A teenage boy was kidnapped, beaten and killed in an Indian village for falling in love with a girl from a higher caste, family members say.The body of Deenanath Kumar was found hanging from a tree in Surangapur village in the Jehanabad district of Bihar state after he had gone missing Sunday night, Gulf News reported Tuesday.His family claimed the grade-eight student was killed by men in the same village for falling in love with a girl from a higher caste.Villagers surrounded the local police s

South Korea's ranking in terms of gold holdings jumped last year as the country continued to invest in the precious metal as part of efforts to diversify its foreign reserve portfolios, a report showed Thursday.South Korea's gold holdings came to 84.4 tons last year, the 36th largest among 100 countries surveyed, according to the report by the World Gold Council. The ranking was up from 56th tallied in July 2011.The rise came as the country has kept purchasing gold, which is regarded as one of t

South Korean stocks began a tad higher Thursday on gains in tech and chemical shares, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 2.17 points, or 0.11 percent, to 1,978.24 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Foreigners snapped up a net 7.4 billion won (US$6.8 million) worth of local equities as of 9:15 a.m. Auto and chemical issues led the gain, with No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor rising 0.2 percent and industry leader LG Chem advancing 1 percent. Market behemoth

Some U.S. lawmakers push for re-designation of N. Korea as terrorism sponsorA bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday proposed legislation to re-designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.The move came in response to another nuclear test in North Korea earlier this week.“I strongly condemn the latest nuclear test conducted by North Korea. This deliberate and provocative action by the North Korean regime is yet another display of the regime’s hostile intentions and is a reminde

With a humble “Grazie” as bishops doffed their mitres and applause echoed through St. Peter's Basilica, a frail Pope Benedict XVI began his long farewell by presiding over Ash Wednesday services in a tearful, final public Mass.“We wouldn't be sincere, Your Holiness, if we didn't tell you that there's a veil of sadness on our hearts this evening,” said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict's longtime deputy, his voice breaking.“Thank you for having given us the luminous example of the simple and hu

First, there was “pink slime.” Then horsemeat. Most recently? “Desinewed meat.”Recent revelations that such products have reached dinner tables, including horsemeat falsely labeled as beef in Europe, have cast an unappetizing light on the global food industry.Critics say the widening horsemeat scandal in particular is a result of a food supply chain that has become too complex to be safe. Others say we are stuck with the system: In today's world, foodstuffs are highly mobile commodities, while c

The EU's executive called in Europe's law enforcers and urged bloc-wide DNA food testing at crisis talks held Wednesday to restore consumer confidence in a horsemeat-tainted processed food scandal."We do not know exactly what has gone wrong," British food and environment minister Owen Paterson told reporters as he prepared to drive to the headquarters of the Europol law enforcement agency in The Hague."We have to get to the bottom of these cases," he said at the close of emergency Brussels talks

Ukrainian officials say a roof section at the exploded Chernobyl nuclear power plant has collapsed causing no injuries and leaving radiation levels unaffected.Maya Rudenko, spokeswoman for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, said a 600-square-meter section of the roof over the turbine hall at energy block No. 4 collapsed Tuesday.  Rudenko emphasized, however, that the affected area is about 50 meters away from the exploded reactor. She said Wednesday that radiation levels were normal and there wa

A California prep baseball coach and teacher posed as a young woman on Facebook to solicit sexual pictures of about 35 young boys, prosecutors said.Zachary Reeder, 30, a history teacher at Servite High School in Anaheim, Calif., is charged with 110 felonies, including 34 counts each of distributing pornography to a minor, contacting a child with the intent to commit a lewd act and using a minor for sex acts. Other charges include six felony counts of committing a lewd act upon a child and one fe

Archeologists have discovered 38 graves from the sixth to seventh century on an island off of South Korea's southern coast, which were hailed as a rare find, even in the country's inland areas. The graves were part of the Baekje cemetery on Sangtae Island off Sinan, 410 kilometers south of Seoul, and were first discovered on a field survey conducted by a regional university from 1986 to 1987. Baekje was an ancient Korean kingdom that existed in the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula from

ING Groep NV, the bailed-out Dutch bank and insurance company, has announced plans to cut 2,400 jobs in Europe over the next two years as the company unveiled net profit rose in the fourth quarter due to larger gains from asset sales. Net profit was (euro) 1.43 billion ($1.99 billion), up from (euro) 1.19 billion in the same period a year ago, as sales of assets this year were larger. The company said that “underlying” banking profits fell to (euro) 184 million from (euro) 664 million due to a w

The nominee for Constitutional Court chief resigned under pressure Wednesday following allegations of a string of ethical lapses, including tax evasion and property speculation.Lee Dong-heub said in a press release he is stepping down to allow for a "smooth running of state affairs." Lee's nomination, which is subject to parliamentary confirmation, has been in limbo for weeks over allegations he used hundreds of millions of won (hundreds of thousands of dollars) in official allowances for privat

President Barack Obama's decision to bring home within a year about half of the 66,000 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan will shrink the force to the size he found it when he entered the White House vowing to reinvigorate a stalemated war.Still to be decided: how many troops will remain beyond 2014, when the U.S.-led combat mission is scheduled to end. The stated goal is to prepare Afghanistan's army and police to handle the Taliban insurgency largely on their own by then.Obama determined that his

France's lower house of parliament approved a sweeping bill on Tuesday to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children, handing a major legislative victory to President Francois Hollande's Socialists on a divisive social issue.The measure, approved in the National Assembly in a 329-to-229 vote, puts France on track to join about a dozen mostly European nations that allow gay marriage and comes despite a string of recent demonstrations by opponents of the so-called “marriage

The manhunt for a former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a killing spree converged on a mountain cabin where authorities believe he barricaded himself inside, engaged in a shootout that killed a deputy and then never emerged as the home went up in flames.A single gunshot was heard from within, and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press late Tuesday that officials had found a charred body.If the body of Christopher Dorner is found inside, as authorities suspect, the

South Korea's jobless rate rose above 3 percent in January for the first time in five months, but job growth quickened thanks in part to a hike in the manufacturing sector, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3.4 percent last month, up from the previous month's 2.9 percent. The rate rose above 3 percent for the first time since August.Job creation, however, accelerated. About 322,000 jobs were created last month compared wit

The way North Korea sees it, only bigger weapons and more threatening provocations will force Washington to come to the table to discuss what Pyongyang says it really wants: peace.It's no coincidence that North Korea's third underground nuclear test _ and by all indications so far its most powerful yet _ took place Tuesday on the eve of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.As perplexing as the tactic may seem to the outside world, it serves as an attention-getting reminder to the

Australian athletes and officials will be forced to sign a legal document regarding their anti-doping history before they can be eligible for next year's Winter Games in Sochi.The Australian Olympic Committee unanimously approved the introduction of the ``statutory declarations,'' AOC president John Coates said in a statement on Tuesday.Under Australian law, anyone who willfully makes a false statutory declaration could face up to five years in prison. Athletes, coaches and officials must declar

South Korean footballer Park Jong-woo will be awarded his long-awaited Olympic bronze medal, following a ruling by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over his controversial celebration at the London Summer Games, officials said Tuesday.After the Disciplinary Commission on Monday reviewed Park's action at the Olympics last year, the IOC decided to give the player the medal he had been barred from collecting for six months, a South Korean official explained."The IOC gave Park a stern warnin

생전에 악플로 고통 받았던 ‘울랄라 세션’의 리더 임윤택 (33)이 지난 11일 위암으로 사망 이후에도 조롱과 비난에 시달리고 있다.다수의 온라인커뮤니티에서는 임씨의 사망 기사 이후 “(병이) 구라가 아닌 걸 입증했다,” “지금 북한에서 임윤택 사망 축포 쏜거?” 등 상식 이하의 악플들이 여럿 달렸다. 심지어 한 유저는 “임윤택님 살아날 확률 vs 금주안에 핵전쟁 발발할 확률”이라는 글을 남겨 보는 이들의 눈살을 찌뿌리게 했다.일간 베스트의 한 유저는 “니가 신입이냐”는 제목으로 故 노무현 전 대통령의 사진과 “노래 한 곡 뽑아봐라”는 글을 올려 임씨와 노 전 대통령을 동시에 모욕하기도 했다. 이 게시글은 500명 이상의 추천을 받아 베스트 게시판에 올라갔다.이와 같은 행각은 네티즌들의 분노를 샀다.네티즌들은 “도가 지나쳤다. 정신이 나갔다,” “이런 사람들은 사회로부터 격리되어야 한다”는 등 분노를 표했다.일부 네티즌들이 임씨를 악플로서 모독한 것은 이번이 처음이 아니다. 엠넷 슈