Divers fought strong currents and waves as they worked to hoist the tail of the crashed AirAsia plane out of the Java Sea on Saturday, two weeks ago after it went down, killing all 162 people on board.Inflatable bags were being attached to the rear of the aircraft, and a crane will be used to lift it from a depth of about 30 meters.``Additional lifting bags are needed because the tail part is getting heavier due to strong currents and piles of sand and mud,'' said Suryadi B. Supriyadi, the Natio

International Jan. 10, 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry left late Friday for India on his first foreign trip of 2015, with a heavy focus on trade and investment with the South Asian economic giant.His tour will also take him to Geneva for talks Wednesday with his Iranian counterpart on Iran's nuclear program, before he makes his first visit as the top US diplomat to Bulgaria later in the week.It will be Kerry's second trip to India in six months, as the two allies have worked to repair ties which frayed badly early

International Jan. 10, 2015

An Australian newspaper Saturday published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed arguing with Jesus, as it urged support for free speech in the wake of the deadly attack on a French satirical weekly.Twelve people were killed in Wednesday's attack by extremists on magazine Charlie Hebdo's office in Paris, prompting cartoonists around the world to put pen to paper in solidarity with their French colleagues.The Weekend Australian newspaper published the cartoon by Bill Leak entitled "Let us pray

International Jan. 10, 2015

China has conducted a set of regular military exercises near the Korean Peninsula, according to China's defense ministry and state media Saturday.The Chinese People's Liberation Army began eight days of "military missions" Friday in the northern parts of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Strait, adjacent to the Korean Peninsula, the Chinese defense ministry said in a notice posted on its website. China's maritime authorities banned all civilian vessels from sailing in the affected waters, according t

International Jan. 10, 2015

Korean President Park Geun-hye has accepted the abrupt resignation submitted by her senior secretary Kim Yong-han, who refused to testify before the parliament over a recent document leak scandal involving Cheong Wa Dae officials, the presidential office said Saturday.Park's chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon, instructed him to attend a session of the National Assembly Steering Committee for questioning on the scandal, but he, instead, offered to step down from his post of senior presidential secretar

Politics Jan. 10, 2015

The U.S. on Friday warned Americans to beware of "terrorist actions and violence" all over the world, following the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in Paris."Recent terrorist attacks, whether by those affiliated with terrorist entities, copycats, or individual perpetrators, serve as a reminder that U.S. citizens need to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness," the State Department said. The advisory is an

International Jan. 10, 2015

The United States is concerned South Korea's National Security Law limits freedom of expression, the State Department spokeswoman said Friday, as she spoke about the case of a Korean-American woman facing deportation from the South for violating the law.The woman, Shin Eun-mi, has been accused of making pro-North Korean remarks in violation of the National Security Law that prohibits any "anti-state" activities attempting to praise, encourage or propagandize North Korean political ideals.After a

International Jan. 10, 2015

The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a public briefing next week to examine U.S. efforts to defend against cyber-threats posed by North Korea, the committee's chairman said Friday.The briefing, set for Tuesday, will feature Amb. Sung Kim, special representative for North Korea policy, Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser and Gregory J. Touhill, deputy assistant secretary of homeland security, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), the committee's chairman, said in a statement.The briefing is

International Jan. 10, 2015

Nongovernmental organizations should think about using not only balloons, but also drones to send leaflets of outside information into North Korea, the institute run by former U.S. President George W. Bush said.It was one of the recommendations that the George W. Bush Institute suggested to break down North Korea's information barriers, as it issued the "Light through the Darkness" report, calling for improvement in the North's human rights situation. The report called for the NGO community as w

International Jan. 10, 2015

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a newly built mushroom farm in Pyongyang, along with his aides and younger sister, Kim Yo-jung, the North's official media said Saturday. Kim was accompanied by his younger sister, who holds the post of vice department director of the Workers' Party central committee; Hwang Pyong-so, director of the Korean People's Army general political bureau; Han Kwang-sang, department director of the party central committee; and Ri Jae-il, first vice department dir

International Jan. 10, 2015