BEIJING (AP) -- China praised U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday for expressing a desire for a "constructive relationship" in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, even though the leaders have not spoken directly since Trump's inauguration.Trump sent belated well-wishes for the Lunar New Year in a letter from the White House on Wednesday. He had been the only U.S. president in recent years not to have issued greetings to the world's most populous nation on its most important holiday, wh

GANGNEUNG (Yonhap) -- South Korean speed skater Kim Bo-reum said Thursday she surprised herself by breaking her own national record in the women's 3,000m.Kim finished sixth in the event with a time of 4:03.85 at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships at Gangneung Oval in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, some 230 kilometers east of Seoul.The previous mark had been 4:04.62.The 24-year-old wasn't considered a serious title contender in the 3,000m, where

A Seoul court on Thursday upheld the South Korean government's sales ban on a compact crossover utility vehicle sold by the local unit of Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor Co.The Seoul Administrative Court rejected the case filed by the carmaker in June 2016, seeking nullification of the government's decision.The Ministry of Environment slapped 340 million won($286,000) in fines on Nissan Korea earlier in the month and banned sales of its Qashqai CUV for manipulating emissions results. (Yonhap)The

BEIJING (AFP) -- Hugo Barra, who caused a sensation in 2013 by leaving Google to become a vice president of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, announced Monday he was returning to the United States for health reasons.Barra, under whom Xiaomi was for a time China's best-selling brand, described his experience as a "spectacular" journey but said it was time to return home for a "new adventure". He did not elaborate."But what I've realized is that the last few years of living in such a singular envir

FARINDOLA, Italy (AP) -- Questions intensified Monday into whether Italian authorities underestimated the risks facing a snowbound mountain hotel hours before an avalanche hit, as rescue crews weighed using heavy equipment to try to reach 23 people in the hotel who are still buried under the snow.Five days after up to 60,000 tons of snow, rocks and uprooted trees plowed into the Hotel Rigopiano in central Italy, rescue crews were still digging by hand and with shovels and chainsaws to try to fin

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan could pass a one-off bill allowing its retirement-ready emperor to step down, a government panel said Monday, in what would be the first abdication in over two centuries.The option was one of several presented by the group of experts charged with sorting out the thorny issue. They are expected to make a final recommendation in March.Last summer, Emperor Akihito, 83, expressed a desire to abdicate after nearly three decades on the Chrysanthemum Throne, one of the world's olde

President Donald Trump showed in his first days in office that his combative, self-aggrandizing campaign persona isn’t going away, a sign that he hasn’t yet made the transition from running for office to governing as he embarks on a high-stakes first week.In the earliest hours of his presidency, with the full weight of military and economic decision-making in his grasp, he fixated on his TV ratings and the crowds at his inauguration. He even issued a tweet disparaging participants in the women’s

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Dozens of people were evacuated Monday after a World War II bomb was discovered at a construction site in Hong Kong, near a university campus and staff quarters.67 residents at three blocks of a university hall were moved after the 500-pound (227 kilograms) US-made aerial bomb was unearthed on Pok Fu Lam Road, police confirmed.The bomb was to be detonated on site Monday evening and treated with an "abrasive water-cutting system", a bomb disposal expert told reporters. The whol

BEIJING (AFP) -- A Chinese court Monday sentenced a former top official to life in prison for corruption involving millions of dollars, the latest high-profile conviction in President Xi Jinping's crackdown on graft. Su Rong, 66, was a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a discussion body that is part of the Communist Party-controlled government structure.He was found guilty of bribery, abuse of power and possessing "huge amounts" of assets whose origins he c

ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AFP) -- Syrian rebels began peace talks with the war-torn country's government Monday in Kazakhstan's capital Astana, but refused to negotiate face-to-face in the first session.The talks had been billed as the first time armed rebel groups were due to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad's regime since the conflict erupted in2011 and come a month after Syrian forces delivered the rebels a crushing blow by retaking full control of Aleppo. But rebel spokesman Yehya al-Aridi

DUBAI(AP) -- Businesses around the world bearing U.S. President Donald Trump's name face an increased risk now that he is in the White House, security experts warn, especially as several are in areas previously targeted by violence.As Trump remains a brand overseas, criminal gangs or militants could target buildings bearing his name in gold, abduct workers associated with his enterprises for ransom or worse, they say."They may kidnap a Trump worker and not even want to negotiate," aiming for pub

Tickets to the first Winter Olympics in South Korea will go on sale when the countdown reaches one year next month, the organizers said Monday.The organizing committee for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games said ticket sales will commence on Feb. 9. It has unveiled a 30-second promotional video clip, titled "Get Your Tickets and Share the Passion," on its website.The organizers had earlier planned to launch ticket sales last October. But it decided to postpone it for a few months to further stabi

A South Korean Foreign Ministry official has summoned a senior official from the Taipei Mission in Seoul to lodge a protest against the sexual assault of two South Korean tourists by a taxi driver in Taipei, the ministry said Monday.Chung Jin-kyu, an official at the ministry's Overseas Koreans and Consular Affairs Bureau, met with the deputy head of the Taipei Mission and demanded that Taiwan punish the taxi driver and ensure that similar accidents do not recur. It was not immediately clear how

The popularity of Chinese President Xi Jinping plunged among South Koreans recently as Beijing has taken a series of retaliatory measures against Seoul over a plan to deploy an advanced US missile defense system here, a poll showed Monday.In January, Xi received 4.25 points on a scale of 1 to 10, designed to gauge the level of the Chinese president's likability among South Koreans, according to the poll by the private-run Asan Institute for Policy Studies. A month earlier, the number was 4.16.It

President Park Geun-hye on Monday paid her respects at the graves of her parents at a Seoul cemetery, her first trip outside the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae since she was impeached over a corruption scandal last month.Accompanied by her aides and security staff, she traveled to the Seoul National Cemetery in southern Seoul where her parents -- former President Park Chung-hee and first lady Yook Young-soo -- are buried. "(The president) usually visits her parents' graves ahead of the holida

Two workers have been trapped under rubble after a building that was being demolished collapsed on Saturday, rescuers said.The motel in central Seoul collapsed at around 11:30 a.m. while the workers were dismantling it, they said. A rescue operation is underway for the two who are known to be trapped underground, according to the rescuers. "The two were sprinkling water on the construction site to avoid raising dust," a firefighter said.Two other workers sustained minor injures and were taken to

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Jim Donovan is the front-runner to be President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for undersecretary of domestic finance, according to a person familiar with the decision. He’d be the fourth appointee with close ties to the investment bank tapped to serve in the administration.If chosen and confirmed, he would be responsible for coordinating policies on banking, capital markets and regulation and managing the issuance of the country’s debt. The person agreed to discuss in

MEXICO CITY (AFP) -- Mexico is already having a year to forget.Mexicans woke up from their New Year celebrations on January 1 with the highest increase in gasoline prices in years that sparked daily protests and looting that left at least three people dead.On top of that, Ford scrapped a new car factory, the peso fell to new lows and, to cap the terrible week on Friday, US President-elect Donald Trump renewed his vow to make Mexico pay for a border wall."Everything has come together like a perfe

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a hidden campaign to influence America's presidential election in favor of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, U.S. intelligence agencies declared Friday in the government's first formal allegation supporting sensational claims that Trump and his supporters have staunchly resisted.The intelligence report, an unclassified version of a more-detailed classified account given earlier to Trump, the White House and congressional leaders, withh

A pack of Nobel Prize-winning economists gave Donald Trump and his policy plans the thumbs-down on Friday, with one saying the president-elect’s programs could lead to a deep recession.Speaking on a panel during the first day of the annual American Economic Association meeting in Chicago, the Nobel laureates voiced a variety of concerns about the billionaire developer’s stance, from his haranguing of US companies about their outsourcing plans to the risk that his tax and spending proposals could