The Korea Herald

Israel air strike hits Syria as Sunnis flee 'massacre'

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Israeli warplanes have targeted a Syrian weapons shipment headed for Hezbollah in Lebanon, media quoted U.S. officials as saying Saturday, as Sunnis were fleeing a city for fear of a massacre.The news came as U.S. President Barack Obama, under mounting criticism that he has allowed Bashar al-Assad's regime to cross his own declared "red line" on using chemical weapons, came close to ruling out deploying U.S. troops to Syria.CNN said U.S. and Western intelligence agencies were re

May 4, 2013

California wildfire grows, weather may aid fight

CAMARILLO, California (AP) – A wildfire tearing through a coastal region in Southern California nearly tripled in size as high temperatures fueled the flames, but an expected weekend change in the weather will likely give crews manning the fire lines much-needed assistance.The fire 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles mushroomed to 43 square miles (111 square kilometers) Friday as 900 firefighters used engines, aircraft, bulldozers and other equipment to battle the flames.Forecast

May 4, 2013

Obama does 'not foresee' U.S. troops in Syria

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AFP) - President Barack Obama came close Friday to ruling out deploying U.S. troops to Syria, saying he did not foresee a scenario in which that would be beneficial to the United States or Syria."As a general rule, I don't rule things out as commander-in-chief because circumstances change and you want to make sure that I always have the full power of the United States at our disposal to meet American national security interests," Obama said."Having said that, I do not fores

May 4, 2013

UN says 2012 was 9th-hottest year since 1850

GENEVA (AP)-The World Meteorological Organization says last year was the ninth-warmest since record-keeping began in 1850, despite the cooling effect of the weather pattern called La Nina. The U.N.'s weather agency says this marks the 27th year in a row the global average temperature--58 degrees Fahrenheit (14.45 degrees Celsius) in 2012-- surpassed the 1961-1990 average. WMO said in annual climate report Thursday the years from 2001 to 2012 were all among the top 13 warmest on record - the hott

May 2, 2013

[Newsmaker] Tokyo Gov. in hot water over Muslims gaffe

Promotional interviews seldom go so badly. Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose has been forced to apologize to the Muslim world over remarks made in an interview with the New York Times about his city’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. His comments alluding to rival bidder Istanbul, Turkey, were seen as Islamophobic and in breach of the International Olympic Committee rules.In trying to explain why being the first Muslim country to host the Olympics was not a good reason for winning, Inose

May 1, 2013

[Newsmaker] Tokyo Gov. in hot water over Muslims gaffe

[Newsmaker] Amsterdam hails new king

Amsterdam was decked in orange Tuesday as the Netherlands prepared to bid goodbye to Queen Beatrix and welcome its first king in more than a century. People dressed themselves in the color of the House of Orange for the event timed to coincide with the country’s Queens Day, while shops prepared to cash in on commemorative items.Support for the monarchy has been well established by the common touch of Queen Beatrix, whose abdication follows the example of her two predecessors.But marriage may hav

April 30, 2013

1 of 2 Boston bomb suspects dead; suburbs closed

WATERTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) – Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing killed a university police officer, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during their getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said as the manhunt intensified for a young man described as a dangerous terrorist.The suspects were identified to The Associated Press as coming from the Russian region near Che

April 19, 2013

1 of 2 Boston bomb suspects dead; towns shut down

WATERTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) – Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing – identified to The Associated Press as coming from a Russian region near Chechnya – killed an MIT police officer, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during their getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said.A law enforcement intelligence bulletin obtained by the AP identified the surviving bomb suspe

April 19, 2013

Seven decades on, Japan looks for WWII remains

TOKYO (AFP) ― Tears roll down Heitaro Matsumoto’s face as the 72-year-old businessman talks of an uncle who died on Guam as a Japanese soldier in the hopeless final weeks of World War II.The remains of Goro Matsumoto, in his mid-20s at the time of his death, have never been recovered. Nor have those of 18,000 other Japanese soldiers who died on the island, now a tropical vacation spot for Japanese tourists.“People sacrificed their lives to fight for the country. And their remains are left abando

April 9, 2013

Seven decades on, Japan looks for WWII remains

No proof China's H7N9 spreading between humans: WHO

BEIJING -- The World Health Organization said Monday there is no evidence China's bird flu is spreading among humans, but jitters over the outbreak that has killed six people saw airline and tourism shares slump. China announced just over a week ago that H7N9 avian influenza had beenfound in humans for the first time, and the number of confirmed cases has since reached 21. Like the more common H5N1 variant which typically spreads from birds tohumans, experts fear such viruses can mutate i

April 8, 2013

China reports 2 more cases of new bird flu virus

BEIJING (AP) – Shanghai has reported two more cases of human infection of a new strain of bird flu, raising the number of cases in eastern China to 20. The death toll among those who contracted the virus remains at six.Health officials believe people are contracting the H7N9 virus through direct contact with infected fowl and say there's no evidence the virus is spreading easily between people.China's official Xinhua News Agency reported the two new Shanghai cases Sunday, citing local authoritie

April 7, 2013

China ‘two-child policy’ town shows reform scope

JIASHAN, China (AFP) ― A few places in China give parents a rare right to have two offspring rather than one, but many stop at a single child anyway ― fuelling demands to end what critics call an unnecessary, harmful rule. “If you have too many kids then it becomes difficult,” said Lu Xiuyan, a 42-year-old restaurant manager in Jiashan, a dusty village of low-slung buildings a few hours northeast of Beijing, who has one son. “But if you have fewer kids, you have less of a burden and you’ll be a

April 7, 2013

China ‘two-child policy’ town shows reform scope

Kerry warns N. Korea on 'reckless' provocations

Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday warned North Korea to halt a recent spate of rhetoric and actions, calling them provocative, dangerous and reckless. He also vowed that the United States would defend itself and its allies South Korea and Japan from North Korean threats.Kerry's comments came after North Korea ratcheted up an almost daily string of threats toward the three nations with an announcement that it would revive a long-dormant nuclear reactor and ramp up production of atomic weap

April 3, 2013

‘I love Paris’ may be passe for Chinese tourists

PARIS (AFP) ― Mass muggings and attacks on Chinese tourists in Paris have spawned alarm and warnings of a decline in the number of free-spending visitors from the Asian giant who swarm to France.More than one million Chinese visitors come every year to France, a country which for them epitomizes luxury, romance and quality products.But that may very well change, said one expert, citing a slew of recent attacks which he says takes the sheen off the “City of Lights” for Chinese visitors.“This has

March 31, 2013

‘I love Paris’ may be passe for Chinese tourists

Amid tensions, Chinese fruit a turnoff in Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ― Jack Nguyen had sold 20 of his 30 containers of imported American grapes when fresh rumors hit the Internet and state-run media: Chinese fruit on sale in Vietnam might look good, but it contains deadly levels of preservatives and pesticides. Shoppers quickly stopped buying imported fruit altogether, believing it all tainted or falsely labeled. The last 10 containers rotted.While fears about the safety of Chinese food products are often well founded, in Vietnam they are so t

March 26, 2013

Amid tensions, Chinese fruit a turnoff in Vietnam

New Yorkers boldly flout law to keep pigs

NEW YORK (AP) ― Pigs have long gotten a bad rap. The four-legged ungulates are considered so messy and stinky that they’re synonymous with slovenliness: Eat too much and you’re pigging out. Forget to clean up and your house is a pig pen. And when is a pig happiest? That stigma is perhaps no greater than in New York City, where high-rises and apartments are hardly hospitable to pigs. The city’s health code forbids keeping them as pets, forcing pig owners to operate in secret ― or boldly take the

March 24, 2013

New Yorkers boldly flout law to keep pigs

France's first Korean-born minister in landmark Seoul visit

French minister Fleur Pellerin begins a highly symbolic trip this weekend to South Korea, the land of her birth, where she is a celebrity due to her roots and a rags-to-riches story. Pellerin, the junior minister for small and medium enterprises, innovation, and the digital economy, is due to meet with South Korea's President ParkGeun-Hye, its prime minister and top officials from leading chaebols, or business conglomerates, such as Samsung and Hyundai. Born in 1973 in Seoul and abandoned,

March 23, 2013

Pope Francis urges protection of nature, weak

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis urged princes, presidents, sheiks and thousands of ordinary people gathered for his installation Mass on Tuesday to protect the environment, the weakest and the poorest, mapping out a clear focus of his priorities as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics The Argentine native is the first pope from Latin America and the first named for the 13th-century friar St. Francis of Assisi, whose life's work was to care for nature, the poor and most disadvantaged. Echoing th

March 19, 2013

Antarctica concerns grow as tourism numbers rise again

ROSS ISLAND, Antarctica (AP) ― Across most of Earth, a tourist attraction that sees 35,000 visitors a year can safely be labeled sleepy. But when it’s Antarctica, every footstep matters. Tourism is rebounding here five years after the financial crisis stifled what had been a burgeoning industry. And it’s not just retirees watching penguins from the deck of a ship. Visitors are taking tours inland and even engaging in “adventure tourism” like skydiving and scuba diving under the ever-sunlit skies

March 17, 2013

Ten years on, H.K. looks back on SARS outbreak

HONG KONG (AFP) ― With its bustling streets, shops and busy restaurants, little suggests that ten years ago Amoy Gardens was on the front line of Hong Kong’s battle with a virus that caused a global health crisis.The estate became a beleaguered symbol of the city’s struggle to contain an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, named and declared a “worldwide health threat” by the World Health Organization on March 15, 2003. Hong Kong eventually lost 299 of its citizens to SARS, part of a

March 17, 2013

Ten years on, H.K. looks back on SARS outbreak