The chief executive of the troubled Bank of Cyprus, the country's biggest lender, was sacked by the central bank Wednesday just a day before the bailed-out island's banks were finally due to reopen.The firing of Yiannis Kypri was reportedly ordered by international lenders and deepened the crisis in Cyprus as authorities said they were finalizing controls aimed at preventing a run on the banks.The central bank said "indications are" the banks would reopen with restrictions on Thursday, but there

Libya is to free four foreign Christians arrested in the eastern city of Benghazi for proselytizing after more than a month in jail, an official said. The foreigners, a South African woman, a man with joint American-Swedish nationality, an Egyptian and South Korean, will be deported after their release, said Abdul Salam Barghathi, commanding officer of the Office of Preventative Security, a department of the Defense Ministry, in an interview in Benghazi. “To keep good diplomatic relations, they

North Korea said Wednesday that it will cut a military hotline with South Korea, the latest in a string of provocations that include the North's unilateral severance of an inter-Korean Red Cross hotline about two weeks ago."The Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army solemnly declared that... Due to the reckless acts of the enemies, the north-south military communications which were set up for dialogue and cooperation between the north and the south has already lost its significance," the No

Filming of the French version of the hit reality TV show "Survivor" has been cancelled after a contestant died of a heart attack on a tropical Cambodian island on the first day.French broadcaster TF1 said it had axed the 2013 season of the show, called "Koh Lanta", after 25-year-old Gerald Babin fell ill on Friday during filming on Koh Rong off Cambodia's southwestern coast.Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon said the TV crew had planned to spend five months in the kingdom."The contestants hav

A Mississippi woman said a chick was born on her farm with four legs and the bird has "captured my heart."Annette Bragg of Pelahatchie said the chicken, which she named Lucy, hatched at 6 p.m. Sunday and she immediately noticed the bird had four legs, all of which were normal sized, WLBT-TV, Jackson, reported Tuesday.Bragg said Lucy, who is unable to walk because of the location of her legs, may have been meant to be a twin.Bragg said she has more than 100 chickens and Lucy is the most unusual o

South Korea's front-line military unit had been briefly on its highest status of alert after discovering an "unidentified object" in a border fence that separates the two Koreas, but lifted the alert as they found no signs of intrusion from the North, a military official said Wednesday. A South Korean soldier threw a grenade at the object after discovering it while guarding a military post in Hwacheon, 118 kilometers northeast of Seoul, at around 2:30 a.m. earlier in the day, the official said.

The White House made clear Tuesday that it would not overreact to North Korea's military threats, saying the rogue nation is "following a pattern" to escalate tensions."We do look at this as part of a pattern, and we respond in the way that we always have," press secretary Jay Carney said at a press briefing. He was responding to North Korea's latest warning that its would put artillery and rocket forces on the highest level of combat posture against the U.S. and South Korea.Carney reiterated th

The ratio of South Korea's total debt to its economic output rose to a record high in 2012 as debt grew at a faster pace despite the slowing economy, central bank data showed Wednesday.The combined debt of households, companies and the government reached 3,607.3 trillion won (US$3.26 trillion) as of the end of 2012, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.The ratio of such debt against Korea's 2012 nominal gross domestic product (GDP) reached a record 283 percent last year, up from 278 percen

Ratcheting up hostile rhetoric against Seoul and Washington, North Korea announced a plan to hold a plenary meeting of its party "to discuss an important issue," its official media said Wednesday.According to the report by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of (North) Korea announced a day earlier its decision to convene a plenary meeting later this month.The meeting aims "to discuss and decide an important issue for

It's not over yet for Amanda Knox.Italy's top criminal court dealt a stunning setback Tuesday to the 25-year-old college student, overturning her acquittal in the grisly murder of her British roommate and ordering her to stand trial again.“She thought that the nightmare was over,” Knox's attorney, Carlo Dalla Vedova, told reporters minutes after conveying the unexpected turn of events to his client, who had stayed up to hear the ruling, which came shortly after 2 a.m. West Coast time. “But she's

The BRICS grouping of emerging powers reached a scaled-back deal on Tuesday to establish a development bank that had been seen as a rival Western-backed institutions."It's done," South African finance minister Pravin Gordhan told AFP after talks with his counterparts from Brazil, Russia, India and China."We made very good progress, the leaders will announce the details," he added, shortly before a summit in the South African port city of Durban began.The bank is likely to focus on infrastructure

Italy's highest criminal court ordered a whole new trial for Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend on Tuesday, overturning their acquittals in the gruesome slaying of her British roommate.The move extended a prolonged legal battle that has become a cause celebre in the United States and raised a host of questions about how the next phase of Italian justice would play out.Knox, now a 25-year-old University of Washington student in Seattle, called the decision by the Rome-based Court of Cas

최근 포드 자동차 ‘피고’와 관련된 광고 중에 납치 및 성폭행 사건을 연상시키는 광고가 인터넷에 노출되어 물의를 빚고 있다.세계 각지의 기발하거나 유명한 광고들을 모아놓은 해외 사이트 ‘Ads of the World(www.adsoftheworld.com)’에 최근 올라온 이 광고에서는 이탈리아의 전 총리 실비오 베를루스코니가 운전석에 앉아 뒤를 보며 웃고 있고 트렁크에는 반라의 여성 세 명이 밧줄에 묶인 채 있다. 베를루스코니 전 총리는 재임시절 여러 번 성추문에 휘말린 적이 있다.이 광고는 포드 인도 법인이 제작한 소형차 피고의 넓은 트렁크를 강조하기 위한 것으로 보인다. 광고의 다른 버전에서는 미국의 TV 유명인사 패리스 힐튼이 여성 유명인사들인 카다시안 자매를 묶어 트렁크에 넣어 납치하는 듯한 장면이 실려 있다. 이 광고에서 카다시안 자매 중 한 사람은 비키니 차림이어서 더욱 논란이 되고 있다.이 광고를 제작한 것은 인도의 광고 대행사 JWT 인디아이며 광고가 실제로 상업적으

MBC 대주주인 방송문화진흥회(이하 방문진)가 26일 김재철(60) MBC 사장을 해임했다.방문진 이사회는 이날 오전 여의도 사무실에서 임시이사회를 열어 김 사장에 대한 해임안을 과반수 찬성으로 가결했다.  방문진이 MBC 사장 해임을 결정한 것은 1988년 방문진 설립 후 처음이다.이날 이사회에서는 전체 이사 9명 중 5명이 찬성하고 4명이 반대했다. 기권은 없었다.해임안 결의 사유는 ▲방문진의 임원 선임권 침해 ▲운영제도 위반 및 공적책임 방기 ▲관리감독기관인 방문진에 대한 성실 의무 위반 ▲대표이사 직위를 이용한 문 화방송의 공적 지배제도 훼손이다.주주총회 의결 절차가 남아있지만 방문진이 전체 지분의 70%를 보유한 최대주주 라 해임안 가결로 김 사장의 해임은 사실상 확정됐다. 김 사장의 해임안은 지난 8기 이사회에서 두 차례, 이번 9기 이사회에서 작년 11월 한 차례 부결됐다. 이번 해임안 가결에는 지난 22일 김 사장이 방문진과 사전협의 없이 계열사 임원 인사 내정자를 전

An orphanage in Cambodia has been shut down after officials said they received complaints of abuse and suspected human trafficking at the facility.Authorities working with two non-governmental organizations said they removed 21 children from the unregistered Love In Action orphanage in Phnom Penh Friday, The Phnom Penh Post reported Monday.Five children escaped from the facility Feb. 26 and another seven on March 14, said Gratianne Quade, communications officer for SISHA, one of the non-profit o

The board of the main shareholder of broadcaster MBC voted to dismiss company president Kim Jae-chul Tuesday following months of disputes over its unfair news coverage, labor abuses and suspected corruption. The decision was made during the board meeting of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, which owns a 70 percent of stakes in MBC. Five of the nine-member panel supported the proposal to fire him for his recent violations of the foundation rules including appointing executives at its affiliat

The African Union suspends the Central African Republic on Monday after rebels seized power in a rapid weekend assault on the capital, sending President Francois Bozize fleeing and triggering international appeals for calm.Rebel leader Michel Djotodia planned to declare himself president Monday after his Seleka coalition took control of Bangui in the wake of the collapse of a two-month-old peace deal with Bozize's regime.But the African Union took swift action on Monday amid international concer

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will travel to Washington next week for consultations on North Korea and bilateral issues in the run-up to a visit here by President Park Geun-hye in May, an informed source said Monday."Minister Yun is scheduled to visit Washington in the first week of April," the source said on the condition of anonymity. Yun will meet with Secretary of State John Kerry, mainly to discuss agenda items for the first summit talks between Park and her American counterpar

Cyprus has extended the closure of its banks for two more days _ until Thursday _ a sudden postponement that comes after the country's leaders spent days struggling to come up with a plan to raise the money needed to secure an international bailout.Banks in the country have already been closed for more than a week to prevent a run on deposits. All except the country's two largest lenders had been due to open Tuesday morning after the country clinched an eleventh-hour deal with the 17-nation euro

It is generally safer to eat a burger than a salad because of the bacteria found on the greens, a British expert on microbiology and food safety said.Professor Hugh Pennington, an emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland -- who worked for the British, Scottish and Welsh governments as an expert on microbiology and food safety -- said demand for salad boomed because of healthily eating campaigns but salad is considered one of the products most likely to cause f