CAMARILLO, California (AP) – A wildfire tearing through a coastal region in Southern California nearly tripled in size as high temperatures fueled the flames, but an expected weekend change in the weather will likely give crews manning the fire lines much-needed assistance.The fire 50 miles  (80 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles mushroomed to 43 square miles  (111 square kilometers) Friday as 900 firefighters used engines, aircraft, bulldozers and other equipment to battle the flames.Forecast

International May 4, 2013

President Park Geun-hye on Saturday celebrated the reopening of the ancient gate that was destroyed in an arson attack more than five years ago, saying it will mark the path to a new era.Sungnyemun, built mainly out of wood, was severely damaged in early 2008 when an elderly man set it on fire in a grudge against the government.The gate in central Seoul, better known as Namdaemun, meaning "south gate" in Korean, and the nation's No. 1 treasure, was one of the four gates that surrounded Seoul, th

Social Affairs May 4, 2013

PAJU, Gyeonggi Province (Yonhap News) -- Hundreds of South Korean police officers stopped dozens of North Korean defectors and activists from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border via balloon on Saturday as North Korea warned of "unimaginable consequences."About 500 police officers prevented a truck carrying balloons and about 200,000 leaflets from accessing the defectors' launch site of Imjingak near the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas.Police have vowed to cordon of

Social Affairs May 4, 2013

The parliamentary committee on the national budget is scurrying to pass the extra budget, which is much needed to help stimulate the slowing economy, by next week with lawmakers gathering for a weekend budget examination meeting on Saturday.The government submitted the extra budget proposal to the National Assembly for approval on April 18. The proposal consists of 12 trillion won ($10.1 billion) to make up for revenue shortfalls and 5.3 trillion won in more spending to stimulate the economy.Law

Politics May 4, 2013

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AFP) - President Barack Obama came close Friday to ruling out deploying U.S. troops to Syria, saying he did not foresee a scenario in which that would be beneficial to the United States or Syria."As a general rule, I don't rule things out as commander-in-chief because circumstances change and you want to make sure that I always have the full power of the United States at our disposal to meet American national security interests," Obama said."Having said that, I do not fores

International May 4, 2013

South Korea's troubled shipbuilding and shipping conglomerate STX Group is considering selling its European assets including its shipyards in France and Finland, a spokesman said Saturday.The group has seen its major affiliates reel under mounting debt as it was hit by a global downturn in the shipbuilding and shipping sectors."We are now in the process of rearranging the corporate structure to focus on domestic shipbuilding. In this context, we are considering the sale of overseas assets to rai

Industry May 4, 2013

South Korea's stock market may rebound next week as the key rate cut by the European Central Bank (ECB) could prompt foreign investors to buy local shares, analysts said Saturday.The ECB cut its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.5 percent earlier this week, adding to hopes for an economic stimulus in Europe.European investors have gone on buying sprees on the Seoul bourse for two to three months in the past when the European Central Bank has lowered its benchmark rate.The benchma

May 4, 2013

Lee Kun-hee, the chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest supplier of smartphones and memory chips, left for the United States on Saturday to accompany President Park Geun-hye during her trip to the U.S.Lee is one of a 52-member high-profile business delegation that will also accompany Park, who is scheduled to visit the U.S. from May 5-10 for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.It is the first time for Lee to join an overseas trip by a South Korean president since 2004 when h

Industry May 4, 2013

A U.S. non-profit group plans to build a tuberculosis treatment training center in Pyongyang by the end of this year, a report said Saturday.Christian Friends of Korea (CFK), the non-governmental organization, will visit the North Korean capital in mid-May and start construction work for the center designed to train medical doctors and researchers for tuberculosis treatment and prevention in the North, the Washington, D.C.-based Radio Free Asia reported.The CFK will send a team of 10 technicians

North Korea May 4, 2013

WATERTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) – Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing killed a university police officer, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during their getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said as the manhunt intensified for a young man described as a dangerous terrorist.The suspects were identified to The Associated Press as coming from the Russian region near Che

International April 19, 2013

South Korea's maritime ministry said Friday it plans to set up a maritime police station on an island near Dokdo within this year in a bid to beef up security for the country's easternmost islets.The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said the government plans to establish a maritime police station on Ulleung Island in the East Sea, an island 90 kilometers west of Dokdo, in 2013 in an effort to strengthen policing on Dokdo and surrounding waters.  Maritime Minister Yoon Jin-sook reported the minis

Politics April 19, 2013

WATERTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) – Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing – identified to The Associated Press as coming from a Russian region near Chechnya – killed an MIT police officer, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during their getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said.A law enforcement intelligence bulletin obtained by the AP identified the surviving bomb suspe

International April 19, 2013

The United States has agreed to actively support South Korea seeking to export its nuclear power plants, government sources here said Friday, though the countries have failed, at least for now, to renew their bilateral accord on civilian nuclear cooperation.The countries held three days of talks in the U.S. this week to revise their nuclear accord, known as the 123 agreement."There were three main areas of discussion in the negotiations, which were what to do with spent fuel rods, how to secure

Foreign Affairs April 19, 2013

Samsung Electronics Co. vice chairman Lee Jae-yong met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia, sources said Sunday.Lee, the only son of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, took part in a session where the Chinese leader greeted the 15 board members of the annual forum that is noted as Asia's "Davos Forum," according to the sources who requested anonymity.The younger Lee was recently named as a new board member of the regional forum, succeeding SK Group Chairma

Industry April 7, 2013

BEIJING (AP) – Shanghai has reported two more cases of human infection of a new strain of bird flu, raising the number of cases in eastern China to 20. The death toll among those who contracted the virus remains at six.Health officials believe people are contracting the H7N9 virus through direct contact with infected fowl and say there's no evidence the virus is spreading easily between people.China's official Xinhua News Agency reported the two new Shanghai cases Sunday, citing local authoritie

International April 7, 2013