The Philippine government says its largest warship is engaged in a standoff with Chinese surveillance vessels that blocked it when it attempted to arrest Chinese fishermen anchored at a South China Sea shoal where both sides claim sovereignty.Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario on Wednesday summoned Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing to resolve the dangerous impasse diplomatically. His office said in a

World News April 11, 2012

Shin Dong-hyuk, born and raised in a North Korean concentration camp, on Tuesday appealed for the world to care more about the ongoing tragedy of political prisoners in the communist nation.He warned that a Holocaust-style slaughter could occur there any time if people outside continue to turn a deaf ear to the testimony of defectors."There is a place I always visit whenever I come to Washington D

North Korea April 11, 2012

Radioactive iodine was found in kelp off the U.S. West Coast following last year's earthquake-triggered Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown, according to a new study. It was already known that radioactive iodine 131 (131-I), carried in the atmosphere, made it across the Pacific within days of the March 11, 2011 tsunami disaster, albeit in minuscule amounts.But marine biologists at California State

World News April 10, 2012

Syrian forces have opened fire across two tense borders, killing a TV journalist in Lebanon and at least two people in a refugee camp in Turkey on the eve of a deadline for a cease-fire plan that seems all but certain to fail.Across Syria, activists reported particularly heavy violence with more than 125 people killed in the past two days.The Obama administration expressed outrage at the violence

World News April 10, 2012

North Korea is set to complete the assembly of its latest rocket by installing the satellite payload later Tuesday, a senior space official said."We are expecting to complete assembly by today," Ryu Kum-Chol, deputy director of the space development department at the communist state's Committee for Space Technology, told foreign journalists in Pyongyang. Ryu also insisted that debris from the laun

North Korea April 10, 2012

People who get regular dental X-rays are more likely to suffer a common type of brain tumor, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday, suggesting that yearly exams may not be best for most patients.The study in the U.S. journal Cancer showed people diagnosed with meningioma who reported having a yearly bitewing exam were 1.4 times to 1.9 times as likely as a healthy control group to have developed such tu

Technology April 10, 2012

Syrian forces opened fire across two tense borders Monday, killing a TV journalist in Lebanon and at least two people in a refugee camp in Turkey on the eve of a deadline for a cease-fire plan that seems all but certain to fail.Across Syria, activists reported particularly heavy violence with more than 125 people killed in the past two days.The Obama administration expressed outrage at the violenc

World News April 10, 2012

Having to speak and dress as a Klingon is among the bizarre excuses for divorce a British lawyer says she has heard.Because England does not have a no-fault divorce law, couples who wish to separate are coming up with some odd reasons for divorce, The New York Times reported Saturday.One man told divorce lawyer Vanessa Lloyd Platt that his wife had maliciously and repeatedly served him tuna casser

Social Affairs April 9, 2012