Singaporeans mourned the death of their deeply admired longtime leader, Lee Kuan Yew, with people forming long lines last week to pay their respects and write condolence messages.

In other scenes from around Asia last week, the Dalai Lama attended the opening day of the Shotan festival, during which Tibetans eat yogurt and enjoy traditional opera, while Hindu girls in India recognized as "kumari," or living goddesses, participated in ceremonies during the Ram Navami festival.

At a candlelight rally in Bangladesh, activists remembered those who were killed in 1971 on the eve of the country's independence from Pakistan.

In a tearful news conference in Seoul, former Olympic swimming champion Park Tae-hwan of South Korea publicly apologized after receiving an 18-month ban for failing a doping test.

Amnesty International last week awarded its top honor to Ai Weiwei, a Chinese dissident artist who has spent years shedding light on his country's restrictive political atmosphere.

Indians were on edge watching their team play in the World Cup cricket semi-finals, a match India lost to Australia by 95 runs. Australia went on to win the title, its fifth.