Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.Witnesses said a flare or firework lit by band members started the blaze in Santa Maria, a university city of about 225,000 people, though officials said the cause was still under i

South Korea has decided to buy eight advanced multi-purpose maritime helicopters from the United States for its Navy, military sources said Tuesday.The MH-60R Seahawk helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. was chosen over the AW-195 Wildcat manufactured by the Anglo-Italian company AgustaWestland, they said."After completing test evaluations in September, we've conducted a series of analysis and negotiations on details including technology, terms of contracts and rices," said one Nav

It is official: Psy’s viral hit “Gangnam Style” has now surpassed the 810 million viewer mark, making it the most-watched video in YouTube history. Psy, whose real name is Park Jae-sang, galloped past the teenage heartthrob Justin Bieber on Saturday to take the top spot. Bieber’s “Baby,” which took more than two years to reach the 800 million mark, had sat at the top of the YouTube views ranking since July 2010.“Each day, ‘Gangnam Style’ is still being watched between 7 and 10 million times,” wr

The audit division of the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office on Saturday apprehended a 30-year-old trainee prosecutor who had allegedly forced a woman he interrogated over a suspected theft to have sexual intercourse with him. However, the accused prosecutor, whose identification remains unveiled, will be investigated over bribery suspicion instead of the much criticized sexual assault. The spokesman of the prosecutors' office said the accused prosecutor has risk of fleeing or destroying evidenc

A bomb exploded near a Shiite religious procession in northwest Pakistan on Saturday killing seven people including four children, hospital officials said.At least 30 people including five other children were also wounded when the remote controlled bomb packed with ball bearings exploded on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.The blast went off as people from the minority Shiite Muslim community were gathering to mark the anniversary of the death of the Prophet

Top election campaigners for Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Democratic United Party, decided to give up their posts Saturday, allowing their candidate to form a new election camp that will include other liberal forces.The move came one day after independent presidential hopeful Ahn Cheol-soo withdrew from the presidential election, endorsing Moon as the sole candidate of the so-called liberal camp.Moon's top election campaigners "agreed there is a need to form a n

CAIRO (AP) _ Supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi clashed Friday in the worst violence since he took office, while he defended a decision to give himself near-absolute power to root out what he called ``weevils eating away at the nation of Egypt.''The edicts by Morsi, which were issued Thursday, have turned months of growing polarization into an open battle between his Muslim Brotherhood and liberals who fear a new dictatorship. Some in the opposition, which has been divided and

The music video of "Gangnam Style" by South Korean singer-rapper Psy is soon expected to become the most-viewed video on YouTube, as the number of views topped 800 million as of Saturday.The music video is already ranked second on YouTube's all-time most-viewed videos, according to the Web site."Gangnam Style" is only short of some 3 million views to take the No. 1 position, which is only a matter of time, industry observers said, especially when considering the short period of time it took for

GAZA CITY (AP) _ Israeli troops fired on Gazans surging toward Israel's border fence Friday, killing one person but leaving intact the fragile two-day-old cease-fire between Hamas and the Jewish state.The truce, which calls for an end to Gaza rocket fire on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, came after eight days of cross-border fighting, the bloodiest between Israel and Hamas in four years.In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, the Palestinian U.N. observer Riyad Mansour called the situa

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - A powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck southern Mexico early Thursday, according to the US Geological Survey.There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the earthquake, which struck at 3:20 am (0920 GMT) some 31 kilometers (19 miles) east of the town of Altamirano, in the southern Guerrero state.The epicenter of the earthquake was at a depth of 61 kilometers (38 miles) according to the USGS.The earthquake came a little over a week after a 7.4-magnitude te

KAMPALA (AFP) - A fresh outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in central Uganda has killed at least two people, the health minister said Thursday.The virus has killed two members of the same family since Saturday about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital Kampala, Health Minister Christine Ondoa said."The ministry of health would like to inform the general public that another viral haemorrhagic fever, Ebola, has broken out in the country," Ondoa said.A third man also died in the area late last

Democratic United Party presidential candidate Moon Jae-in and independent Ahn Cheol-soo on Friday agreed to reduce the president’s power and reinforce the prime minister’s role should one of them become president next year. “We will pour our genuine hearts into our agreement and reflect what the people of Korea want,” said Yoo Min-young, Ahn’s spokesperson, after the eight-hour meeting. The two sides have been negotiating over a merger of candidacy. The other is expected to become the prime min

 The Samsung Lions squeezed past the SK Wyverns 2-1 Wednesday to get to within one win of the South Korean professional baseball championship.In Game 5 of the Korean Series at Seoul's Jamsil Stadium, the Lions scored early on SK's shaky defense and held on for dear life to take the 3-2 series lead in the best-of-seven affair.The Lions can clinch their second straight title, and sixth overall, with a win Thursday night back at Jamsil.The Lions got the first run in the bottom of the first. After a

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) _ Saudi media reports say a blaze that erupted inside a tent at a wedding in the country's east has killed at least 23 women and children. The media cite civil defense officials as saying that celebratory gunfire, common at weddings, brought down a power line that touched off the fire late Tuesday in the Eastern Province. The official Saudi Press Agency said Wednesday that a special government committee will conduct an investigation into the incident. The probe will be

North Korea accused South Korea on Saturday of creating a "touch-and-go" situation along the tense WestSea border, warning that it would retaliate if the South continues to try to keep its "illegal" borderline there.North Korea has threatened unspecified military actions since South Korea's Navy fired warning shots to drive away several North Korean fishing boats that violated the West Sea border,

Kim Sung-hwan, Foreign Minister of Korea, addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Friday. (AP-Yonhap)In a thinly-veiled swipe at Japan, South Korea's top diplomat urged the world to make utmost efforts to end "wartime sexual violence" and exhorted any offender to face "the dark side of its history and rectify past wrongdoings."   Addressing the U.N.

Marion Cotillard (MCT)NEW YORK (AP) _ A New York City woman has pleaded guilty to stalking ``The Dark Knight Rises'' actress Marion Cotillard.Teresa Yuan pleaded guilty Friday in Brooklyn federal court. Prosecutors say she sent 504 emails and 120 webcam videos of herself to a Cotillard fan website over four days in 2011.In some of the videos shown in court, Yuan appears to be topless, hisses like

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Death row inmate Damon Thibodeaux walked free after 15 years behind bars Friday after DNA evidence showed he had been wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of his cousin, authorities said.The 38-year-old was released from the Louisiana State Penitentiary in the early afternoon, Pam Laborde, communications director for the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Correctio

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The U.S. intelligence community said Friday that a deadly assault on a US consulate in Libya was a planned attack linked to Al-Qaeda but it stressed that "many unanswered questions" remained."It remains unclear if any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their members to participate," Shawn Turner, spokesman

One of three archaeological pieces of Mayan culture, recovered in the United States where they were sold illegally, is presented by Guatemalan authorities in Guatemala City Sept.12. (AP-Yonhap)MEXICO CITY (AP) _ As the clock winds down to Dec. 21, experts on the Mayan calendar have been racing to convince people that the Mayas didn't predict an apocalypse for the end of this year.Some experts are