The 76-year-old media baron said Sunday his engagement to 28-year-old Francesca Pascale _ part of a support group called ``Silvio, we miss you'' _ is ``official''.Berlusconi's second wife left him in 2008, citing alleged dalliances with young women. He is now on trial on charges of having sex with an underage woman and using his office to cover it up.Newspapers described Berlusconi's appearance on Canale 5 _ one of his television networks _ as attempt to boost falling approval rates ahead of an

World News Dec. 17, 2012

A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of central Indonesia Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, sending panicked people rushing into the streets but there was no tsunami alert.The quake struck at 0916 GMT more than 160 kilometers south-southeast of Gorontalo in central Indonesia's Sulawesi island at a depth of 18 kilometers.The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics agency (BMKG) measured it at 6.0 at a depth of 10 kilometers."The epicenter was in the sea but it

World News Dec. 17, 2012

Japan's premier-in-waiting Shinzo Abe came out fighting Monday after his sweeping election victory, saying there can be no compromise on the sovereignty of islands at the centre of a dispute with China.China reacted with alarm to Abe's victory, after his conservative Liberal Democratic Party crushed opponents in national polls and he immediately restated Tokyo's claims."The Senkaku islands are Japan's inherent territory," Abe told a press conference, referring to an archipelago Beijing calls the

World News Dec. 17, 2012

South Korea held talks with China Monday to discuss ways to prevent illegal Chinese fishing in South Korean waters, Seoul's foreign ministry said Monday. The talks, the second of their kind since the first one in Beijing last year, were held in Seoul. During the talks, South Korea called on China to take aggressive actions to ban illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea close to South Korea, the ministry said in a news release.Illegal Chinese fishing in South Korean waters has long been a serious issue

International Dec. 17, 2012

State prosecutors said Monday that they have received classified documents related to the 2007 inter-Korean summit meeting that can help sort out the ongoing legal battle over allegations that late President Roh Moo-hyun disavowed the de facto sea border between South and North Korea.The Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office confirmed it received transcripts of the summit meeting held in Pyongyang from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) as part of its ongoing investigation into claims and count

Politics Dec. 17, 2012

World leaders expressed shock and horror after a gunman massacred 20 small children and six teachers Friday in the U.S. state of Connecticut, in one of the worst school shootings in history.UN chief Ban Ki-moon wrote to Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy to give his "deepest condolences at the shocking murders," a statement said."The targeting of children is heinous and unthinkable," he added in condemning the "horrendous" crime.European Union diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton expressed "shock" at t

World News Dec. 15, 2012

South Korea's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) forecast the country's economic growth to reach a record low next year since the 2008 financial crisis, a poll showed Saturday. According to a survey of 1,500 SMEs taken by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz), a majority of the companies polled predicted South Korea's economy will grow 2.9 percent in 2013, the lowest level since their 2009 prediction of 2.4 percent. Nearly 70 percent of the respondents regarded advanced

Industry Dec. 15, 2012

Hundreds of candidates vying for a seat in Japan's parliament made their final pitches on Saturday in an election expected to see the return of the country's old guard.Opinion polls show the Liberal Democratic Party on course for a convincing victory in Sunday's lower house election, with the Democratic Party of Japan led by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda set to be ousted.Hawkish LDP leader Shinzo Abe is predicted to return to the premiership, a job he held without much distinction in 2006-7, in

World News Dec. 15, 2012

On China's economic front line with North Korea, rocket launches are far from traders' minds and few worry about sanctions impeding the flow of cars -- or pianos.China is by far North Korea's biggest trading partner and most of the business passes through its northeastern city of Dandong, where lorries piled high with tyres and sacks were being processed on Friday at a customs post.Some travelers waiting to cross to the North through an immigration checkpoint were carrying wreaths, apparently to

International Dec. 15, 2012

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Friday put North Korea at the top of a list of security challenges facing his country, along with an unfinished war in Afghanistan and al-Qaida-led terrorism.He pointed out the unpredictability of the secretive communist nation with nuclear weapons and various types of missiles."We still have the problem of North Korea and the unpredictability of North Korea," he said during a visit to an air base in Turkey, according to a transcript."We just saw that ha

North Korea Dec. 15, 2012