Pope says Catholics should not breed 'like rabbits'

Pope Francis appealed Monday for responsible parenting and said that good Catholics should not have to breed "like rabbits."The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics said he defends the Church's teaching against artificial contraception but claimed that didn't mean "Christians should have children one after the other."He told journalists on his flight back from his visit to the Philippines that he once asked a mother of seven children -- all born through caesarian section -- who was pregna

Jan. 20, 2015

Canada special forces clash with IS in Iraq: military

Canadian special forces exchanged gunfire with Islamic State fighters in Iraq in recent days, in the first confirmed ground battle between Western troops and IS, a senior officer said Monday.The Canadians came under mortar and machine gun fire while training Iraqi troops near front lines and shot back in what Canadian special forces commander Brigadier General Michael Rouleau described as self-defense, killing the IS fighters.Rouleau said the melee had taken place in the previous seven days and

Jan. 20, 2015

Seoul, Tokyo hold fresh talks on wartime sex slavery

South Korea and Japan held talks on Tokyo's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II on Monday, one of the most knotty issues for bilateral ties, Seoul's foreign ministry said.Lee Sang-deok, Seoul's chief delegate to the talks, met with his Japanese counterpart, Junichi Ihara, in Tokyo in their sixth round of talks to discuss the issue of "comfort women," according to the foreign ministry.In April, the two historical rivals launched the talks on the sex slavery, but no major progre

Jan. 19, 2015

Multiple shots fired near Biden's residence, no damage reported: CNN

Multiple shots were fired near a residence of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, but Biden and his wife were not home at the time and no other damage has been reported, CNN cited Secret Service officials as saying Sunday.The shooting happened around 8:25 p.m. Saturday near Biden's residence in Delaware, Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback was quoted as saying. The shots were fired from a vehicle that was traveling at a high speed on a public road several hundred meters way from Biden's residence,

Jan. 19, 2015

Australians swim, surf despite beach closures after shark sightings

NEWCASTLE, (AFP) - Australian surfers and swimmers defied beach closures on the country's east coast Saturday, taking to the water despite repeated shark sightings over the past week and an attack on a teenage spearfisher.Beaches in the eastern city of Newcastle, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Sydney, were closed for a record eighth-straight day Saturday after two sharks were spotted off the coast.One shark, believed to be a great white, was estimated to be five metres  (16 and a half

Jan. 17, 2015

Canadian held in Nepal on child sex abuse charges

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- A Canadian tourist with records of several previous child sex offenses has been arrested in Nepal on charges that he lured a 9-year-old boy to his hotel room and had sex with him, police official said Saturday.Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh, 71, was arrested at a hotel in Lalitpur, a suburb south of the capital, Kathmandu. He was ordered detained by the district court until the charges can be further investigated, Lalitpur's police chief Pushpa Ranjit said. Officials were not

Jan. 17, 2015

A Korean man missing in Turkey amid media report he joins IS

A South Korean man went missing in a Turkish town bordering with Syria recently with a local media report suspecting that he might have joined the extremist Muslim militant group IS, the Korean embassy in Istanbul said Saturday.Earlier, Milliyet, a local daily newspaper, reported that a Korean man, whose identity has yet to be confirmed, might have crossed the border with Syria and joined IS, citing some undisclosed sources. He is reportedly in his teens.The report claimed the young man, who is

Jan. 17, 2015

21 confirmed dead in tugboat capsizing in eastern China

BEIJING (AP) -- Officials and state media say 21 people have been confirmed dead in a tugboat capsizing in eastern China after the vessel was lifted to the surface and dragged to shallow waters of the Yangtze River.The state-run Xinhua News Agency said Saturday that one person remains missing from Thursday's trip to test the newly built tugboat in the river's Fubei Channel in the eastern province of Jiangsu.The ship's owner, parts suppliers and engineers were among 25 people aboard for the test,

Jan. 17, 2015

US condemns ICC war crimes probe of Israel as 'tragic irony'

WASHINGTON,  (AFP) - The United States on Friday condemned as "tragic irony" the International Criminal Court's decision to open a preliminary probe into possible war crimes committed by Israeli forces against Palestinians."We strongly disagree with the ICC prosecutor's action today," State  Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement."It is a tragic irony that Israel, which has withstood thousands of  terrorist rockets fired at its civilians and its neighborhoods, is now being scrutini

Jan. 17, 2015

Seoul, Tokyo to hold sex slavery talks next week

South Korea and Japan plan to hold talks on Tokyo's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II early next week, a major stumbling block to the improvement of their bilateral ties, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.Lee Sang-deok, Seoul's chief delegate to the talks, will meet with his Japanese counterpart Junichi Ihara on Monday in Tokyo in their sixth round of talks to discuss the issue of the so-called "comfort women", according to the foreign ministry.In April, the two historica

Jan. 16, 2015

S. Korea renews calls for quick resolution of sex slave issue

The presidential office reiterated Friday that the issue of former South Korean sex slaves for Japan's World War II soldiers should be quickly addressed.Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook made the comments to reporters, citing the age of the former sex slaves.The issue has gained urgency as the victims are dying off. In 2007, more than 120 South Korean victims were alive, but the number has since dropped to 55, with their average age standing at 88.Min's comments came a day after Suh Chung-wo

Jan. 16, 2015

S. Korean FM to attend Davos forum next week

South Korea's foreign minister will leave for Switzerland next week to attend this year's annual meeting of the World Economic Forum to discuss global economic and geopolitical issues, officials said Thursday.Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is likely to depart Seoul around Wednesday to attend the forum to be held in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, officials from the foreign ministry said. The forum is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday for a four-day run.This year's forum is expected to draw about 2,

Jan. 15, 2015

S. Korean parliamentary delegation visits Japan amid frayed ties

A South Korean parliamentary delegation led by a confidant of President Park Geun-hye left for Japan on Wednesday for a three-day visit expected to include a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.The visit by members of the South Korea-Japan lawmakers' association comes as the two countries' ties have been strained over various issues related to their shared history, including the Japanese military's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II.In Tokyo, the bipartisan group

Jan. 14, 2015

S. Korea eyes express train project linking Eurasia

South Korea is seeking to operate a special express train this year that would pass major cities in Eurasia nations as part of efforts to advance President Park Geun-hye's vision for a united Eurasia, officials said Tuesday.In October 2013, Park unveiled her Eurasia initiative that calls for, among other things, infrastructure development and freer trade among Eurasian nations by linking their railways. South Korea hopes to eventually link its rail network to Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway via

Jan. 13, 2015

S. Korea to spend W50 bln on int'l R&D projects in 2015

South Korea will spend over 50 billion won ($46.17 million) this year for joint research and development of new technologies and products with other countries, the government said Tuesday.According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the country will spend 10.6 billion won on bilateral projects with five different countries, including China, Germany and France.An additional 9.7 billion won will be spent on multilateral projects involving two or more other countries.The amount spent on

Jan. 13, 2015

Chinese visitors to S. Korea jump 46 pct to 6.33 mln in 2014

The number of Chinese visitors to South Korea soared 46 percent from a year ago to 6.33 million people last year, the South Korean Embassy in Beijing said Tuesday.The surge was fueled by a growing popularity of Korean pop music and TV dramas and a gradual appreciation of the Chinese currency, embassy officials said.Last year, the number of South Korean visitors to China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau, grew 3.6 percent from a year earlier to 4.1 million people, the embassy said in a statement.To

Jan. 13, 2015

China gives consular access to 14 S. Koreans in drug case

China has allowed consular access to 14 South Koreans who were arrested late last month for allegedly attempting to leave for Australia from a Chinese southern city of Guangzhou with crystal methamphetamine, a South Korean diplomat said Monday.The 14 South Korean nationals, who live in Guangzhou or Shenzhen and members of a private baseball club, were caught on Dec. 28 at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport before boarding a flight bound for Melbourne.They had been scheduled to leave for

Jan. 13, 2015

Gov't Ebola backup team leaves for Sierra Leone

South Korea government officials left for Ebola-hit Sierra Leone on Tuesday in a bid to support a second batch of Seoul medical workers who will treat Ebola patients in the West African country, officials said.The departure came after a group of five doctors and four nurses left for Britain on Saturday for safety training before flying to Sierra Leone on Jan. 19 for a four-week mission.To support the medical team, officials from the foreign ministry and the state grant aid agency departed to Sie

Jan. 13, 2015

U.S. welcomes S. Korea's efforts to improve relations with N. Korea

The United States welcomes South Korea's efforts to improve relations with North Korea, the State Department said Monday, after South Korean President Park Geun-hye said she has no preconditions for an inter-Korean summit."We welcome ROK efforts to improve inter-Korean relations and urge the DPRK to reciprocate," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a regular press briefing in response to a request for comment on Park's remarks on inter-Korean talks.ROK refers to South Korea's

Jan. 13, 2015