The US and Japan are expected to continue their economic recovery in 2017, while China and the eurozone will likely post slower growth than this year, South Korea's central bank said Sunday.The "Big Four" economies accounted for 61.1 percent of the world's gross domestic product last year, according to the International Monetary Fund. And, 40.7 percent of global trade came from the four."The key to the recovery of the global economy is growth momentum of the Big Four economies," the Bank of Kore

A team of South Korean special prosecutors may soon raid Cheong Wa Dae, the country's presidential office, in an ongoing probe into a corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye, an official said Sunday.The investigators are stepping up efforts to find evidence of Park's alleged crimes. She is suspected of colluding with her long-time friend Choi Soon-sil, now jailed, to twist the arms of business leaders to fund two non-profit foundations on culture and sports.State prosecutors earlier

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is taking her bid for a statewide recount of Pennsylvania's Nov. 8 presidential election to federal court. A lawyer in the recount case said ``make no mistake -- the Stein campaign will continue to fight for a statewide recount.'' After announcing they were dropping the case in state court, lawyer Jonathan Abady said in a statement Saturday night they will seek an emergency federal court order Monday. He said barriers to a rec

HELSINKI (AFP) -- The mayor of a Finnish town near the border with Russia and two local journalists were shot dead as they left a restaurant on Saturday night, police said.Investigators said the three women were killed by a man with a shotgun who was later arrested and was interrogated on Sunday. The motive for the attack was not clear.

MANILA (AFP) -- Philippine Vice-President Leni Robredo said Sunday she would quit President Rodrigo Duterte's cabinet after being told to stay away from its meetings, and alleged there was a plot to oust her as his deputy.Robredo did not say who was behind the alleged plot to remove her as vice-president.But she cited "major differences in principles and values" with Duterte, such as over the rash of extrajudicial killings during his "war on drugs" and the hero's burial he granted to dictator Fe

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) -- The Iraqi government on Sunday sent truckloads of food, heating oil and drinking water to residents of areas retaken from the Islamic State group in and around the northern city of Mosul as more civilians streamed out of the city amid intense fighting between the militants and troops.Diaa Sallal, the top relief official at the Ministry of Immigration and Displaced, told The Associated Press that the supplies were being delivered to the towns of Bartella and Qayara, east and s

Iran urged Barack Obama to block a law that would extend the U.S. president’s authority to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic, calling it a violation of the Iranian nuclear deal.On Thursday, the Senate voted 99-0 to extend the Iran Sanctions Act, which authorizes a president to prevent investment in Iran’s energy sector and other sensitive industries. While Obama has waived most sanctions under the nuclear accord, congressional leaders said keeping them in reserve provides valuable leverag

TAIPEI (AP) -- With a 10-minute phone call and two tweets, Donald Trump inspired banner headlines and renewed hopes across Taiwan for a stronger partnership with the United States, while also inflaming the complex relationships between the U.S., mainland China, and the self-governing island China regards as a renegade province. Whether the U.S. president-elect meant to jump into the generational fight between China and Taiwan remains an open question. But by speaking to Taiwanese President Tsai

ROME (AFP) -- Italians went to the polls Sunday in a constitutional referendum on which reformist Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has staked his future.Whatever the outcome of a vote being anxiously watched in capitals across Europe and carefully scrutinised on trading floors around the world, it will lead to change.If the centre-left Renzi's proposals to streamline a 68-year-old parliamentary system are voted down, he has vowed to resign.That would usher in a period of political uncertainty and pot

MOSCOW (AFP) -- President Vladimir Putin in an interview aired Sunday called US President-elect Donald Trump intelligent and predicted he would quickly grasp his new level of responsibility and act accordingly."Since he managed to achieve success in business, that shows he is a clever person," the Russian strongman said in an interview with NTV television that has already aired in the country's far east, quoted by TASS news agency."If he's clever, that means he will fully and quite quickly grasp

BEIRUT (AP) -- The old Aleppo cemetery filled up a year ago. The new one filled up last week. Now the dead are left in the besieged enclave's streets, buried in backyards and overwhelming the morgues.Medical officials secured yet another plot for the dead. But they say they have no way to dig graves with government troops now crashing into opposition-held eastern Aleppo, shelling civilians as they flee and forcing thousands to squeeze into a chaotic, devastated and shrinking pocket of neighborho

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AFP) -- Cuba closes a major chapter in its history Sunday as it buries Fidel Castro and gazes at a future without the communist icon who defied Washington and ruled for decades.Capping a week of tributes and mass rallies, Castro's ashes will be interred at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, the eastern city where his revolution was launched more than a half-century ago.President Raul Castro led a massive, final rally in his brother's honor at Santiago's Revo

Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Steven Mnuchin said Donald Trump plans to nominate him as the next U.S. Treasury secretary, a key cabinet decision as the president-elect assembles a team to fulfill his campaign pledge to boost the world’s largest economy.Mnuchin confirmed his selection for the Cabinet in an interview Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross also confirmed on the cable network that Trump will nominate him as Commerce secretary.Mnuchin, 53

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- Eurozone inflation rose to a two-and-a-half-year high in November as Europe inched away from very low consumer prices that have threatened an already fragile economic recovery.The level matched forecasts by analysts and will come as a relief to the European Central Bank which has embarked on a highly controversial and massive stimulus programme to boost inflation.The Eurostat statistics agency on Wednesday said consumer prices in the 19-country currency bloc rose by 0.6 percent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he's leaving his business empire to focus on being the nation's 45th president, bowing to pressure to avoid potential conflicts of interest between governing and profiting in the private sector. "I will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country in order to make America great again," he tweeted in a series of missives sent before dawn. "While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I

ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) -- More than 50,000 Syrians have joined a growing exodus of terrified civilians from east Aleppo, a monitor said Wednesday, as the UN Security Council was set for emergency talks on fighting in the city.As government forces pressed an assault in the divided city, regime artillery fire killed at least 21 civilians in east Aleppo on Wednesday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.Civilians have poured out of the rebel-held east in recent days, with paren

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has tamped down any speculation that first lady Michelle Obama may one day run for office herself.In an interview with Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner conducted the day after the presidential election earlier this month, Obama said, "Michelle will never run for office."He added, "She is as talented a person as I know. You can see the incredible resonance she has with the American people. But I joke that she's too sensible to want to be in politics."Obam

VIENNA (AP) -- With Saudi Arabia declaring a "critical day" for OPEC, oil ministers of the cartel moved closer Wednesday to end infighting and reach an agreement to cut output for the first time in eight years.The price of oil rallied as chances grew that the 14-nation group will agree on individual quotas for its members _ the international benchmark for crude oil soared $3.22 to $49.60 a barrel.An OPEC decision to cut production could have an impact on consumers, as oil price increases feed in

HAVANA (AP) -- Thousands of Cubans lined the streets of Havana Wednesday morning, some sleeping on sidewalks overnight, to bid goodbye to Fidel Castro as his ashes began a four-day journey across the country he ruled for nearly 50 years. A caravan carrying the ashes was scheduled to leave the capital's Plaza of the Revolution after 7 a.m. for a journey from Havana to the eastern city of Santiago. On Tuesday night, tens of thousands of Cubans jammed the plaza as the presidents of Cuba, Mexico, Ec

Hyun Ki-hwan, a former top political advisor to President Park Geun-hye, was hospitalized late Wednesday following an apparent suicide attempt, medical workers said, adding that he is not in critical condition. The 57-year-old Hyun sought to slit his wrist at a hotel in his hometown of Busan at around 6:30 p.m. His injuries are not “life-threatening” and he is receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, according to local rescue workers. The incident came as the prosecution continues to carry out