Activist’s detention was part of major government crackdown on ‘Jasmine’ protestersBEIJING (AFP) ― Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was released on bail in Beijing Wednesday nearly three months after he was detained during the government’s biggest crackdown on activists in years.Police released him after he confessed to tax evasion and because he suffers from a “chronic disease,” the official Xi

June 23, 2011

President Obama says withdrawal marks beginning of ‘efforts to wind down the war’WASHINGTON (AP) ― Beginning to wind down a long and devastating war, President Barack Obama announced Wednesday night he was pulling home 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by next summer, withdrawing the “surge” of forces he had sent to rescue a flailing effort. “The tide of war is receding,” Said Obama to a country eage

June 23, 2011

In this Saturday, March 19, 2011 file picture, evacuees from Futaba, a town near the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture, arrive at their new evacuation shelter at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, near Tokyo. (AP-Yonhap News)NEW YORK (AP) – A magnitude-6.7 earthquake rattled northeast Japan on Thursday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.It was the

June 23, 2011

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ― The Brazilian government confirmed this week the existence of an uncontacted tribe in a southwestern area of the Amazon rain forest.Three large clearings in the area had been identified by satellite, but the population’s existence was only verified after airplane expeditions in April gathered more data, the National Indian Foundation said in a news release Monday.The governme

June 22, 2011

NEW YORK (Yonhap News) ― Ban Ki-moon, who was reelected as United Nations secretary-general here Tuesday, has had his share of success in his first term, fending off critics in the process, but he has some work cut out for him over the next five years in his second tour of duty.A former South Korean foreign minister, Ban has so far successfully answered questions surrounding his leadership with hi

June 22, 2011

BAGHDAD – Suicide bombers detonated two explosives-laden vehicles early Tuesday near a government compound by a southern Iraqi governor's home, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens, Iraqi officials said.The attacks come as Iraq's top political factions started to discuss in earnest whether to ask some of the U.S. troops to stay beyond the Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline because of the securi

June 21, 2011

U.S. president to announce blueprint on withdrawal of troops, handover of powerWASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama will announce the critical next steps in America’s decade-long war in Afghanistan on Wednesday, outlining both a plan to start bringing thousands of U.S. troops home next month and a broader withdrawal blueprint aimed at giving Afghans control of their own security in 2014.But ev

June 21, 2011

MOSCOW, June 21, 2011 (AFP) - Forty-four people were killed and eight badly injured when a plane crashed onto a highway and burst into flames in northern Russia, narrowly missing an inhabited area, officials said Tuesday.The RussAir Tu-134 tried to stage an apparent emergency landing in poor weather conditions just before midnight on a motorway two kilometres (1.25miles) from its destination of Pe

June 21, 2011

CHONGQING, China (AFP) ― Hu Xinglian kneels before the corpse of Liang Zhicai and, with one hand on his metal coffin, lets out a piercing wail. But Hu is not at all grief-stricken ― she is a professional mourner.In parts of China, where rural pre-burial rituals are still observed, mourners known as “kusangren” are hired to guarantee that a funeral is a spectacle in grief. And 53-year-old Hu is up

June 20, 2011

Kim Yoo-shin regained his Korean citizenship in April, 36 years after he was adopted by a family in the United States when he was one year old. He is one of the first adoptees to benefit from a new Korean law that allows dual nationality.In other words, Kim is a Korean-American ― and vice versa.“It means that the Korean government is trying to improve its relationship with overseas Korean adoptees

June 20, 2011

Thousands of people gathered at Merrion Square, Dublin, Sunday, dressed like the famous character from “Where’s Waldo” to break a Guinness World Record. (Daily Mail)Participants wore white and red striped T-shirts and matching hats --Waldo’s signature costume -- for the event organized by the Street Performance World Championships.The organizers came up with the weird and fun way to break the reco

June 20, 2011

Suicide attackers launch assault near Karzai’s office; Taliban claims responsibilityKABUL (AP) ― Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged Saturday that the U.S. and Afghan governments have held talks with Taliban emissaries in a bid to end the nation’s nearly 10-year war, even as suicide attackers launched a bold assault in the heart of the county’s capital, killing nine people.The attack, which

June 19, 2011