North Korea fired a long-range rocket Wednesday morning in its second launch under its new leader, defying warnings from the U.N. and Washington only days before South Korean presidential elections. South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a nationally televised news conference that a South Korean Aegis-equipped destroyer deployed in the Yellow Sea detected the launch but South Korea still didn't know the launch was successful. North Korea had indicated technical problems with t

North Korea Dec. 12, 2012

Japan protested North Korea's launch of a rocket Wednesday and was convening its security council to analyze the situation but urging calm. Government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said the rocket was fired at 9:49 a.m. (0049GMT) and that debris landed in seas off the Korean Peninsula and the Philippines. The government was still confirming if there was any damage on Japanese territory from the launch, he said.``Please go about your daily lives calmly,'' Fujimura said. He said the government was doin

North Korea Dec. 12, 2012

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council after North Korea launched a long-range rocket in defiance of international warnings, an official said.Immediately after the North fired the rocket, Lee was briefed on the launch and headed to the crisis management room at the presidential office for a detailed briefing. Lee also convened an emergency NSC meeting for 10:30 a.m., presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha said. (Yonhap News)

North Korea Dec. 12, 2012

South Korea will take necessary actions "preemptively and swiftly" to cope with possible market uncertainties stemming from Pyongyang's rocket launch, the country's top economic policymaker said Wednesday."As North Korea said that it will launch a long-range rocket again following a failed attempt in April, tension in the East Asian region is running high," Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told a crisis management meeting. "We will thoroughly brace for any risk factors in the global financial marke

North Korea Dec. 12, 2012

A French teacher who has been accused of asking her students to write an essay in which they imagined themselves as a suicidal teenager has been suspended pending an investigation, education officials said Monday.The teacher, who works at the Montmoreau-Saint-Cybard secondary school in the Charente region of western France, will discover next week if she is to face disciplinary action following an outcry among parents over a composition she reportedly set for her class of 13- and 14-year-olds.Ac

World News Dec. 12, 2012

Responding to reports that a U.S. citizen is being held in North Korea, the U.S. government on Tuesday emphasized the importance of protecting its people."We're obviously aware of these reports that a U.S. citizen has been detained in North Korea," said Victoria Nuland, spokeswoman for the State Department, at a press briefing. "We obviously have no higher priority than the welfare of our citizens." She would neither confirm nor deny the reports, citing "privacy considerations."Nuland, however,

North Korea Dec. 12, 2012

The city of Mildura is not at the end of a dirt road in the Australian bush, in tire-choking desert sand far from food and water. Unfortunately, Apple‘s much-maligned mapping application thinks it is.More than two months after Apple’s CEO apologized for errors in its Maps service, Australian police say the app is ``potentially life threatening‘’ because of the bad directions it has given to the southern city. On Tuesday, a police official said Apple had ``sort of half-fixed‘’ the problem.Victori

Technology Dec. 11, 2012

Former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan declared his backing for opposition presidential candidate Moon Jae-in on Tuesday, saying he believes he and the liberal contender can share his vision that bigger and smaller firms should seek shared growth.Chung held the country's No. 2 post in 2009-2010 under President Lee Myung-bak before serving as head of the National Commission for Corporate Partnership until earlier this year, a post that promotes "shared growth" between conglomerates and smaller busin

Politics Dec. 11, 2012

Germany on Monday expelled four employees of the Syrian embassy in Berlin, the foreign minister said, as part of moves to sharply curb ties to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad."We are sending a clear message with the expulsion of four Syrian embassy staff that we are reducing relations with the Assad regime to an absolute minimum," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement."We are counting on the (opposition) national coalition growing more stable and developing as soo

World News Dec. 10, 2012

Nelson Mandela is set to undergo additional medical tests on Monday, the South African government announced."Mandela had a good night's rest. The doctors will still conduct further tests today," a statement from President Jacob Zuma's office said, without specifying the procedures.Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj could not say if the ailing 94-year-old Mandela would spend a third night in hospital since being airlifted to a Pretoria hospital at the weekend."That (decision) is still in the hands of t

World News Dec. 10, 2012

U.S. researchers found women with the highest levels of carotenoids -- found in produce -- in their blood had the lowest risk of breast cancer. A. Heather Eliassen of the Channing Division of Network Medicine, the Department of Medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, conducted an analysis of eight studies involving 80 percent of the world's published prospective data on plasma or serum carotenoids and breast cancer.The study, published in the Journal of

Technology Dec. 10, 2012

South Korea and Spain have agreed to share military supplies in peacekeeping and rescue operations as part of efforts to expand military ties between the two sides, the defense ministry said Monday.Lee Sang-wook, the head of South Korean defense ministry's logistics management bureau, met his Spanish counterpart Prieto Oses Ramon in Madrid to sign a memorandum of understanding on the bilateral military support, the ministry said. Under the agreement, the two countries will share military supplie

Defense Dec. 10, 2012