An Iranian attack aircraft fired at least twice at an unarmed U.S. drone conducting routine surveillance in international airspace over the Gulf, the Pentagon said Thursday. The aircraft missed and the drone returned to base unharmed.The shooting in the Gulf, which occurred just before 5 a.m. on Nov. 1, was unprecedented, Pentagon press secretary George Little said. The incident was not disclosed sooner because the military does not discuss classified surveillance missions, but agreed to answer

Puerto Ricans have supported U.S. statehood in a vote that jubilant members of the pro-statehood party say is the strongest sign yet that the Caribbean island territory is on the road to losing its second-class status.But Tuesday's vote comes with an asterisk and an imposing political reality: The island remains bitterly divided over its relationship to the United States and many question the validity of this week's referendum.Nearly a half million voters chose to leave a portion of the ballot b

China's president Thursday warned the Communist Party faces "collapse" if it fails to clean up corruption and called for an economic revamp as he opened a congress to inaugurate a new slate of leaders.The week-long party congress will end with a transition of power to Vice President Xi Jinping, who will govern for the coming decade amid growing pressure for reform of the communist regime's iron-clad grip on power.The party's outgoing general-secretary, President Hu Jintao, delivered his starkest

While world attention is focused on climate change and extreme weather, U.S. researchers say another global change underway must be addressed: acidification.The combustion of fossil fuels, smelting of ores, mining of coal and metal ores and the application of nitrogen fertilizer to soils are all driving down the pH of the Earth's air, water and the soil at rates faster than Earth's natural systems can buffer, posing threats to both land and sea life, they said.Janet Herman of the Department of E

Republicans lost a seat in the Senate in Tuesday's elections, boosting Democratic prospects for keeping control of the upper chamber even as they had little hope of capturing the House of Representatives.Democrats were counting on the victory in Maine by independent Angus King as they looked to protect their 53-47 advantage in the Senate, where 33 of the 100 Senate seats were at stake in Tuesday's vote. Only a dozen Senate votes _ including Maine _ were seen as competitive.All 435 House seats we

South Korea has signed a $200 million deal with Peru to export 20 KT-1 trainers, including 10 that can be altered into light attackers, officials said Tuesday.They will be delivered to Peru’s airfields within two years of production.The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency and Korea Aerospace Industries signed the agreement with Peru’s Ministry of Defense in Lima on Tuesday. The two sides have been in talks regarding KT-1 since 2005.This marks the first time for Korea to export its aircraft t

President Barack Obama swept to a emphatic re-election win over Mitt Romney Tuesday, forging new history by transcending a dragging economy and the stifling unemployment which haunted his first term.The 44th US president and the first African American to claim the Oval Office, was returned to power after a joyless election which appears to have deepened, rather than healed, his nation's political divides."In this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard,

A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives detonated the vehicle near an Iraqi military base as soldiers changed shifts north of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 33 people and wounding 56, according to authorities. The blast struck around midday as troops were leaving the base in Taji, 20 kilometers north of the capital, police said. Twenty-two soldiers were among the dead, and several vehicles were damaged, they said. The casualty toll was high because the attacker blew up the ca

The Air Force’s plan to purchase advanced air-to-surface missiles faces hurdles due to design and price problems, officials said Monday. The Air Force is trying to decide between Lockheed Martin’s JASSM and TAURUS Systems’ Taurus for the country’s fleet of F-15K strike fighters. However, defense officials said that JASSM missiles, which have the capability to penetrate North Korea’s underground bunkers, are not compatible with Boeing’s F-15Ks.On the other hand, the German-Swedish Taurus is highl

For those familiar with director Jo Sung-hee’s previous work, his first commercial film, “A Werewolf Boy,” will come as a surprise.This is mostly because of the tone of the movie. The star-studded film, featuring Song Joong-ki and Park Bo-young, is a fantasy romance between a teenage girl and a feral “wolf” boy who can neither read nor speak. Taking place in a rural Korean town in the 1960s, the film feels very much like a children’s story, filled with innocence, curiosity, humor and moving dram

One of Britain's foremost organizations for UFO experts said a meeting next week will discuss the waning popularity of the search for extraterrestrial life.Dave Wood, chairman of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, said a meeting next week will discuss the waning popularity of the search for UFOs and the shuttering of several other groups dedicated to their study, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday."It is certainly a possibility that in 10 years time, it will be a d

A cockatoo from a species not known to use tools has been observed spontaneously making and using tools for reaching food, Austrian researchers say."Figaro," a Goffin's cockatoo raised in captivity near Vienna, uses his powerful beak to cut long splinters out of wooden beams or branches in its aviary to reach and rake in objects out of its reach, researchers report in the journal Current Biology."During our daily observation protocols, Figaro was playing with a small stone," study leader Alice A

 A whale almost unknown to science was seen for the first time after a mother and a male calf were stranded and died on a New Zealand beach, scientists said.They were spade-toothed beaked whales, Mesoplodon traversii, a species previously known only from a few bones, researchers at the University of Auckland said."This is the first time this species -- a whale over 5 meters (16 feet) in length -- has ever been seen as a complete specimen and we were lucky enough to find two of them," Rochelle Co

The U.N. Security Council on Monday ordered global sanctions against the Haqqani militant group in Afghanistan and its suicide attack mastermind.The network, which has been widely linked to Pakistan, is accused of carrying out a string of murderous attacks in Afghanistan including against the U.S. embassy and a major hotel in Kabul.Haqqani and its chief suicide attack organizer, Qari Zakir, were added to the U.N.'s Afghanistan-Taliban sanctions list. This means nations must apply an assets freez

A former DJ at BBC’s Radio 1 is suspected as being at the center of allegations that she threatened a male colleague who committed suicide last month. According to the local media, Russell Joslin, a reporter at BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, is believed to have received a series of phone messages from Liz Kershaw after they argued during a meal out together in 2007. The phone messages branded him a “flake” and “a loser.”Joslin’s family claim he was driven to his death after BBC bosses failed to

A bizarre spate of young blackbird deaths at a school in England was likely caused by the feathered teens getting drunk on fermented berries, crashing mid-air and falling from the sky, vets said Saturday.Police and animal experts were called in after more than a dozen birds were found dead at a primary school in Cumbria last August -- many of them sporting serious injuries.One of the juvenile blackbirds was found alive but appeared "drunk," pressing its wings into the ground to steady itself and

Two opposition presidential candidates will meet Tuesday to discuss the proposed candidacy unification and political reforms, their aides said.The meeting was arranged soon after independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo expressed his willingness in a public speech Monday to accept his Democratic United Party counterpart Moon Jae-in’s overtures. The two candidates have long been expected to merge their campaigns to fight Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye, who is ahead of both in a three-way race in opinio

From around six months infants sleep better if one of the parents sits next to the side of its cot, according to the association of German pediatricians.This "camping out" by one of the parents helps to calm the infant and should continue until the baby falls asleep. Then the parent may quietly leave the room.Another method is referred to as "controlled comforting," according to Monika Niehaus, a German pediatrician. In this case, parents react to a crying baby, but at increasing time intervals.

The special counsel team investigating a property scandal ensnaring the presidential family said Monday they will question first lady Kim Yoon-ok.“We have reached a decision to question first lady Kim,” assistant special counsel Lee Chang-hoon said in a press briefing. “We’re now in the process of consulting with Cheong Wa Dae to finetune the method and timing of an interview.”Options being discussed include a face-to-face inquiry at the team’s office in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul; the presiden

A UNESCO body recommended the listing of Korean traditional folk song, “Arirang,” as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of Korea, the Cultural Heritage Administration said Monday. The recommendation moves Arirang a step closer to being acknowledged by the world as a unique Korean tradition, the government agency said. Arirang was among 18 nominees recommended for the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by a subsidiary body of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee