DIABALY, Mali (AP) -- About 200 French infantrymen supported by six combat helicopters and reconnaissance planes advanced Monday on the town of Diabaly, seized one week ago by Islamic extremists including fighters under the command of the mastermind of Algeria's recent terror attack.Diabaly, a small bucolic town in central Mali, has been the scene of the first major battle in the war to retake northern Mali from bearded fighters who have occupied the region for nine months."The operation in Diab

The yen strengthened from its weakest level against the dollar since June 2010 as Bank of Japan officials started a two-day policy meeting. Japan’s currency has declined 5.9 percent versus the greenback in the past month on speculation the BOJ, under pressure from the government of new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will boost stimulus to lift the economy out of recession. Technical indicators signaled the yen’s drop may have been overdone and data showed traders became the least bearish on the curr

The presidential transition committee is likely to exclude civil servants, service personnel and teachers from a new pension plan pledged by President-elect Park Geun-hye during her campaign, a committee official said Thursday.The so-called "basic pension" scheme would double the monthly allowance for senior citizens aged 65 or older to 200,000 won ($189)."The basic pension scheme aims to support elderly citizens who are excluded from welfare benefits, so it makes sense to exclude those who are

South Korea rose one notch to 34th place in the FIFA rankings for January, the world's football governing body said Thursday.The rankings, published on FIFA's Web site, showed South Korea with a total of 687 points this month, up one point from December.The increase was calculated from an adjustment in the weighted average of the country's points in the past four years.South Korea was the second-highest ranking Asian nation after Japan, which ranked 21st.(Yonhap News) 

Tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War will be posthumously awarded commemorative medals as South Korea marks 60 years since the end of the conflict, organizers said Thursday.The first recipients of the medals, made of rusty barbed wire from the tense inter-Korean border, will be the families of 36,000 American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 war, they said.The Korean war, which started with an invasion by North Korea on June 25, 1950, ended in an armistice three years later.

ZURICH (AP) -- World and European champion Spain leads an unchanged top 10 teams in FIFA's latest world rankings.Ecuador at No. 12 and Haiti at No. 38 both climbed one place to highest-ever positions as 46 international matches in the past month counted toward the standings.Spain leads from Germany, Argentina, Italy and Colombia. Europe completes the top 10 with England, Portugal, Netherlands, Russia and Croatia.World Cup host Brazil remains at No. 18.Ivory Coast is the highest-ranked African te

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office has made the first arrests as part of a global investigation into the manipulation of interbank lending rates.The SFO said on Tuesday three British men, aged 33, 41 and 47, had been taken to a London police station for interviews. They had all been living in Britain.Sources had said that regulators and prosecutors in the U.S. and Europe were closing in on individual traders they suspected of colluding to rig key benchmark lending rates such as Libor (London interba

Eleven Chinese sailors were rescued from their cargo ship that was tilting in South Korean waters near the border with North Korea, the Coast Guard said Tuesday.The Cambodian-flagged 1,996-ton freighter sent out a distress signal at around 5:40 p.m. as it was listing on its right side about 56 kilometers south of Daecheong Island, it said.The Coast Guard said it immediately dispatched a helicopter and a patrol boat to the scene but the sailors had already been rescued by a passing freighter.The

Two Chinese fishing boats were seized near the southern island of Jeju on Thursday on suspicions of poaching in South Korean waters, maritime police said.The Jeju Coast Guard said it seized the two boats in waters some 78 kilometers northwest of the island at around 3:30 p.m. for violating South Korea's exclusive economic zones and fishing illegally.The sailors are also suspected of falsifying their daily logs, the police said. A crewman of one boat wrote it caught 570 kilograms for the day thou

Gen. James Thurman, the commander of the United Forces in Korea, got a Korean name in a gesture of friendship and goodwill for his service in the nation, an alliance association said Friday.The Republic of Korea-U.S. Alliance Friendship Association conferred the name, "Seo Min Jae," to the four-star general, who is dual-hatted as the commander of the United Nations Command, during a ceremony held at the U.S. Army garrison in Yongsan, Seoul.The society has made a special plaque, containing a mess

The Doosan Bears defeated the Lotte Giants 7-2 on Thursday to stay alive in the opening round of the playoffs in South Korea's top professional baseball league.In the Korea Baseball Organization action at Sajik Stadium, some 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Choi Joon-suk belted a two-run home run for the Bears in the first inning and Oh Jae-won added two runs batted in, as the Bears cut the seri

The granddaughter of Korean Emperor Gojong, the 26th monarch of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), lost a trial to reclaim land that she claims was taken over by the government without following due process.Princess Yi Hae-won and 16 other people who are descendants of the dynasty that was stripped of its powers by Japan in the early 20th century had filed a legal suit asking for the return of 12,700

Korean pop singer Psy has broken the Guinness World Record with his smash hit “Gangnam Style.” Guinness World Records has named his music video the most  “liked” in history, earning over 2,295,231 “likes” on YouTube as of Saturday.“Having been the ‘have you seen this?’ video of the last two months across the web, it’s great to be able to award a record for this tremendously popular video,” said Da

Two construction workers were killed and 12 others were injured Saturday after they fell from a bridge under construction in this city near the northern border, police and emergency officials said.The upper part of the concrete bridge in Paju, north of Seoul, collapsed at around 8:50 a.m., and 14 workers who were working on the bridge fell 15 meters down to the ground, they said. Seventeen were wo

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones, said Friday that it will release its brand new Galaxy Note 2 phablet in Seoul next week.The official launch is earlier than the October date given by Shin Jong-kyun, head of Samsung's IT and mobile unit, at the IFA 2012 trade fair in Berlin last month when the phablet was first unveiled.The company said the start of sales

South Korean rapper-singer Psy topped the iTunes Chart in 30 countries with his single "Gangnam Style," YG Entertainment said Friday.Psy's management agency in Seoul said "Gangnam Style" ranked as the top single on Britain iTunes after enrapturing fans in such countries as the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Argentina and Brazil.It said the song remained at the top of the iTunes w

The U.N. nuclear watchdog adopted a resolution Friday denouncing North Korea for its continued nuclear activity.In the resolution approved at the annual general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, its member states urged North Korea "not to conduct any further nuclear test."The secretive communist nation has conducted two underground nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.The

South Korean Shin Ji-yai defeated American Paula Creamer in a record playoff battle on Monday for her first LPGA Tour win in nearly two years.At the Kingsmill Championship on the River Course of Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia, Shin parred the ninth playoff hole to edge Creamer, who three-putted for bogey.The playoff was the longest between two players in LPGA Tour history, breaking the

Japan's financial services minister was found dead at his home on Monday in what police believe was a possible suicide, media said.Tadahiro Matsushita, 73, who was also the state minister in charge of postal reform for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, was found collapsed at his house in Tokyo and confirmed dead at hospital shortly afterwards, public broadcaster NHK said.Kyodo News and Jiji Press, ci

A Seoul court sentenced the chairman of a now-suspended savings bank to 12 years in prison on Tuesday for extending more than 200 billion won ($177 million) in illegal loans.Shin Hyun-kyu, chairman of the Tomato Savings Bank, was charged last year with dereliction of duty, for incurring huge losses to the troubled bank through illegal loans.The bank's operation was suspended by the nation's top fi