An Air Bagan flight made an emergency landing Tuesday on a road in central Myanmar, killing two people and injuring 11, officials said.Four foreigners traveling on the Christmas morning flight were among the injured, Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut said on his Facebook page. He said the fatalities included an 11-year-old child believed to be a Myanmar citizen and a man riding a motorcycle on the road where the plane landed.The flight was carrying 65 passengers and six crew members from Yango

World News Dec. 25, 2012

The Pentagon has formally informed Congress of a plan to sell four Global Hawk surveillance drones to South Korea, a related agency said Monday.The deal under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, if sealed, would be worth up to $1.2 billion (1.28 trillion won), according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) affiliated with the Department of Defense.It includes four RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk remotely-piloted aircrafts equipped with the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suites (EISS), a

Defense Dec. 25, 2012

Braving the freezing cold and safety concerns, thousands of young singles gathered at a recreational park in central Seoul to find their Mr. and Ms. Rights on Christmas Eve.Korea’s largest outdoor blind date called “Solo Battle” was held in Yeouido Park though there were fewer-than-expected participants amid the chilly weather. In the morning the mercury hit minus 14 degrees Celsius, the lowest this winter.  “I am looking forward to finding a date. I have a little hope that I can find the one am

Social Affairs Dec. 24, 2012

No one wanted to be president less than Mitt Romney, his son said in an interview out Sunday that raises new questions about the candidacy of the losing Republican nominee.In an interview with the Boston Globe examining what went wrong with the Romney campaign, his eldest son Tagg explains that his father had been a reluctant candidate from the start.After failing to win the 2008 Republican nomination, Romney told his family he would not run again and had to be persuaded to enter the 2012 White

World News Dec. 24, 2012

Spain’s government will block any independence referendum held in Catalonia, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said, according to ABC. “The government is prepared to make sure the referendum doesn’t happen: the legal instrument it uses to do so is secondary,” the Madrid-based newspaper quoted him as saying in an interview. “Spaniards can be confident that it won’t tolerate secession in any part of the territory.” (Bloomberg)

World News Dec. 24, 2012

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel on Sunday for the first time since an Egypt-mediated ceasefire on November 21, army radio and other media reported.The reports said it fell on open ground and caused no injuries, but an Israeli military spokesman denied that a rocket had hit."No rocket fell in Israeli territory," he told AFP, without elaborating.Israel and the militant Islamist group Hamas which rules Gaza fought an eight-day war last month in which 177

World News Dec. 24, 2012

More than 60 people were killed in a regime air strike on a bakery in a rebel-held town on Sunday, monitors said, as peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi launched a new bid to resolve Syria's brutal 21-month conflict.In one of the deadliest incidents of the conflict, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike hit a bakery in Halfaya in the central province of Hama, killing more than 60 people and wounding at least 50.Many of the wounded were in critical condition, it said."In Halfaya, regime

World News Dec. 24, 2012

North Korea confirmed Friday it was holding a U.S. citizen for a "crime" he has admitted committing against the communist country while leading a tour group there."American citizen Pae Jun Ho who entered Rason City of the DPRK on Nov. 3 for the purpose of tour committed a crime against the DPRK. He was put into custody by a relevant institution," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report, monitored in Seoul.DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North

North Korea Dec. 21, 2012

South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama held phone talks on Friday and agreed to take cooperative steps to deal with the Northeast Asian security crisis triggered by North Korea's rocket launch.The two discussed the matter when Obama made a congratulatory call to Park on her recent election as South Korea's president, said an official at Park's ruling Saenuri Party. Park won the tightly contested presidential election on Wednesday against a liberal opposition c

Politics Dec. 21, 2012