HONG KONG (AFP) - Hundreds of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters marched on Sunday to the Chinese government's offices in the semi-autonomous city, demanding direct talks with Beijing officials after six weeks of mass street rallies.Demonstrators have been camped out on three major road junctions across the financial hub since September 28, calling for free leadership elections in 2017.China insists that candidates for the city's top post must be vetted by a loyalist committee, which protesters

BEIJING (AFP) - China's president on Sunday reminded a senior Taiwanese envoy of Beijing's opposition to independence for the island, state media reported, after several recent disputes which have overshadowed improved ties.Xi Jinping met former Taiwanese vice president Vincent Siew on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing.Xi told Siew that relations should be based on "the common political commitment to upholding the 1992 Consensus and opposing 'Taiwan indepen

Samsung Group said Sunday its chairman Lee Kun-hee is in stable recovery and undergoing rehabilitation six months into his hospitalization."(The chairman's) bodily functions, including cardiac function, have recovered to normal and are in stable condition. (He is) awake 15-19 hours a day and is receiving rehabilitation such as wheelchair exercise," the group said.Samsung's remark is the latest update from a month earlier, when group chief of communications Lee Jun confirmed that an elevator was

The Incheon District Court on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Kim Hea-kyung, a former close confidante of the late ferry owner Yoo Byung-eun, to take her into custody.Kim Hea-kyung    Yonhap                                         Kim, 52, arrived at Incheon International Airport last Tuesday after she was deported from the United States. She is the chief of Hankook Pharm Co., a core unit of Chonghaejin Marine Co., the operator of the sunken ferry Sewol.The court cited fears that Kim may fle

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The International Monetary Fund has slightly lowered its outlook for global economic growth this year and next, mostly because of weaker expansions in Japan, Latin America and Europe.The IMF says the global economy will expand 3.3 percent this year, one-tenth of a point below what it forecast in July. World growth should pick up to 3.8 percent in 2015, the IMF says in the latest installment of its World Economic Outlook.The global lending organization has a more optimistic vie

North Korea held a national meeting Tuesday to mark the 17th anniversary of late leader Kim Jong-il's election as general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea.The communist nation's leader, Kim Jong-un, however, was absent from the annual event to commemorate his father.Kim has been out of public sight since Sept. 3 amid news reports that he appears to be suffering a health problem.Attention is being paid to whether he will show up at a ceremony, slated for Oct. 10, to celebrate the 69th ann

MADRID (AP) -- Three more people were placed under quarantine for Ebola at a Madrid hospital where a Spanish nurse became infected, authorities said Tuesday. More than 50 other possible contacts were being monitored.The nurse, who had cared for a Spanish priest who died of Ebola, was the first case of Ebola being transmitted outside of West Africa, where a months-long outbreak has killed at least 3,500 people and infected at least twice as many.Her case highlighted the dangers that health care w

The Defense Ministry on Tuesday replaced the head of its key intelligence organization, apparentlyholding him accountable for failing to give timely and appropriate advice with regard to a series of recent fatal incidents in the barracks.The ministry appointed Lt. Gen. Cho Hyun-chon to lead the Defense Security Command, replacing Lt. Gen. Lee Jae-soo, who took the post just a year ago.It was part of the regular shake-up of generals. Many viewed it as a de facto dismissal of Lee from the post.The

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- A Franciscan priest and several other Christians have been seized by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front in a village in northwestern Syria, the Franciscan mission to the Holy Land said Tuesday."On the night of October 5th, Father Hanna Jallouf of the Custody of the Holy Land, parish priest at Qunyeh, Syria, was taken by some brigades linked to Jabhat Al-Nusra," a statement from the Custody of the Holy Land said.Qunyeh is a village of several hundred people in Idlib province, an

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and U.S. scientist Shuji Nakamura won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes, a breakthrough that spurred the development of LED technology used to light up computer screens and modern smartphones.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says their invention is just 20 years old, “but it has already contributed to create white light in an entirely new manner to the benefit of us all.''Scientist

South Koreans forgot decades-long political tensions, at least for 90 minutes, on Monday, cheering not only their compatriot footballers but those from North Korea waging a battle for a spot in the Asiad final.The inter-Korean showdown in the semifinal match in South Korea's western port city of Incheon was fierce; South Korea was bent on the seemingly elusive goal of clinching the first-ever Asiad gold in the women's football, while the North aimed to take the title back after eight years in th

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The European Union said it will unveil on Tuesday details of investigations into sweetheart tax deals for Apple amid reports it will accuse the U.S. tech giant of getting illegal state aid.The probe into Apple's tax affairs in Ireland, where it has for years enjoyed an effective rate of less than 2.0 percent, found the schemes gave the company an unfair competitive advantage, the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal reported.The EU launched an investigation in June into tax

A U.S. special envoy condemned North Korea Monday for being increasingly recalcitrant about international calls to honor its denuclearization pledges but stressed that Washington and Beijing have "firmly" agreed on the importance of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.Ambassador Glyn Davies, who serves as Washington's special envoy for North Korea policy, met with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei in Beijing earlier in the day. The China trip is the first leg of the envoy's Asian tour that will also

BEIRUT (AP) -- U.S.-led coalition strikes targeted Islamic State group positions overnight across in northern and eastern Syria, including one that hit a grain silo and reportedly killed civilians, activists said Monday.Washington and its Arab allies opened their air assault against the extremist group last week, going after its military facilities, training camps, heavy weapons and oil installations. The campaign expands upon the airstrikes the United States has been conducting against the mili

South Korean tennis duo of Lim Dong-kyu and Chung Hyeon clinched gold in the men's doubles at the Asian Games on Monday, ending the country's 28-year gold medal drought in the event.Lim and Chung beat Saketh Sai Myneni and Sanam Krishan Singh 7-5, 7-6 (2) in the men's doubles tennis final at Yeorumul Tennis Courts.The eighth-seeded pair had beat the fourth seed Indian team of Divij Sharan and Yuki Bhambri in full sets in the semifinals.After nearly three and a half hours of rain delay, the match

North Korea said Sunday it had sentenced detained American Matthew Miller to six years' hard labour for "hostile" acts against Pyongyang.The sentence came some two weeks after Miller and two other detained Americans made a highly unusual televised plea to Washington to negotiate their release.The North's Supreme Court passed the sentence on Miller in a trial earlier Sunday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a terse one-paragraph report."He committed acts hostile to the (North) whi

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia warned Saturday that it would react if the European Union imposed tougher economic sanctions against it over the situation in Ukraine."As for the new list of sanctions from the European Union, if they are passed, there will undoubtedly be a reaction from our side," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.Moscow criticised the European Union for drawing up the tougher sanctions despite a truce agreed in Minsk that was appearing to hold in eastern Ukraine on Saturday

TOKYO (AFP) - A top North Korean diplomat left Saturday for a tour of Europe amid signs reclusive Pyongyang has started to adopt a more active approach to foreign relations, a report said.Kang Sok-Ju, a secretary of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party, is scheduled to visit Belgium, Switzerland and other European countries, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported from the North Korean capital, quoting diplomatic sources.Kang, 75, who was vice prime minister from 2010-2014, could also m

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Saturday sent six ships carrying personnel and equipment to a Soviet-era military base in the Arctic that it is reopening to bolster its presence in the region, Russian news agencies reported.Moscow is ramping up its military presence in the pristine but energy-rich region as other countries such as Canada and Norway are also staking claims to access its resources.President Vladimir Putin last year ordered the military to return to a base on the far-Northern New Siberian

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Heavy monsoon rains and flash floods washing across Pakistan have killed 110 people and injured 148, a government official said Saturday, as authorities warned of more rain in the coming days and troops raced to evacuate people from deluged areas.Ahmad Kamal, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority, said at least 61 people died in the eastern Punjab province since Thursday. He said another 38 people died in the Pakistan's portion of Kashmir and 11 died in nort