THE HAGUE (AFP) -- Investigators probing the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine said Tuesday they had identified pieces that "possibly" come from a Russian-made BUK missile, where the plane crashed.International and Dutch investigators are probing "several parts, possibly originating from a BUK surface-air-missile system," said a joint statement from prosecutors and the Dutch Safety Board. "These parts have been secured during a previous recovery-mission in easte

Eric Thames of the NC Dinos on Tuesday became the first player in South Korean baseball to hit for the cycle twice in one season.The American slugger completed his second cycle of the season against the Nexen Heroes at Mokdong Stadium in Seoul. It was the 18th cycle in the 33-year history of the Korea Baseball Organization.Thames, formerly with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners, had his first cycle on April 9.Yang Joon-hyuk, a retired legend and the KBO's all-time leader in hits, is

BERLIN (AFP) -- Eurozone leaders gathering for an emergency summit Tuesday should discuss humanitarian aid for the debt-mired country, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said."We must now cover their needs very quickly, the people there need help and we should not refuse it just because we're unhappy with the result of the referendum (Sunday on creditors' bailout terms)," Gabriel, who is also Germany's vice chancellor, told reporters Monday. "I hope this can happen quickly. I assume it will

FRANKFURT (AFP) -- All eyes turned to the European Central Bank Monday following the resounding 'No' in Greece's referendum, as it is seen as the only institution capable of stemming market panic and preventing the Greek economy from collapsing.In Sunday's referendum, more than 61 percent of Greeks rejected creditor demands for further austerity in return for more bailout funds, sending Greece's eurozone partners scrambling to respond. Until now, the ECB has agreed to keep Greek banks -- and, by

VIENNA (AFP) -- The last act of high-stakes Iran nuclear talks began Monday with foreign ministers seeking to resolve a few remaining issues blocking a historic accord on the eve of a final deadline.With ministers back in Vienna on a 10th day of talks, both sides warned however that success in their quest to nail down an agreement ending a 13-year-old standoff was far from guaranteed.On Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry, in Vienna since July 27 facing off against his Iranian counterpart M

JOS, Nigeria (AP) -- Two bombs blamed on the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram exploded at a crowded mosque and a posh Muslim restaurant in Nigeria's central city of Jos, killing 51 people, officials said Monday.The blasts on Sunday night came hours after a woman suicide bomber blew up at a crowded evangelical Christian church service in the northeastern city of Potiskum, killing six people, according to witnesses.Also Sunday, extremists returned to northeastern villages attacked three days ear

MANILA (AP) -- China is standing pat on its decision to reject arbitration by an international tribunal that will begin formal hearings this week to resolve a long-seething feud between Beijing and Manila over the South China Sea, the Chinese ambassador to Manila said Monday.The five-member tribunal starts hearings in The Hague on Tuesday to address China's contention that the arbitration body does not have authority to assume jurisdiction over Manila's complaint against Beijing.A high-level del

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday it has added a high capacity version to its solid state drive line-up to meet various demands in the fast-growing market.The new SSD version with 2 terabyte capacity will lead its 850 PRO & EVO lineup, Samsung Electronics said.A SSD is a data storage device made with a NAND flash memory chip that saves data without power present and is more durable and faster than a hard disk drive.  "Samsung Electronics rolled out vertical NAND-based S

GWANGJU (Yonhap) -- South Korea climbed to first place in the Summer Universiade medal standings Monday after a big day in shooting and judo.The host country swept both individual and team gold medals in the women's 25-meter pistol and the men's 50-meter pistol at Naju Jeollanamdo Shooting Range in Naju, South Jeolla Province, southwest of the main host city of Gwangju.Kim Ji-hye, Cho Mun-hyeon and Han Ji-young scored 1,738 points for the team gold in the morning, and then Kim claimed the indivi

The two South Korean male filmmakers who have tied the knot in the first same-sex public wedding in South Korea asked Monday that they be recognized legally as a couple as they appeared in their first court hearing.The hearing drew public attention as it came weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court declared the federal ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.Kim Chokwangsu and Kim Seung-hwan got married in 2013 but are still seeking to get legal status as South Korea does not recognize same-sex mar

CONSTANT VIGILANCE – The South Korean Hanbit Unit’s quick reaction force partakes in a drill at the U.N. military base in Bor, South Sudan. The 280-member unit -- consisting of mostly engineers and medics -- is stationed in the African country to aid its reconstruction efforts. (Yonhap)　　

A thick green tide spreading across Korea’s major rivers due to low water flow and warm temperatures is stoking concerns over the ecosystem and public health. Since mid-May, algal blooms have been seen in the Nakdonggang River in the south of the peninsula. In June, the algal blooms spread in the Hangang River in Seoul as well, and Seoul Metropolitan Government issued an algal bloom warning on June 30 in the downstream section of the river, spanning from Jamsil Bridge to Haengju Bridge. It was t

Breaking the predawn serenity, the areas just south of the 38th parallel were engulfed with roaring cannons and flames on June 25, 1950, as North Korea launched a coordinated attack from coast to coast with the backing of the Soviet Union and China. Sixty-five years on, tension is omnipresent throughout the Demilitarized Zone, a 250-kilometer-long, 4-kilometer-wide strip set up after an armistice agreement separating the two Koreas. Antipodal to its name, it remains the world’s most heavily mili

WARSAW (AFP) -- More than 5,000 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean since Friday, according to Frontex, the European Union's border agency.The rescue mission, which started Friday, focused on a group of Libyan migrants travelling aboard 25 boats, said Frontex, adding that five other operations were in place to rescue another 500 migrants. According to the agency, rescuers discovered 17 bodies during the operation, confirming the toll given by the Italian coastguard. British, Maltese,

LONDON (AFP) -- Barclays has launched an internal review into whether its accounts were used for corrupt payments by FIFA officials, a banking source told AFP on Sunday.It comes after the British bank was named in a US investigation into corruption at football's world governing body, in which seven FIFA officials were arrested this week in Zurich.The source would not give any further details, and a Barclays spokesman declined to comment.Barclays was among three banks with British headquarters na

BEIRUT (AFP) -- The UN envoy to Syria condemned regime bombing of civilian areas as "totally unacceptable" after more than 90 people were killed in a day of heavy air raids.Across the border in Iraq, pro-government forces pressed their operation aimed at sealing off jihadists who captured the city of Ramadi two weeks ago.In Syria, barrel bombs dropped by President Bashar al-Assad's helicopters killed 71 civilians, including children, in the northern province of Aleppo on Saturday, a monitoring g

KATHMANDU (AFP) -- Thousands of children, many still traumatised from losing homes and loved ones, returned to class Sunday as Nepal's schools formally reopened following a devastating earthquake that claimed more than 8,600 lives. In many cases children in uniform walked through rubble to attend lessons in temporary classrooms made of bamboo or in tents on playing fields, after their schools were destroyed or badly damaged in the quake that struck on April 25.Eight-year-old Sahaj Shrestha clung

TOKYO (AFP) -- Seismologists Sunday warned Japan to stay vigilant for the next "Big One" after a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the quake-prone nation, injuring a dozen people.Buildings swayed for around a minute in Tokyo and its vicinity Saturday night as the quake struck at a remote spot in the Pacific Ocean 874 kilometres south of the capital, the US Geological Survey said.Despite its power, there was no risk of a tsunami as its epicentre was a deep 676 kilometres b

HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- Despite hopes that weekend thundershowers would help end a raging heat wave in southern India, the rain brought only limited relief as the death toll since mid-April approached 2,200.Officials said Sunday that the intense heat was likely to continue for another day in worst-hit Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states.Daytime temperatures hovered between 45 and 47 degrees Celsius in some parts of the two states over the weekend, 3 to 7 degrees Celsius above normal, said K.Y.

Australia will continue its surveillance flights over the disputed South China Sea and insists on unhindered access to the area’s trading routes, Defence Minister Kevin Andrews said.“We have been surveilling the area for close to thirty five years,” Andrews said on Sunday in an interview on the sidelines of the Shangri-La security forum in Singapore. “We are doing it currently and we will continue to do it in the future.”Andrews would not be drawn on whether Australia may fly planes over reefs t