PHNOM PENH (Yonhap News) -- South Korea declared the opening of two sets of ambitious negotiations toward potentially massive free trade deals Tuesday, which if realized, would create huge new markets in Northeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.The two negotiating processes, one of them between South Korea, China and Japan, and the other involving 16 Asia-Pacific countries, are the most tangible outcomes of a series of annual summits in Cambodia led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nation

An Emirates Airbus A380 superjumbo made an emergency landing in Sydney shortly after takeoff on its way to Dubai following an engine fault."There was no fire, flames or smoke, however passengers may have witnessed a spark and a noise from the engine," Emirates said in a statement.The incident, which occurred yesterday with 380 passengers onboard, is being investigated, said the airline, which took delivery of its latest flagship plane yesterday.Emirates, which has ordered a total of 90 of the do

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- Greece has "delivered" on its economic reform pledges and a long-awaited report from its international creditors is "positive", Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the Eurogroup of finance ministers, said Monday.The payment of a key tranche of international aid to stave off bankruptcy in Greece has frozen since June pending judgement on its reform programme by the so-called "troika" of creditors, the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.Arriving for

BEIJING (AFP) -- China's Communist Party will on Thursday unveil the new set of top leaders who will take over the reins of the country for the next decade, one day after their week-long congress ends, the party said Monday.The widely expected timing was confirmed to AFP by staff organising press coverage of the Communist Party congress under way in Beijing, which is held every five years to shuffle the top leadership of the party.Chinese President Hu Jintao, who has been in power ten years, is

Adopting measures to promote energy efficiency can buy the world an additional five years to seal a climate-protection deal, the International Energy Agency said.Under current policies, nations need a climate agreement by 2017, when energy infrastructure will probably produce, or lock in, all emissions allowable by 2035 at a level consistent with preventing dangerous global warming, the agency said today in its World Energy Outlook report."Rapid deployment of energy-efficient technologies, as in

South Korea's top central banker said Monday that the country may strengthen measures to smooth out cross-border capital movements if needed, but potential steps would not take on features of capital control.South Korea has undergone excessive capital outflows whenever a financial crisis has cropped up. Since 2010, Korea has implemented a set of the so-called macro-prudential measures to ease volatile cross-border capital flows including bank levies and tighter regulations on banks' FX derivativ

Renewable energy is set to rival coal as the main generator of the world's electricity by 2035 as the costs of technology fall and subsidies rise, the International Energy Agency said.Wind farms, solar parks and hydroelectric dams are forecast to become the second biggest power generator in 2015 and rise to almost a third of all generation in 2035, a level approaching that of coal, the Paris-based agency that advises 28 nations on energy policy said today in its annual outlook."A steady increase

THABEIKKYIN, Myanmar (AFP) -- Myanmar rescuers struggled Monday to help villagers hit by an earthquake that aid agencies said killed at least 13, injured dozens and caused a bridge and mine to collapse.A series of powerful aftershocks rattled nerves after Sunday's 6.8-magnitude quake, which sent terrified people running from homes and hotels in the country's second-biggest city of Mandalay and surrounding villages.Authorities said they were providing help to victims, including those without shel

The U.S. will surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production in the next decade, making the world's biggest consumer almost self-reliant in energy, the International Energy Agency said.Growing supply of crude extracted from "tight" underground rock formations will transform the U.S. into the world's largest oil producer by about 2020, lasting until the middle of that decade, the Paris-based adviser said today in its annual World Energy Outlook, which projects energy trends through 2035. New domestic sou

BEIJING (AP) -- Tears welled in Li Jian's eyes whenever President Hu Jintao mentioned the environment in his speech to Communist Party delegates gathered in the Great Hall of the People during China's most important political event of the decade.Hu's exhortation last week to create a "beautiful China" and to "cherish and love nature" spoke to the 55-year-old bioengineer's dearest concerns. Hours later, still brimming with emotion, she stood up during a staid discussion among fellow delegates, to

ROME (AP) -- North Korea increased its staple foods production for the second year in a row but its citizens are still suffering from a serious lack of key proteins and fats in their diets, a U.N. report said Monday.A U.N. team visited all nine agricultural provinces of the communist state in September and October during the main cereal harvest and estimated that even with the increase _ a 10 percent improvement over last year _ North Korea will need to import 507,000 metric tons of cereals to m

The Samsung Lions' closer Oh Seung-hwan decided on Monday to stay with his South Korean club for 2013 and put his dreams of playing overseas on hold, team officials said Monday.Song Sam-bong, general manager of the Korea Baseball Organization club, said Oh, the league's all-time saves leader, told him in their meeting he would pitch one more season for the Daegu-based team before testing the free agent market.The Lions have won the past two KBO championships. Song said he told Oh the Lions would

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's English-language directorial debut film is likely to be released in North America and other English-speaking countries.The Weinstein Company, a major U.S. distributor, recently picked up the English-language rights to "Snow Piercer" from South Korea's CJ Entertainment, an investor, distributor and production company, CJ said in a release Monday.Under the deal reached at this year's American Film Market, the American company will distribute the thriller in Nor

Five military intelligence officers were referred to the military prosecution for punishment on charges of paid sex, embezzlement and other wrongdoings that have been covered up for up to more than two years, the defense ministry said Tuesday.The Defense Security Command officers got away with internal disciplinary measures, such as transfers to field units, without facing formal charges as their agency did not refer the cases for investigation over concern its image could be tarnished.Four seni

Special prosecutors said Tuesday they have delayed this week's questioning of President Lee Myung-bak's eldest brother over his role in the president's now-scrapped retirement home project by one day at his request.Lee Sang-eun, the 79-year-old chairman of automotive seat maker DAS, is suspected of having played a role in the alleged irregularities by loaning some 600 million won ($542,000) in cash to his nephew and President Lee's only son, Si-hyung, for the land deal in which critics argue tax

A 37-year-old man, who apparently displays signs of acute social withdrawal, has been arrested for allegedly collecting personal data of 8.84 million people using Google's search engine and leaking some of the information, police said Tuesday.The man, who is only identified by his surname Kim, allegedly didn't hack any Web sites to retrieve the personal information, including names, resident registration numbers and addresses, which are all available on sites routinely indexed by Google's search

China's economy will probably rebound in the fourth quarter, Jia Kang, a Ministry of Finance researcher, said at a conference reviewing China's economic performance in Beijing today.China will achieve its full-year growth target of 7.5 percent and "the rebound in the fourth quarter is likely to extend into next year," Jia said at the quarterly conference at the China Center for Economic Research, Peking University.The median forecast in a Bloomberg news survey of 30 economists, which was publish

BEIJING (AP) -- Thousands of people in an eastern Chinese city clashed with police while protesting the proposed expansion of a chemical factory that they say would spew pollution and damage public health, townspeople said Saturday.Pollution has become a major source of unrest in China, as members of the rising middle class become more outspoken against environmentally risky projects in their backyards.The Zhenhai district government in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city said in a statement Saturda

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Hopes for a halt to violence in Syria over a Muslim holiday lay in tatters Saturday as fighting raged, war planes targeted  Aleppo and some 146 people were reported killed on the first day of Eid al-Adha.The ceasefire conditionally agreed by President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the main rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Thursday had raised the prospect of the first real halt to the fighting after 19 months of conflict.But the first day Friday  of Eid -- one of the most sacred ho

The Australian unit of South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO is still in talks to buy Australian miner and steelmaker Arrium Ltd., which recently rejected a takeover offer, its head said.In early October, Arrium rebuffed a takeover bid by a consortium including POSCO Australia Pty and Noble Group Ltd. valued at A$1.01 billion ($1.04 billion)."The consortium continues to have talks with Arrium," Shin Soo-cheol, managing-director of POSCO Australia, told reporters on Friday."We are discussing the iss