BEIJING (AFP) - China has launched a probe into the abduction of children allegedly born in violation of population control policies then trafficked by officials into adoptions worldwide, an official said Tuesday.The investigation comes after Caixin magazine reported this week that family planning officials in central China's Hunan province had abducted children and sold them into adoption to the

May 10, 2011

BERLIN (Yonhap News) -- President Lee Myung-bak said Sunday that Korea should seek unification with North Korea at any cost, stressing the need to end Pyongyang's nuclear programs that he said are an obstacle to unification.Lee made the remark in Berlin, the symbolic city of German unification, on the first leg of a three-nation European tour, saying that unification with the North could come at a

Politics May 9, 2011

Apple Inc., maker of the iPhone, iPad and iMac, overtook search-engine giant Google Inc. to become the world’s most valuable brand, WPP Plc said in a report.Apple’s brand value climbed 84 percent in the past year to $153.3 billion, WPP’s Millward Brown unit said. Google’s brand lost 2 percent to $111.5 billion, ending four years atop the rankings, while International Business Machines Corp. climbe

Technology May 9, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Osama bin Laden benefitted from ``some sort of support network'' inside Pakistan, President Barack Obama said in a Sunday broadcast interview, but he added it is not clear whether government officials knew the terrorist leader was living inside their country when U.S. commandos killed him in a raid last weekend.``We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of

World News May 9, 2011

ROME (AFP) - Prosecutors on Friday requested a trial for three of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's friends on pimping charges linked to the Italian leader's own trial for having sex with an underage prostitute.The request "was sent today to the judge" on the prostitution charges, the main prosecutor's office in Milan said in a statement.The charges relate to alleged crimes committed between 2009

World News May 8, 2011

World News May 8, 2011

U.S. police rescued a disabled six-year-old who was kept in a cage by her parents for months and almost starved to death. The girl, who has Down syndrome, was eating the flaky skin of her forehead when she was found by Virginia police, Mail Online reported. Her parents were also accused of burying another child of their own. They face charges of first degree murder.Brian and Shannon Gore, the pare

Social Affairs May 5, 2011

Police are investigating a former Olympic judo gold medalist who allegedly assaulted a female massage parlor owner under the influence of alcohol.The man, who is now a Yongin University professor, was booked without detention. The professor visited the massage shop near his school in Yongin, south of Seoul, at 11 p.m. on April 26. He started to take his clothes off. When the owner in her 30s, trie

Social Affairs May 5, 2011

A taxi driver said to have had fanatical religious beliefs was found dead Sunday on a wooden cross in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, police said.In an apparent emulation of the crucifixion of Jesus, his hands and feet were found nailed to a cross in an abandoned quarry mine. The 58-year-old man surnamed Kim wore something similar to a crown of thorns on his head. He was wearing only underpa

Social Affairs May 4, 2011

Korean actor and singer Jang Geun-suk topped Japan’s Oricon chart in his debut week. His single “Let Me Cry” sold 119,000 copies within a week of its April 27 release. He became the first foreign singer in Japan to rank No. 1 in the major weekly pop chart upon debut.In 2005, Korea’s Ryu Si-won reached No. 2 within a week.Jang’s record was also the first for a male singer since Masahiko Kondo toppe

May 4, 2011