President Park Geun-hye and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang met in Seoul Friday, agreeing that the two countries will continue working closely on the resumption of multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Park's office said.Wang, who arrived in Seoul Thursday for a three-day visit, also delivered a message from Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying the neighbors should deepen their strategic partnership and make efforts to revive the stalled six-party denuclearization talks, it

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia has left Olympic women's figure skating champion Adelina Sotnikova off its roster for next month's European championships.Sotnikova missed this week's Russian nationals with an ankle injury, but there had been speculation her Olympic achievements could persuade the Russian Figure Skating Federation to give her a place.``The team roster was selected exclusively on the basis of the sporting principle, according to the results of the Russian championship,'' federation presiden

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- According to recent polls, President Obama's approval rating for his sixth year is higher than President Bush's and close to President Reagan's at the same point in their presidencies.A recent Gallup poll shows Obama with a term average of a 48 percent approval rating, and 45 percent approval for the most recently recorded weekly average. In comparison, George Bush was at 37 percent at the same point in his presidency and Reagan was at 48 percent.A poll released by CNN this w

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) -- Malaysian mogul Tony Fernandes, who transformed a floundering carrier into Asia's biggest budget airline, faces his first major crisis after an AirAsia plane went missing Sunday with 162 people on board.AirAsia is credited with starting a revolution in the skies of Southeast Asia and has seen spectacular growth under Fernandes' low-cost, low-overheads model despite intense competition.The ebullient tycoon is one of Asia's most visible entrepreneurs, carving out an image tha

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) -- Croatia's economic woes hung over presidential elections Sunday in which a liberal incumbent faced pressure from a conservative challenger. The vote is seen as a test for the center-left government which has come under criticism for its failure to revive the economy more than one year after Croatia joined the EU. Croatia has one of the weakest economies in the bloc, with unemployment at nearly 20 percent and a six-year recession.Nearly 3.8 million voters can pick from fou

KIEV (AFP) -- Ukraine on Sunday shut down one of the six reactors in its most powerful nuclear power plant for the second time in a month due to an apparent electrical malfunction.The Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant said on its website that radiation levels in the area remained normal and that the station's other five reactors continued to operate without any problems.It said the plant's sixth reactor was "disconnected from the grid by the generator's internal defence mechanism" early Sunday.A sh

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The United States and NATO formally ended their war in Afghanistan on Sunday with a ceremony at their military headquarters in Kabul as the insurgency they fought for 13 years remains as ferocious and deadly as at any time since the 2001 invasion that unseated the Taliban regime following the Sept. 11 attacks.The symbolic ceremony marked the end of the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force, which will transition to a supporting role with 13,500 soldiers, mos

Saudi Arabia is seeking to open its $509 billion stock exchange to foreign investors in April, according to three people briefed on the country’s plans. The Capital Market Authority informed brokers and fund managers of the timeline in London last month, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the meeting was private. Saudi Arabia isn’t planning significant changes to draft rules published in August, the people said. The country announced in July that it would open the market in t

Malaysia evacuated more than 200,000 people and increased relief efforts as the worst floods in decades left at least 10 people dead. Parts of Thailand and Sri Lanka have also been inundated. The affected states are Kelantan, Kedah, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak, Johor, Perlis, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor, according to state news agency Bernama. The dead include an 18-month old toddler, The Star newspaper reported today. Malaysia is grappling with floods caused by annual monsoon rains that may disr

ATHENS (AFP) -- Desperate passengers used mobile phones to plead for rescue from a burning ferry off the Greek island of Corfu on Sunday as rescuers battled gale-force winds to get to them.But with gusts of up to 100 kilometres (60 miles) per hour making rescue difficult and dangerous, the crew has so far only managed to get 150 of the 478 people off the stricken "Norman Atlantic", Greek officials said.Seas were so violent that only 35 of those have so far been lifted from their lifeboat to a ta

JAKARTA -- Rescuers scoured the Java Sea on Sunday for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people which went missing in bad weather en route from Indonesia to Singapore, in the third crisis for a Malaysian carrier this year.Around 11 hours after it disappeared, Indonesian military aircraft had yet to find any sign of the Airbus A320-200 as dusk set in.The search halted at 5.30pm (1030 GMT) but would resume at 7am Monday, or even earlier if the weather was good, Indonesian transport ministry official H

Some major North Korean websites remained blocked Wednesday for the second straight day amid growing speculation over cyber warfare between Washington and Pyongyang.After going down on Tuesday evening, the website of the North's main propaganda organ, Uriminzokkiri, had remained inaccessible before going back online Wednesday afternoon, although no updated contents were posted.Access to other well-known North Korean propaganda websites, including Ryugyong and Ryomyong, remained blocked as of Wed

A Seoul court on Wednesday sentenced a former manager of Kookmin Bank's unit in Tokyo to six years behind bars for extending illegal loans worth nearly 350 billion won ($317 million) to South Korean companies operating in Japan.The Seoul Central District Court also imposed a 90 million won fine and an additional 90 million penalty on the 56-year-old former manager of South Korea's leading bank's Tokyo branch, only identified by his surname Lee, for playing a leading role in granting unauthorized

Japan’s parliament confirmed Shinzo Abe as prime minister today, giving him the opportunity to become the longest-serving premier in four decades.After last week’s sweeping election win, Abe is in a position to push ahead in 2015 with reflationary policies to reboot an economy that has slipped into recession. He will also seek to pass a raft of bills to toughen the country’s defense stance, while trying to build on signs of a tentative rapprochement with neighbors China and South Korea in a year

Of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs, the Pittsburgh Pirates seemed one of the least likely teams to put in a bid when the South Korean shortstop Kang Jung-ho was posted earlier this month.For one, their infield appeared set for next season with players still in or entering their primes in their late 20s. And the Pirates had one of the smallest payrolls in MLB in 2014, ranking 27th with $78.1 million. Bidding millions of dollars just to have the rights to talk to an international player with no

Security is seen outside The Theatre at Ace Hotel before the premiere of the film "The Interview" in Los Angeles on Dec. 11. (AFP-Yonhap)NEW YORK (AP) -- ``The Interview'' was put back into theaters Tuesday when Sony Pictures Entertainment announced a limited Christmas Day theatrical release for the comedy that provoked an international incident with North Korea and outrage over its cancelled release. Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton said that Seth Rogen's North Korea farce ``will be in a n

Prosecutors in South Korea charged Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick and the head of its domestic business partner MK Korea Co. with violating a transportation law. San Francisco-based Uber is facing growing legal challenges as it expands in Asia amid mounting protest from taxi operators. Seoul Metropolitan Government said this year it may ban Uber’s service and similar applications on grounds they’re unsafe and compete with licensed taxi services, and from next week

South Korea's financial regulator approved a deal on Wednesday for KB Financial Group Co. to take over a local non-life insurer, paving the way for the country's second-largest banking group to beef up its non-banking business.The Financial Services Commission gave the final nod for KB Financial to acquire LIG Insurance Co., the country's 4th-largest non-life insurance company as the internal feud-tarnished banking group is struggling to reshape its business portfolio.Shares of KB Financial clos

The chief of South Korea's Hyundai Group and officials of a center to commemorate former President Kim Dae-jung visited North Korea on Wednesday to meet with the North's point man on the South, officials said.The two groups -- one comprised of six officials of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Center, including former culture minister Kim Sung-jae, and the other a seven-member delegation from Hyundai Group led by chief Hyun Jeong-eun -- made separate one-day trips to the joint industrial complex in the Nor

A suspect in the hacking attacks on South Korean nuclear reactors to illegally obtain information used multiple IP addresses based in China, according to investigators here Wednesday. The suspected hacker accessed the information from a Chinese city, a joint investigation of government and prosecution officials said, without disclosing the name of the city. The suspect, the self-proclaimed president of an anti-nuclear activist group, has published a wide range of information since last week, inc