A bill on protecting "stateless children" from North Korea was sent to President Barack Obama's desk Tuesday for his signature after both chambers of Congress passed it.The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the bill, entitled "An Act to develop a strategy for assisting stateless children from North Korea, and for other purposes."The bill, also dubbed "North Korean Child Welfare Act of 2012,"notes that hundreds of thousands of North Korean children suffer from malnutrition in the c

A 6-acre tract in Philadelphia, owned by a church group derided as a cult, is available in an eBay auction, starting at $4.5 million. The property, which includes a swimming pool, a basketball court and 10 rundown buildings, on an entire city block, is owned by the Church of Bible Understanding, an organization founded by Stewart Traill, a former vacuum cleaner salesman who rebranded himself a prophet and attracted followers beginning in the 1970s, The Philadelphia Inquirer said Monday.By 1985 t

A military bomb disposal team took care of some unfinished World War II business in eastern England after a boy found an old bomb, officials said.Sonny Carter, 7, was using a metal detector he got for Christmas during a walk with his parents Wednesday, the Lynn News reported. He got a hit on Roydon Common near the family's home in Gaywood, Norfolk. The family brought the mud-caked object home and washed it off. Then Sonny's father, Jem Carter, got concerned and called a friend who had been a Roy

A Swedish hospital said new precautions are being taken after a dentist's drill unattached during a procedure and ended up in a patient's lung.Officials at the Vastmanland Central Hospital in Vasteras said the drill became loose and fell into the mouth of a 60-year-old woman, who was undergoing dental implant surgery last September, The Local.se reported Friday."She tried to spit it out, and was made to cough, but she'd already swallowed," said Per Weitz, the hospital's medical chief.Weitz said

A 50-year-old Florida woman was locked up this weekend after allegedly beating up her younger boyfriend due to unsatisfying sex.Jennie Scott was booked into Manatee County jail on a misdemeanor battery charge for allegedly whacking Jilberto Deleon, 32, with a stick and threatening to upgrade her weapon of choice to a pipe wrench, The Smoking Gun website reported.The arrest report indicated Scott became enraged when her paramour wrapped up his part of the tryst first and then decided to call it q

Most U.S. adults sleep on their sides, forget their dreams in the morning and often sleep with someone who snores, a survey of 3,700 indicates. A survey for home furnishings retailer Anna's Linens to coincide with National Sleep Foundation found 74 percent of U.S. adults said they wear pajamas to bed, 8 percent said they slept naked, 74 percent said they failed to recall their dreams in the morning, 74 said they sleep on their sides and 47 percent said they shared a bed with someone who snored.

The Senate passed legislation early New Year's Day to neutralize a fiscal cliff combination of across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts that kicked in at midnight. The pre-dawn vote was 89-8.Senate passage set the stage for a final showdown in the House of Representatives, where a vote was expected later Tuesday or perhaps Wednesday.  Without legislation, economists in and out of government had warned of a possible new recession and spike in unemployment if the fragile U.S. economy were

South Korea's trade surplus shrank from a year earlier as exports dropped at a faster rate than imports, the government said Tuesday.The country's trade surplus came to about US$2.03 billion last month, compared with a $4.48-billion surplus in November and $3.8-billion surplus in October.The drop comes mainly from a large reduction in exports, which dropped 5.5 percent from that of December 2011 to some $45.1 billion. Imports shrank 5.3 percent on-year to $43.07 billion, according to the Ministr

 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday issued a verbal New Year's message, marking the first time in 19 years that such a message has been read by the North's leader on its television and radio.In the message broadcast by the North's Korean Central TV and Korean Central Broadcasting Station, Kim called for efforts to resolve inter-Korean tension by following through on previous inter-Korean joint declarations. He also vowed to prioritize agriculture and light industry in his economic policy

A gas leak in an Istanbul hotel poisoned at least 23 people, with four listed in critical condition, hospital officials said.The incident occurred Monday in the Modern Sultan Hotel in Istanbul's Faith district, the newspaper Today's Zaman reported.Two of the victims were hotel employees, the rest foreign tourists, the newspaper said, adding they were taken to five different hospitals.Witnesses described several of the victims as unconscious, with white foam emerging from their mouths. (UPI)<한글 기

A failure to meet a midnight deadline to avoid the sharp tax hikes and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff became inevitable late Monday when Republicans leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives said they couldn't keep waiting for the Senate to send a bill their way. But lawmakers continued to hold out hope a deal could be reached when Congress reconvenes in the next couple of days, thereby avoid the possibility of a recession as the economy slows down.While the deadline to prevent tax i

South Korea on Monday restarted one of three nuclear reactors shut down for safety reasons, easing fears of power shortages during the harsh winter.Half of the six reactors at Yeonggwang, one of the country's largest nuclear power complexes, were shut down in November, two of them to replace "non-core" parts that had been provided with forged quality and safety warranties.The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said operators restarted one reactor at Yeonggwang in the evening following approval by the

The National Assembly on Tuesday approved a 342 trillion won budget for this year which includes the nation’s largest-ever amount of social spending in line with President-elect Park Geun-hye’s plans to improve health, education and welfare for low-income households. About 100 trillion won, nearly one-third of the total, has been set aside for welfare, buttressing Seoul’s move toward a welfare state. The president-elect has vowed to strengthen the social safety net and improve people’s livelihoo

LG디스플레이가 삼성전자의 최신 태블릿PC인 갤럭시노트10.1에 쓰인 디스플레이 기술이 자사의 LCD 특허를 침해했다 며 국내 판매를 금지해달라는 소송을 제기했다고 27일 밝혔다.LG디스플레이는 지난 26일 삼성전자와 삼성디스플레이를 상대로 이 같은 내용의 특허침해금지 가처분 소송을 서울중앙지방법원에 냈다.LG디스플레이는 갤럭시노트10.1의 국내 생산•판매를 즉각 중단시킬 것과 삼성 전자가 이를 어길 경우 하루 10억원씩 지급하라고 명령할 것을 법원에 요청했다.LG디스플레이는 갤럭시노트10.1에 사용된 기술이 자사의 IPS(In-Plane Switching) LCD 패널 구조와 설계에 관한 기술 등 핵심기술 특허 3건을 침해했다는 입장이다.LG디스플레이 관계자는 "삼성측이 침해한 기술은 IPS LCD 성능 확보와 구동에 필요한 핵심기술"이라고 말했다.이번 소송은 앞서 삼성디스플레이가 LG디스플레이와 LG전자를 상대로 제기한 LCD 특허 소송에 대한 대응 조치로 풀이된다.삼성디스플레이

앱 스토어 판매관련 작가 8명 등에 1억7천만원 주도록 판결중국 법원이 애플사가 중국 작가 8명과 회사 2곳의 저작권을 침해했다며 이들에게 103만 위안(약 1억7천만원)을 배상하라고 27일(현지시간) 판결했다.베이징 제2 인민법원은 이날 애플이 자사 애플리케이션 상점인 '앱 스토어'에 원고의 허락없이 이들의 작품이 포함된 앱의 판매를 허용해 저작권을 침해했다는 판 결을 내렸다고 중국 사법 관계자가 밝혔다.작가들은 애초 1천200만 위안의 배상을 요구했다.애플의 중국 측 대변인인 캐럴린 우는 "저작권 침해 소송을 심각하게 받아들이고 있다"고 발표했지만 항소 여부는 언급하지 않았다. 애플은 앱 개발자에게 앱 스토어에 등록된 앱에 저작권을 침해하는 내용이 있는 지 확인을 요구하고 있다.대변인은 "애플은 언제나 콘텐츠 소유주의 저작권을 보호하기 위해 서비스를 갱 신한다"고 덧붙였다.지난해 원고들은 애플이 사전 허가 없이 자신의 저작물을 앱 스토어에 올렸다며 집단 소송을 추진했다.지난 달

For more than 10 years, the homeless woman slept on the same plastic bus stop bench at a busy intersection in the San Fernando Valley, no matter how cold it was or if it was raining.The 67-year-old, described by one church volunteer who saw her regularly as the ``sweetest lady on the street,‘’ was nestled in her regular spot early Thursday when the unthinkable happened: A man came out of a nearby drug store, doused her with a flammable liquid and set her ablaze.She was taken to a hospital, where

Egypt’s Islamist president proclaimed the country’s newly adopted constitution as the dawning of a “new republic” in a television address Wednesday, calling on the opposition to join a dialogue with him after a month of violent turmoil and focus on repairing a damaged economy.Mohammed Morsi sought to present the Islamist-drafter charter as the turning of a historic page for Egypt, but his speech did little to ease the suspicions of those who fear he and his Muslim Brotherhood are entrenching the

Even Mark Zuckerberg’s family can get tripped up by Facebook’s privacy settings.A picture Zuckerberg’s sister posted on her personal Facebook profile was seen by a marketing director, who then posted the picture to Twitter and her more than 40,000 followers Wednesday.That didn’t sit well with Zuckerberg’s sister, Randi, who tweeted at Callie Schweitzer that the picture was meant for friends only. Schweitzer replied by saying the picture popped up on her Facebook news feed.Randi Zuckerberg eventu

Angry protesters carrying clubs threw rocks at the French Embassy in Central African Republic on Wednesday, criticizing the former colonial power for failing to do more to stem a rapid rebel advance as fears grew that the insurgents aim to seize the capital.The demonstrations began earlier in the day outside the U.S. Embassy before about 100 protesters then took to the French Embassy, carrying pieces of cardboard with messages that read: “No to war! No to France!” “It's France who colonized us _

South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela was discharged from hospital on Wednesday after almost three weeks being treated for a lung infection but will continue to receive medical care at home, the presidency said.The much-loved 94-year-old had been admitted to a hospital in the capital Pretoria on December 8, the latest health scare for South Africa's first black president."Former president Nelson Mandela was discharged from hospital this evening," said a statement from President Jacob