The Korea Herald

Angels sign Pujols for $254m

DALLAS (AP) ― Albert Pujols could have been a wealthy Cardinal for life, planning for the day his statue would be erected outside Busch Stadium next to those of Stan Musial, Bob Gibson and the other St. Louis greats.Instead, exactly six weeks after leading the Cardinals to a second title in one of the most thrilling World Series ever, he decided to accept the second-highest contract in Major League Baseball history for a new future in southern California with the Los Angeles Angels.The three-tim

Dec. 9, 2011

Coke secret formula gets 1st new home since 1925

ATLANTA (AP) _ The Coca-Cola Co. has made its secret formula the centerpiece of a new exhibit at its corporate museum, ditching the confines of the bank vault where the list of ingredients had been stored since 1925.The world's largest beverage maker said Thursday a new vault containing the formula

Dec. 9, 2011

Coke secret formula gets 1st new home since 1925

Virginia Tech locks down as cop, 1 other killed

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AP) _ A gunman walked into a parking lot and killed a Virginia Tech police officer who was conducting a traffic stop Thursday, state police said, in the first gunfire on campus since 33 people were killed in 2007 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Students r

Dec. 9, 2011

Virginia Tech locks down as cop, 1 other killed

World’s oldest dog dies at age 26

TOKYO (AP) ― The world’s oldest dog according to Guinness World Records has died at the age of 26 years and eight months.Pusuke, a fluffy tan Shiba mix, died Monday after suddenly falling ill and refusing to eat, owner Yumiko Shinohara told reporters at her home in Sakura, a city outside Tokyo.“I would just like to thank him for staying alive so long,” Shinohara told TV network FNN. The report said Pusuke’s lifespan would have been the equivalent of about 125 years for a human.According to Guinn

Dec. 8, 2011

Pakistan president crushes rumors he may step down

ISLAMABAD (AP) ― President Asif Ali Zardari was having tests related to a heart condition in a Dubai hospital Wednesday but is expected to return to Pakistan within days, officials said, denying rumors that the embattled and unpopular leader may be stepping down.Some reports said Zardari, who in September underwent medical tests for a cardiac condition in Britain, may have suffered a mild heart attack. Those were also denied by officials, some of whom suggested the rumors were being spread by po

Dec. 8, 2011

Yemen forms national unity government

SANAA (AP) ― Yemen’s vice president announced the formation of a national unity government Wednesday as part of a power transfer deal to ease embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of power and end months of political turmoil, the state news agency said.SABA said Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi issued a decree approving the formation of the new 35-member cabinet headed by the veteran independent politician Mohammed Basindwa. Government posts are equally divided between Saleh’s Congres

Dec. 8, 2011

Egyptian P.M. names new cabinet; Islamists sweep runoff votes

CAIRO (AFP) ― Egypt’s caretaker premier named a new cabinet on Wednesday with increased powers to tackle worsening crime and a sliding economy as Islamist parties made fresh gains in the country’s parliamentary election.Interim premier Kamal el-Ganzouri announced his administration following nearly two weeks of delays, reportedly caused by problems in finding a suitable candidate to fill the highly sensitive interior ministry post.He finally opted for Mohammed Ibrahim Yusuf, who headed police in

Dec. 8, 2011

Egyptian P.M. names new cabinet; Islamists sweep runoff votes

Ex-U.S. governor gets 14 years in prison for corruption

CHICAGO (AP) ― The Rod Blagojevich who once challenged a prosecutor to face him like a man, the glad-handing politician who took to celebrity TV shows to profess his innocence, was nowhere to be found Wednesday as he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption.Frowning and pulling nervously at his tie, the disgraced former governor seemed like another person as he stepped up to the address the sentencing judge. His bluster, once as conspicuous as his famously lavish head of dark hair, wip

Dec. 8, 2011

Citizens simmer as Russia limits protests

Putin officially registers to run for president; ex-Soviet leader Gorbachev calls for new voteMOSCOW (AP) ― Popular anger against Vladimir Putin’s ruling party and alleged election fraud have boiled over into a third straight night of protests, and police in Russia’s two largest cities arrested scores of demonstrators.The demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Wednesday appeared to attract fewer protesters than in previous days, roughly 300 in each city, but Russians’ willingness to risk

Dec. 8, 2011

Citizens simmer as Russia limits protests

Maintenance man charged with murdering N. Ga. girl

CANTON, Ga. (AP) — A 20-year-old maintenance worker was arrested in the beating death of a 7-year-old north Georgia girl who was abducted and killed at an apartment complex and her body left in a trash bin, authorities said Wednesday.Ryan Brunn, who lived and worked at the apartment complex, w

Dec. 8, 2011

Maintenance man charged with murdering N. Ga. girl

Anti-vote fraud protests in Russia for 3rd night

Alexei Navalny, one of Russia`s best-known bloggers, chants anti-government slogans during an opposition rally in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011.(AP)MOSCOW (AP) _ Popular anger against Vladimir Putin's ruling party and alleged election fraud have boiled over into a third straight night of prot

Dec. 8, 2011

Anti-vote fraud protests in Russia for 3rd night

Top Italian mob boss nabbed in hometown bunker

ROME (AP) -- Police on Wednesday captured one of Italy's most-wanted fugitive mobsters, arresting the last major boss of one of Italy's bloodiest mafia clans.Michele Zagaria, on the run since 1995, was found in an underground bunker in Casapesenna, in his hometown province of Caserta in southern Ita

Dec. 8, 2011

Seoul takes Asia’s culinary spotlight

Ask international gourmands to name the food capitals of Asia, and chances are they’ll rattle off no-brainers like Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, cities with vibrant expatriate populations and a slew of upscale restaurants operated by acclaimed chefs.This year, Seoul joins these ranks, at least according to one regional restaurant guide.For the first time, one of Korea’s restaurants, Pierre Gagnaire a Seoul, has been listed among Asia’s Top 20 in The Miele Guide 2011-2012, a compilation of t

Dec. 7, 2011

Carnage in Kabul sparks fear of sectarian strife

KABUL (AP) ― In Afghanistan’s first major sectarian assault since the fall of the Taliban regime a decade ago, a suicide bomber slaughtered 56 Shiite worshippers and wounded more than 160 others Tuesday outside a Shiite shrine in the capital.The body of a woman, clutching a dead child in each arm, was sprawled along a dirt road littered with shoes, bloodstained clothing, hats and body parts after the blast, which took place as a bombing killed four Shiites in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Dec. 7, 2011

China’s president urges navy to get ready for combat

BEIJING (AFP) ― Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday urged the navy to prepare for military combat, amid growing regional tensions over maritime disputes and a U.S. campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power.The navy should “accelerate its transformation and modernization in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security,” he said.Addressing the powerful Central Military Commission, Hu said: “Our work mus

Dec. 7, 2011

Clinton meets Syrian opposition

GENEVA (AP) ― The Obama administration moved to expand contacts with opponents of Syria’s President Bashar Assad on Tuesday as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held a rare meeting with Syrian opposition figures and the top U.S. envoy to Syria returned to Damascus after a six-week absence.Amid reports of a new surge in violence that the U.N. says has killed more than 4,000 people since an uprising against Assad erupted in March, Clinton told Syrian pro-reform activists in Geneva that she

Dec. 7, 2011

Comprehensive climate deal unlikely: U.N. chief

DURBAN (AP) ― An all-encompassing climate deal “may be beyond our reach for now,” the U.N. chief said as China and India delivered a setback to European plans to negotiate a new treaty that would bind all parties to their pledges on greenhouse gas emissions.The European “road map” toward a new accord that would take effect after 2020 is a centerpiece of negotiations among 194 countries at a U.N. climate conference in the South African coastal city of Durban. It has been presented as a condition

Dec. 7, 2011

Insider’s account of vote rigging for Russia’s Putin

MOSCOW (AP) ― The election official had a problem. Workers at his polling station had been stuffing ballot boxes with votes for Vladimir Putin’s party all day, he says, but when the votes were counted United Russia still didn’t have enough.So he huddled with the election commission he chaired at the Moscow precinct. The decision: Putin’s party would get the desired 65 percent. One member objected, but relented when the others tossed his Communist Party a few dozen votes.The commission chairman s

Dec. 7, 2011

Pearl Harbor survivors return to ships in death

HONOLULU (AP) ― Lee Soucy decided five years ago that when he died he wanted to join his shipmates killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.Soucy lived to be 90, passing away just last year. On Tuesday, seven decades after dozens of fellow sailors were killed when the USS Utah sank on Dec. 7, 1941, a Navy diver will take a small urn containing his ashes and place it in a porthole of the ship.The ceremony is one of five memorials being held this week for servicemen who lived through the assault and w

Dec. 7, 2011

Pearl Harbor survivors return to ships in death

For pet-owners, holiday plans revolve around pets

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Dexter's social calendar this holiday season is chock-full of travel plans, party invites, new clothes, special meals and trips to see Santa Claus.Highlights for the 3-year-old cocker spaniel and his owner Carol Bryant, of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, include a couple of car trips to

Dec. 7, 2011

For pet-owners, holiday plans revolve around pets