Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called Monday for a pause for reflection, after a series of proposals on ways to honour late founding father Lee Kuan Yew.   The prime minister, who is also the late Lee's eldest son, was responding to a variety of suggestions in parliament, including naming Singapore's famed Changi Airport after the patriarch who died on March 23 at age 91.   Other ideas included naming more landmarks and institutions after Lee, putting his face on Singapore dollar notes

World News April 13, 2015

Chinese police on Monday released at least three of the five feminist activists detained for over a month in a case which prompted an international diplomatic outcry, one of their lawyers said.   Wei Tingting, Wang Man and Zheng Churan were freed by police, said lawyer Liang Xiaojun, with the status of the other two not yet clear. The release indicates that the trio will not face charges.   "I don't have news yet about Wu Rongrong and Li Tingting, but the other three have been released," said Li

World News April 13, 2015

A car bomb parked near an outdoor market in a busy commercial area in Baghdad killed at least 10 civilians on Monday, Iraqi officials said.    The pick-up truck, loaded with vegetables and fruits, was parked in the southwestern, Shiite-dominated Amil neighborhood, a police officer said. The explosion also wounded at least 25 civilians and damaged about 20 cars, he added.    A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not aut

World News April 13, 2015

China is still unsure whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will visit Moscow next month for a World War II anniversary, South Korea's Ambassador to China, Kim Jang-soo, said Monday.    Russia has said that Kim was among the world leaders who have accepted invitations to join the May 9 ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.    North Korea has not officially commented on a possible visit by Kim to Moscow, but it would be his first overseas

North Korea April 13, 2015

Chinese ambassador to North Korea Li Jinjun, has told North Korea that the two allies need to respect each other's differences, in a rare remark that indicates Beijing's desire to develop a normal relationship with Pyongyang.    Li made the comment on March 31, when he presented his credentials to North Korea's ceremonial leader, Kim Yong-nam, according to the website of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang.    After presenting the credentials, Li said that he hopes North Korea and China will "respe

North Korea April 13, 2015

President Park Geun-hye on Friday called on Japan to make the utmost efforts to resolve the issue of its sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, saying that such an endeavor would be the first step in improving strained bilateral ties between the neighbors.   The remarks were made during Park's meeting with Toshihiro Nikai, the chairman of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, earlier in the day.   Leading a 1,400-member delegation, the Japanese politician arrived in South Kor

Politics Feb. 13, 2015

Three people were wounded, including one policeman, in an explosion Friday at a police checkpoint near the Syrian border in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, local officials said.   The cause of the blast was not immediately clear but Turkish media said emergency service vehicles rushed to the scene.   "The explosion took place in a rubbish bin close to a police checkpoint. Three people, including a policeman, were lightly wounded," the governor of the Sanliurfa region, which includes Suruc, I

World News Feb. 13, 2015

It was a mixed bag of results for the three South Koreans competing in the short program of the ladies' singles at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships on Friday.   The reigning national champion, Park So-youn, scored 53.47 points to rank 10th after a sloppy routine that included an under-rotated jump and a botched spin.   Kim Hae-jin, a three-time national champ who has struggled this season, scored 51.41 points with a relatively clean program, and positioned herself in 11th place. 

Sports Feb. 13, 2015

South Korea and Japan have decided to hold joint events this year to mark the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties, the foreign ministry said Friday, a decision which came despite long-running tension between the neighbors.   "Having designated this year as the 50th anniversary of normalizing South Korea-Japan diplomatic relations, (the countries) decided to pursue a variety of commemorative events to step up cooperation and exchanges between the people of both countries," the Ministry of F

Politics Feb. 13, 2015

President Park Geun-hye on Friday called on labor and management to produce a compromise by March in the latest push to reform South Korea's rigid labor market.   "The structural improvement of the labor market must be realized to resolve the issue of jobs for young people and non-regular workers," Park said in a meeting with top officials of labor and management as well as government officials in charge of economy and labor at the presidential office.   She also warned that a new economic take-

Politics Feb. 13, 2015

A Seoul court on Friday rejected a request from a Japanese reporter to leave South Korea as he is now on trial here for defaming President Park Geun-hye.   Tatsuya Kato, former head of the Seoul bureau of Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper, had been banned from leaving the country since August pending a trial for defamation.   He is accused of defaming Park by reporting rumors in August that she might have been with a man when a South Korean ferry sank off the southwest coast in April, killing mor

Social Affairs Feb. 13, 2015

Eight members of an Al-Qaeda-linked group of Philippine militants have been killed in clashes with security forces in the country's south, the military said Saturday.   Thirteen members of a counter-terrorism task force were also wounded in the fighting with the Abu Sayyaf group on the remote island of Jolo on Friday, said the government unit's spokesman Ensign Chester Ramos.   He said the eight Abu Sayyaf dead were followers of Radullan Sahiron, a one-armed militant who has a $1 million bounty

World News Feb. 7, 2015

Brittany Brown wouldn't miss the opening of the ``Fifty Shades of Grey'' movie for anything. She has read and re-read all three books, uses the app, follows FSOG role play on Twitter and set her DVR to record trailers for the highly anticipated Valentine's weekend release.    But ditching her boyfriend for her gal gang of superfans was problematic.    "Feb. 14 is actually his birthday. He'll go out with his guy friends and I'll see FSOG with my friends. Later that evening we'll all meet up to pa

Film Feb. 7, 2015

Islamic State extremists claimed that an American woman held hostage by the group was killed Friday in a Jordanian airstrike in northern Syria, but the government of Jordan dismissed the statement as "criminal propaganda'' and the U.S. said it had not seen any evidence to corroborate the report.       The woman was identified as Kayla Jean Mueller, an American who went to Syria to do aid work, but there was no independent verification of the militants' claim. The statement appeared on a militant

World News Feb. 7, 2015

A gas station worker in South Korea has been killed by a vehicle in what might be an "abrupt acceleration" accident, police said Saturday.   The person, intensified by his surname Kim, was hit at around 3 p.m. on Friday by a Kia Motors Corp.'s Sorento SUV, which plowed into him after going through an automatic car washing service at the gas station in Seocho, located in the south side of Seoul, according to the police.   He was rushed to a nearby hospital but was later pronounced dead.   The dri

Social Affairs Feb. 7, 2015