In the World

PAKISTAN

33-year prison term reduced for doctor

A Pakistani judicial official reduced on Saturday the 33-year jail sentence of a doctor alleged to have helped the United States track down Osama bin Laden to 23 years, one of his lawyers said.

Shakil Afridi was convicted in May 2012 by a tribal court in the northwest. According to his lawyer, the charges were related to allegations that he gave money and provided medical treatment to Islamic militants.

His attorney, Qamar Nadeem, said judicial official Munir Azam dropped one of those charges: waging war against Pakistan.

Afridi is widely believed to have been targeted by Pakistani authorities because of allegations that he ran a vaccination program to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence in the town of Abbottabad, although his conviction was not related to this accusation.

- AP

INDIA

2 hangings stayed

India's top court on Saturday temporarily stayed the hanging of two of the four men convicted for the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi. The Supreme Court's order came in response to a petition filed by an attorney for the two men that said the appeals court that confirmed the death sentence last week had ignored their defense. The court set a hearing for March 31. - AP

EL SALVADOR

A promise fulfilled

A Salvadoran fisherman who says he drifted at sea for more than a year met Saturday with the mother of his companion who died during the ordeal, an emotional gathering that he said helped him fulfill a promise he made to his friend. Jose Salvador Alvarenga embraced Ezequiel Cordoba's mother and both cried as journalists recorded the moment. "I would've liked to have welcomed my son like this," said Roselia Diaz Cueto. - AP