Most Popular
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Ex-presidential official’s leaked phone call rattles conservative bloc
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Man escapes DUI charges by downing bottle of soju while pulled over
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Pay debate plagues foreign nanny pilot
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K-pop star lip-syncing controversy flares up again
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35% of S. Koreans view unification 'unnecessary'
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Slew of top K-pop stars ready to return from military
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S. Korea, US clinch 2026-30 defense cost-sharing deal in pre-election push
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[Reporter’s Notebook] Was Netflix film opening BIFF really a bad thing?
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N. Korean leader's sister derides Seoul's Hyunmoo-5 missile as 'useless'
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Controversial cult leader’s sentence reduced to 17 years
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10-year-old girl going home after 2 lung transplants
PHILADELPHIA ― The six-month hospitalization of a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl whose need for new lungs sparked a national debate on how transplant recipients are prioritized has come to an end.Sarah Murnaghan’s mother has posted a message on Facebook saying she would be going home on Tuesday from the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania.Sarah received two sets of lungs this summer as she struggles with the effects of end-stage cystic fibrosis. Her mother, Janet Murnaghan, said in a Facebook pos
Aug. 28, 2013
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Malala awarded 2013 Children’s Peace Prize
THE HAGUE (AFP) ― Teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by a Taliban militant last October after campaigning for girls’ right to education, has won the prestigious International Children’s Peace Prize, KidsRights announced Tuesday.The Pakistani 16-year-old will receive the award from 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner and women’s rights campaigner Tawakkol Karman at a glittering ceremony in The Hague on September 6, the Amsterdam-based organization said.Malala “risked her life in the fi
Aug. 28, 2013
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Leadership an innate characteristic: study
Leadership might be an innate characteristic for both animals and humans, a British research team has claimed.According to an article published in the research journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a team of researchers put certain fish in a large laboratory tank for several weeks to conduct a study on role reversals: leaders becoming followers and followers becoming leaders.According to the report, the fish that seemed to be leaders tended to move to a risky part of the tank where there w
Aug. 28, 2013
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Hagel promotes US focus on Asia as Syria looms
Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel meets with his Asian counterparts on Wednesday as the US promotes its shift to the region, but a potential showdown with Syria looms over the talks.Hagel plans to call for restraint in the disputed South China Sea and underscore America's strategic tilt to the Asia-Pacific at the gathering in Brunei of defense ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China and elsewhere, officials said.The two-day ASEAN meeting is the main event of Hagel's wee
Aug. 28, 2013
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NYTimes site inaccessible, 2nd disruption in Aug.
SAN JOSE, California -- Readers who tried to click on the New York Times' website got nothing but error messages Tuesday afternoon in its second major disruption this month, with a group calling itself “The Syrian Electronic Army'' claiming responsibility.Within minutes of the attack, the New York Times announced in a Twitter message that it would continue to publish the news. The site published two reports over two hours on chemical attacks in Syria. The news organization also set up an alterna
Aug. 28, 2013
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Syria says U.N. inspection delayed until Wednesday
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the UN mission investigating alleged chemical weapons attacks in Damascus has been delayed until Wednesday after rebels failed to guarantee the experts' safety."Today, we were surprised by the fact that they were not able to get there because the rebels did not agree to guarantee the mission's security. So the mission has been delayed until tomorrow," Muallem told a televised news conference.The delay was confirmed by UN spokesman Farhan Haq, referring
Aug. 27, 2013
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China to hold key policy meeting in November
Leaders of China's Communist Party will hold a key policy meeting in November to discuss deepening reform measures, state media reported Tuesday. The third plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is expected to unveil major economic goals by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who took office in March. "The decision to hold the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in November was made at Tuesday's meeting of the CPC Central Committee's pol
Aug. 27, 2013
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S. Korea retrieves stolen 19th-century currency printing plate from U.S.
South Korea has retrieved a century-old currency printing plate that was illegally taken to the United States by a thief during the 1950-53 Korean War, prosecutors said Tuesday.The metal printing plate, made in 1892 under the rule of King Gojong of Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) to print the nation’s first modern currency, was stolen in 1951 by a U.S. serviceman who came to fight in the Korean War, they said. At the time it was being kept at Seoul’s Deoksu Palace, one of the royal palaces from Joseo
Aug. 27, 2013
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Anger as China ‘restores’ Dalai Lama’s ancestral home
HONGAI, China (AFP) ― The Chinese town where the Dalai Lama was born is undergoing huge redevelopment, and behind a mountain the exiled spiritual leader’s family home has received a makeover of its own, with a 3-meter wall and security cameras installed.The building in Hongai village, at the summit of a towering peak, is the only place in China dedicated to the man Beijing considers a violent separatist and a “wolf in monk’s robes.”But the house has become a symbol of China’s bitterly divisive p
Aug. 27, 2013
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Wet noses to the touchscreen, iPads go to the dogs
NEW YORK (AFP) ― You may or may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but you can certainly try to get Fido to use an iPad.New York dog trainer Anna Jane Grossman has done just that, with success ― although a lack of apps limits the possibilities.“It’s a novelty. It’s just sort of a fun thing to do,” Grossman told AFP at School for the Dogs, the canine classroom she runs with partner Kate Senisi near Manhattan’s Union Square.“There’s not a huge amount of purpose to it ― but the way I see i
Aug. 27, 2013
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Crime wave puts laid-back Malaysia on edge
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) ― A wave of lethal shootings is rattling normally laid-back Malaysia and raising fresh doubts about the ability of the much-maligned national police force to protect the public.Malaysians and foreign residents alike have long complained of burglars, bag-snatchers and other petty criminals operating with apparent impunity in the otherwise peaceful multi-ethnic nation.But near-daily gun violence in recent weeks in a country with tough firearms restrictions has sown fear and conf
Aug. 27, 2013
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Chinese Internet hit by ‘largest ever’ attack
BEIJING (AFP) ― China has been hit by the “largest ever” attack on its Internet structure, crashing the country’s .cn servers, according to a government-linked agency.The national domain name resolution service came under a distributed denial of service attack for around two hours early on Sunday, the China Internet Network Information Centre said in a statement.Domain name resolution is a key part of how the Internet works, converting a website name into a set of digits ― the IP address ― that
Aug. 27, 2013
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Ukraine, Japan agree to monitor Chernobyl, Fukushima from space
KIEV (AFP) ― Ukraine and Japan on Monday agreed to launch a joint satellite project to track the state of crippled Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear plants, sites of the world’s greatest nuclear disasters. “We have agreed on cooperation in the space sector to monitor the regions surrounding Chernobyl and Fukushima,” Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kozhara.The project aims to put into orbit by 2014 eight miniature satellites to
Aug. 27, 2013
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Palestinians say new round of talks halted after clash
QALANDIA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) ― Palestinian officials said they called off a planned round of peace talks Monday after Israeli soldiers killed three protesters during clashes following an arrest raid in the West Bank. But in comments that suggested the meeting had gone ahead as planned, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said that “no meetings have been canceled. We’ve been clear that the two parties are engaged in serious and sustained negotiations.” Israeli officials refuse
Aug. 27, 2013
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U.S. wildfire spreads toward San Francisco water supply
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ―Firefighters reported progress Monday battling a huge blaze on the edge of Yosemite National Park, but warned it remains an “extreme” threat as it nears the top U.S. tourist destination and San Francisco’s water supply.The Rim Fire, which began nine days ago, has grown to become the 13th largest in California’s recorded history and has sparked the closure of one of the main roads into the spectacular natural beauty spot. The fire has already crossed into the world-famous par
Aug. 27, 2013
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Zurich divided as sex drive-in opens its doors
ZURICH (AFP) ― As the Swiss city of Zurich opens the country’s first sex drive-in to better regulate prostitution and move the sex trade outside the city center, residents, politicians and sex workers remain divided over the scheme.The nine so-called “sex boxes” will be available to prostitutes and their clients from Monday onwards, in a former industrial zone in the west of the city.Inspired by a similar initiative in Germany, the Zurich authorities want to alter the image of the city’s Sihlqua
Aug. 26, 2013
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Prosecutors demand heavy sentence for Bo
JINAN, China (AFP) ― The dramatic trial of fallen Chinese politician Bo Xilai ended Monday with prosecutors pushing for a heavy sentence over a murder and corruption scandal that shook the Communist Party.Bo’s crimes of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power were “extremely serious” and there were no mitigating factors, they said.The description is a key factor in Chinese sentencing, where courts must generally find both conditions apply if they are to impose the death penalty.Analysts widely
Aug. 26, 2013
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California wildfire threatens San Francisco water, power
LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― A raging California wildfire burning on the northern tip of the storied Yosemite National Park now threatens San Francisco’s water and electricity supply, officials said Sunday.The Rim Fire has charred through 54,220 hectares, growing nearly 8,400 acres overnight, according to InciWeb, the online Incident Information System that monitors fires in the western United States.The fire was just seven percent contained, InciWeb said, adding that it “remained fairly active overnight
Aug. 26, 2013
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Karzai in Pakistan for peace talks
ISLAMABAD (AP) ― Afghanistan’s president flew to neighboring Pakistan on Monday to discuss peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, but expectations were low in both countries that much progress will be made in jumpstarting the negotiations. Pakistan is seen as key to the process because of its strong historical ties with the Taliban. But Pakistan and Afghanistan have long had troubled relations and view each other with suspicion, especially because Kabul has repeatedly accused Islamabad of providin
Aug. 26, 2013
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Syria agrees to U.N. chemical probe
DAMASCUS (AP) ― Syria agreed Sunday to a U.N. investigation into last week’s alleged chemical weapons attack outside Damascus ― a deal a senior White House official dismissed as “too late to be credible,” saying the United States has “very little doubt” President Bashar Assad’s forces used such weapons. The hardening of the U.S. position came as calls for military action grow. In a sign the U.S. may be a step closer to an armed response, naval forces have already been dispatched toward Syria’s c
Aug. 26, 2013