A North Korean medium-range missile exploded seconds after it was launched on Sunday, US officials said, a high-profile failure that came hours before the US vice president arrived in South Korea, and as an American aircraft supercarrier approaches the Korean Peninsula in a show of force. The US had good intelligence both before and after the launch, said a White House foreign policy adviser traveling with Vice President Mike Pence, who arrived in Seoul in the afternoon to start a 10-day trip to

US Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that North Korea's "provocation" underscored the risks faced by American and South Korean service members, hours after the North conducted a failed missile launch shortly before Pence's arrival.Pence landed in South Korea at the start of a 10-day trip to Asia and was quickly confronted with the stakes facing the United States as Pyongyang seeks to flex its muscles around the birth anniversary of the country's late founder and advance the regime's nuclear

BUCHAREST, Romania -- Millions of Orthodox Christians around the world have celebrated Easter in overnight services and with ``holy fire'' from Jerusalem, commemorating the day followers believe that Jesus was resurrected nearly 2,000 years ago.  This year the Orthodox churches celebrate Easter on the same Sunday that Roman Catholics and Protestants mark the holy festival. The Western Christian church follows the Gregorian calendar, while the Eastern Orthodox uses the older Julian calendar and t

Prosecutors are expected to indict ousted President Park Geun-hye this week and wrap up their investigation into the corruption scandal that brought her down, legal sources said Sunday.Woo Byung-woo, former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, is likely to be put on trial along with Park for his alleged involvement in the scandal, they said. (Yonhap)A senior prosecution official earlier said Park could be indicted Monday on a string of charges including bribery, abuse of power, coerc

Malaysian police said Saturday they have arrested a North Korean man in connection with the recent killing of the North Korean leader's half brother amid a diplomatic feud between Malaysia and North Korea over an autopsy.Ri Jong-chol, 46, was arrested at 9:50 p.m. Friday night in Selangor state, the police said in a statement. He is the fourth suspect arrested in connection to the murder of Kim Jong-nam on Monday. Shown here is a press release from the Malaysian police on the arrest of Ri Jong-c

South Korea handed over five North Korean fishermen to the communist country on Saturday, five days after they were picked up from a boat drifting off South Korea's eastern coast, an official said.The repatriation took place at the border village of Panmunjom that separates the two Koreas around 11:30 a.m., according to the unification ministry official. (Yonhap)South Korea said the five fishermen expressed their wish to go back to North Korea. The five fishermen were rescued by a South Korean c

Popular South Korean rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae announced her retirement on Saturday at age 22.An official at her agency, Galaxia SM, said Son will no longer compete in the sport and decided not to enter the national team trials scheduled for next month.Son had been mulling over retirement after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where she ranked fourth in the individual all-around, tied for the best Olympic performance by an Asian gymnast.Son has been one of the country's most visible athlete

Woo Byung-woo, a former top presidential aide, on Saturday was questioned by a special prosecutors' team investigating an explosive scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye."I will faithfully respond to prosecutors' questions," Woo, Park's former senior secretary for civil affairs, told reporters after arriving at the special prosecutors' office in southern Seoul.Woo Byung-woo (C), former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, speaks to reporters after arriving at the special prosec

The Donald Trump administration should not rely solely on sanctions and diplomatic isolation in handling North Korea, Victor Cha, a former director at the White House's National Security Council, said Friday."With regard to diplomacy, no US policy should be composed of only sanctions, military exercises and diplomatic isolation," Cha said in his presentation on the new US administration's North Korea policy during a conference hosted by the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies in Seoul.Victor C

Malaysia police performed a second autopsy on the body of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half brother, a news report said, as Pyongyang vowed not to accept the result of any autopsy.Associated Press reported that the second autopsy started Friday night because the results of the first one were inconclusive, quoting an unidentified Malaysian official.Still, there are conflicting media reports about an autopsy. Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, at a restaurant i

LYON (AFP) -- French far-right leader Marine Le Pen gave a major speech Sunday to formally launch her presidential bid with a programme featuring many of the themes that propelled Donald Trump to the White House.Le Pen, who leads the National Front, on Saturday published a list of 144 "commitments" built around putting France first, reclaiming sovereignty from the European Union, and clamping down on immigration.The 48-year-old is convinced that Trump and the Brexit vote in Britain point to the

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A federal appeals court denied early Sunday the Justice Department's request for an immediate reinstatement of President Donald Trump's ban on accepting certain travelers and all refugees.The Trump administration appealed a temporary order restraining the ban nationwide, saying late Saturday night that the federal judge in Seattle overreached by "second-guessing'' the president on a matter of national security.Now the higher court's denial of an immediate stay means the legal b

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Most of the thousands of killings of poor suspects under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug crackdown appear to be extrajudicial executions and may constitute crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said Wednesday.The London-based human rights group urged Duterte's government to adopt an approach that respects human rights in its fight against drugs and crime, and called on the police and judiciary to prosecute officers involved in unlawful killin

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan is not deliberately weakening the yen to boost its exports, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday when asked in parliament about President Donald Trump's accusations of currency manipulation. Abe is expected to meet with Trump in Washington on Feb. 10. He said Japan would again explain to the US side its unprecedented monetary easing policies, which have pulled the yen lower against the dollar in recent years. "The criticism that our policies are intended to direct the yen

AMONA, West Bank (AP) -- Israeli forces began an operation to evacuate settlers from a West Bank outpost on Wednesday whose slated destruction could rupture Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's narrow coalition, dominated by ultranationalists who support settlements.Unarmed police in blue sweatshirts and black baseball caps made their way up the hill around midday Wednesday.  On the hilltop, youngsters erected makeshift barricades from smashed tiles, rusty metal bars and large rocks to slow their

Fresh satellite imagery shows that North Korea has apparently restarted its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor, a US website monitoring the communist nation said Friday."Imagery from January 22 shows a water plume (most probably warm) originating from the cooling water outlet of the reactor, an indication that the reactor is very likely operating," the website 38 North said in a report."Currently, most of the river is frozen over except where this water mixes with the river. Currents carry this

South Korea's special prosecutors said Saturday that they will send documents requested by Danish authorities concerning the daughter of a woman at the center of a snowballing corruption scandal as soon as possible to speed up her repatriation.Chung Yoo-ra, the 21-year-old daughter of President Park Geun-hye's close friend Choi Soon-sil, was arrested in the northern Danish city of Aalborg earlier this year for illegal stay. She is suspected of receiving favors from a college in Seoul during its

(AP)--Mexicans are beginning to debate how to fight back against US President Donald Trump's aggressive stance on trade and immigration.Prominent political figures have suggested the country expel US law enforcement agents, stop detaining Central American migrants or no longer inspect northbound trucks for drug shipments. Some activist groups on Friday were calling for a boycott of American brands. Former President Felipe Calderon said Thursday that "we have to design a policy of retaliation'' f

(AP) -- Many citizens of Muslim-majority countries affected by President Donald Trump's curbs on travel to the United States say they were hardly surprised the restrictions rank among his first orders of business.The new commander-in-chief had, after all, once called for a ``complete and total shutdown'' of Muslim arrivals, and in his inaugural speech vowed to eradicate ``radical Islamic terrorism'' from the face of the earth.But that doesn't make news of the clampdown sting any less for those o

Pointing toward possible confrontation, Donald Trump's selection for secretary of state likened Beijing's island-building in the South China Sea to a takeover of another country's territory and spoke of forcing Beijing to fully apply sanctions on North Korea.  China will likely be alarmed by former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson's Senate confirmation hearing remarks on Wednesday. While they focused largely on Russia, reflecting Tillerson's past relationship with its President Vladimir Putin and a