Li rides down a driveway a few moments after her classmates walk by. Then, the pictures stop: The 15-year-old disappeared just minutes after that surveillance footage was taken, leaving only a shoe as a clue in a nearby ditch.

PERELIYA, Sri Lanka (AP) — A packed train in Sri Lanka that was swept off the tracks by waves as big as elephants. A boat patrolling off Thailand's shore hurled more than a mile inland. Streets in Indonesia turned into roaring rivers that carried people to their deaths. Vivid and terrifying memories such as these were recalled Friday at ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami that left nearly a quarter-million people dead in one of modern history's worst natural disasters.

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BEIJING (AP) — Two fire chiefs and two poultry farm bosses have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to nine years in relation to a fire at a plant in northeastern China last year that killed 121 people and injured 76 others, state media reported Saturday. The June 2013 fire in Jilin province was China's deadliest industrial accident in five years and highlighted continuing violations of safety regulations despite recent improvements in the country's work safety record.

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: ___

TOKYO (AP) — Sony's iconic gadgetry and the star appeal of Hollywood may have appeared to be a perfect match when the electronics giant bought Columbia Pictures in 1989. A quarter century later, it's apparent that Sony Corp. has not attained the magic synergy it was hoping for. The stolid silence of Sony's Tokyo headquarters over the hoopla surrounding Sony Pictures Entertainment's "The Interview" underscores the longstanding divide between the Japanese parent company and its U.S.-led and -run motion pictures subsidiary, successor to Columbia Pictures.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging Pakistan's leader to stop the execution of convicts and re-impose a moratorium on the death penalty. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric says the U.N. chief made the appeal during a telephone call Friday with Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani warplanes and ground forces killed 39 militants as part of an ongoing operation in a volatile tribal region near the Afghan border, the Pakistani military said. The airstrikes were carried out Friday evening in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region, an army statement said Saturday, adding that an underground tunnel system and a large underground cache of weapons and ammunition were also destroyed.

NEW DELHI (AP) — The wedding season is in full swing in India, marking what should be the busiest time of year for the traditional brass bands that lead raucous processions announcing the arrival of the bridegroom to the neighborhood. Dressed in faded military-style uniforms or long silken tunics and turbans, brass bands playing the latest Bollywood tunes have long been a must-have at any Indian wedding.

In this photo by Channi Anand, passengers at a train station in Jammu keep warm as freezing temperatures hit the northern Indian region. The 40-day harsh winter period, known in Jammu and Kashmir as "chillai kalan," started this week until the end of January. It brought below-freezing temperatures and disrupted transport service. But it is also a time that has inspired poetry and folk songs with a sight of snow and leafless trees, and special food delicacies such as dried fish and vegetables.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An airstrike by U.S.-led coalition forces on Friday killed three Afghan villagers who were "heavily armed" but not part of the Taliban insurgency, an Afghan official said. The governor of eastern Logar province, Neyaz Mohammad Amiri, said that the coalition had told local authorities that the dead were Taliban insurgents, but that villagers in the remote Ab Josh area disputed that claim, saying the dead were civilians who were protecting their land from nomads.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Three South Korean workers died Friday after apparently inhaling toxic gas at a construction site for a nuclear plant being built by South Korea's monopoly nuclear power company, which has come under recent threats by hackers, a company official said. The accident at the construction site in the southeastern city of Ulsan came as the state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. was on high alert over a series of threats by hackers who claim they can disable the control systems of its plants. Choi Hee-ye, a company spokeswoman, said there was no reason to believe that Friday's accident was linked to the cyberattack threats.

BEIJING (AP) — China's leaders underscored their support for Hong Kong's unpopular leader as he visited Beijing on Friday in the wake of pro-democracy protests in the southern Chinese city. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying met President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang less than two weeks after police cleared a final protest camp and ended demonstrations that had blocked traffic for 2 ½ months.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Friday he was cutting short his U.S. vacation to deal with the worst floods in the country in decades that have killed five people and displaced more than 100,000. Authorities have evacuated numerous villages and towns in five Malaysian states that were inundated following unusually strong torrential rains. More than 105,000 people have sought shelter in schools, community halls and other relief centers, according to flood monitoring centers.

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