About 10 North Korean defectors said Monday they had floated tens of thousands of anti-Pyongyang leaflets as they brushed off the North's latest threats of military attacks.The defectors announced on a Web site that they launched balloons carrying about 120,000 leaflets at 6 p.m. from South Korea's western island of Gangwha, which is close to North Korea.Park Sang-hak, who has led a high-profile campaign to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets for years, said separately the leaflets criticized North Kor

Defense Oct. 22, 2012

CAIRO (AP) -- A man claiming to be al-Qaida's No. 2 in Yemen released an audio denying reports that he had died in a U.S. drone attack, as Yemeni officials said Monday that another top member of the terror network was killed in a drone strike earlier this month.The authenticity of the clip, purportedly made by Saeed al-Shihri, could not be confirmed. It was produced by al-Qaida's media arm in Yemen, al-Malahem, and posted on militant websites late Sunday. When top members of al-Qaida are killed,

World News Oct. 22, 2012

LONDON (AFP) - The head of the BBC's flagship current affairs TV programme stepped aside on Monday as accusations grew of a cover-up of sexual abuse claims against late television star Jimmy Savile.Newsnight editor Peter Rippon had given an inaccurate account of why the show dropped its investigation into Savile, the shamed presenter who died last year, the BBC said in a statement.The BBC, the world's largest public broadcaster, has launched two independent inquiries into the allegations about S

Entertainment Oct. 22, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For months, the one reliable constant for President Barack Obama was the public's approval of his handling of foreign policy and terrorism. Al-Qaida was on the run, he would say. The war in Iraq was over. Bin Laden was dead. Crowds cheered, and national polls showed a majority in the country stood with him.But with two weeks left before Election Day, the landscape has changed. As Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney talk foreign policy in their final debate Monday night in B

World News Oct. 22, 2012

Volkswagen AG plans to invest 3.4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) in upgrading its model lineup and factories in Brazil as part of its goal to become the world's biggest carmaker by 2018."Brazil is very much a cornerstone of our Strategy 2018," Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn said yesterday ahead of the Sao Paulo motor show.VW's investment plan in Brazil runs through 2016 and includes spending 126 million euros at its component plant in Sao Carlos to expand production to 4,800 engines a d

World Business Oct. 22, 2012

FRANKFURT (AFP) -- German engineering giant Siemens said on Monday it is pulling the plug on its activities in solar energy owing to cut-throat competition and waning public subsidies.Siemens said it "plans to divest its solar business activities and is currently holding talks with potential buyers on this subject."It would instead focus its renewable energy activities on wind and hydro power, said the group, which previously boasted it plans to become a champion of "green" energy."The energy di

World Business Oct. 22, 2012

A suggestion by a high-level panel that the United Nations Green Climate Fund buy certain emission credits from the Clean Development Mechanism could help alleviate a supply glut, according to a research group.Using the Green Climate Fund to buy Certified Emission Reductions, for example, "takes eminent sense and is a credible scenario that must be seriously examined," Andrei Marcu, head of the Centre for European Policy Studies' Carbon Market Forum in Brussels, said in an e-mailed report today.

World Business Oct. 22, 2012

ATHENS (AFP) - Greece's national statistics agency revised upwards on Monday the country's 2011 deficit and public debt figures, which will likely further complicate efforts to meet fiscal targets set by international creditors for bailout aid.According to the still provisional data, the 2011 deficit stood at 9.4 percent of gross domestic product and the public debt at 170.6 percent, EL.STAT said."The revisions as regards the debt ratios are primarily due to the update of gross domestic product

World Business Oct. 22, 2012

GENEVA (AP) -- Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling's governing body Monday following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams.UCI President Pat McQuaid announced that the federation accepted the USADA's report on Armstrong and would not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," McQuai

Sports Oct. 22, 2012

The head of the state-run think tank on North Korean studies said Monday he offered to quit his job last week over his controversial remarks on the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo.The move by Kim Tae-woo, president of the Korea Institute for National Unification, comes nearly two months after he said there was a need to discuss with Japan possible sharing of rights to use marine and seabed resources around Dokdo.In August, Kim floated his idea on conditions that Japan recognize Seoul's sov

Politics Oct. 22, 2012

Banks trading asset-backed securities may face tougher capital requirements and stricter oversight from global supervisors amid concerns that regulation is failing to curb excessive-risk taking.The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is about to embark on a "fundamental" review of how securitization is regulated, Wayne Byres, the group's secretary general, said in an interview last week."Ultimately it's driven at capital treatment, but it's also about reflecting on what have we learned from t

World Business Oct. 22, 2012

Somalia piracy attacks against merchant shipping fell to the lowest in six years in the third quarter as armed guards on vessels and naval patrols cut attempted hijacks on the trade route linking Asia and Europe.One ship was attacked compared with 36 in the same quarter a year ago, the London-based International Maritime Bureau, which has been tracking incidents since 1991, said in an e- mailed report today. That's the fewest since the same period in 2006, when no attacks were reported, Assistan

World News Oct. 22, 2012

FRANKFURT (AFP) -- The German economy, Europe's biggest, will see a sharp slowdown in growth or may even contract at the end of the year as the eurozone crisis bites, the German central bank or Bundesbank warned Monday.Germany has so far held up to Europe's long-running sovereign debt crisis much better than its eurozone neighbours.While many eurozone countries slipped into recession, Germany notched up growth of 0.5 percent in the first quarter and 0.3 percent in the second quarter.However, "th

World Business Oct. 22, 2012

LONDON (AFP) - Rosneft gobbled up BP's highly-profitable Russian joint venture, transforming itself into a top player in the global oil sector in a $61 billion (47 billion euro) deal Monday that gives the BP nearly a fifth of the Russian energy giant and ensures access to key Arctic resources.British BP said in a statement that it has agreed to sell its half of Russian venture TNK-BP to Rosneft for $17.1 billion and another 12.84 percent share in the state firm.BP added it would spend $4.8 billi

World Business Oct. 22, 2012