Angry protesters carrying clubs threw rocks at the French Embassy in Central African Republic on Wednesday, criticizing the former colonial power for failing to do more to stem a rapid rebel advance as fears grew that the insurgents aim to seize the capital.The demonstrations began earlier in the day outside the U.S. Embassy before about 100 protesters then took to the French Embassy, carrying pieces of cardboard with messages that read: “No to war! No to France!” “It's France who colonized us _

South Korea has submitted an official claim to extend a portion of continental shelf beyond the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the East China Sea to a United Nations body, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.The South Korean government presented the official document to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) located in New York a day earlier (Seoul time), claiming that the Korean Peninsula's natural prolongation of the continental shelf in the East China

Japan's conservative leader Shinzo Abe is to be named as the country's new prime minister Wednesday, after he swept to power on a hawkish platform of getting tough on diplomacy while fixing the economy.The powerful lower house will name the 58-year-old as leader in an extraordinary session Wednesday afternoon, following a resounding national election victory for his Liberal Democratic Party earlier this month.As Japan's seventh premier in less than seven years, Abe will replace outgoing Prime Mi

A bitter cold snap in Russia has claimed 123 lives in the past 10 days, an official said Tuesday, with the early freeze testing authorities in a country used to notoriously tough winters.Temperatures have plunged as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius in the Moscow region and minus 60 degrees Celsius in Eastern Siberia."Since the start of the cold, 123 people have died of exposure and frostbite," a medical source was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.Another 833 people had to be hospitali

The official approval of Egypt's disputed, Islamist-backed constitution Tuesday held out little hope of stabilizing the country after two years of turmoil and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi may now face a more immediate crisis with the economy falling deeper into distress. In a clear sign of anxiety over the economy, the turbulence of the past month and expected austerity measures ahead have some Egyptians hoarding dollars for fear the currency is about to take a significant turn for the weak

Jack Klugman, the prolific, craggy-faced character actor and regular guy who was loved by millions as the messy one in TV's “The Odd Couple” and the crime-fighting coroner in “Quincy, M.E.,” died Monday, a son said. He was 90. Klugman, who lost his voice to throat cancer in the 1980s and trained himself to speak again, died with his wife at his side.“He had a great life and he enjoyed every moment of it and he would encourage others to do the same,” son Adam Klugman said.Jack Klugman apparently

An Air Bagan flight made an emergency landing Tuesday on a road in central Myanmar, killing two people and injuring 11, officials said.Four foreigners traveling on the Christmas morning flight were among the injured, Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut said on his Facebook page. He said the fatalities included an 11-year-old child believed to be a Myanmar citizen and a man riding a motorcycle on the road where the plane landed.The flight was carrying 65 passengers and six crew members from Yango

A California couple said they had to have a second wedding after discovering their 48 years of marriage were not legally official.Bob and Norma Clark of Redlands said they were preparing legal paperwork to get their affairs in order and soon discovered the San Mateo County Hall of Records had no documentation of their Aug. 29, 1964, ceremony, the Redlands Daily Facts reported Monday.The couple said the church where they held their wedding had a copy of the certificate, but they were unable to fi

The Pentagon has formally informed Congress of a plan to sell four Global Hawk surveillance drones to South Korea, a related agency said Monday.The deal under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, if sealed, would be worth up to $1.2 billion (1.28 trillion won), according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) affiliated with the Department of Defense.It includes four RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk remotely-piloted aircrafts equipped with the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suites (EISS), a

Braving the freezing cold and safety concerns, thousands of young singles gathered at a recreational park in central Seoul to find their Mr. and Ms. Rights on Christmas Eve.Korea’s largest outdoor blind date called “Solo Battle” was held in Yeouido Park though there were fewer-than-expected participants amid the chilly weather. In the morning the mercury hit minus 14 degrees Celsius, the lowest this winter.  “I am looking forward to finding a date. I have a little hope that I can find the one am

No one wanted to be president less than Mitt Romney, his son said in an interview out Sunday that raises new questions about the candidacy of the losing Republican nominee.In an interview with the Boston Globe examining what went wrong with the Romney campaign, his eldest son Tagg explains that his father had been a reluctant candidate from the start.After failing to win the 2008 Republican nomination, Romney told his family he would not run again and had to be persuaded to enter the 2012 White

Spain’s government will block any independence referendum held in Catalonia, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said, according to ABC. “The government is prepared to make sure the referendum doesn’t happen: the legal instrument it uses to do so is secondary,” the Madrid-based newspaper quoted him as saying in an interview. “Spaniards can be confident that it won’t tolerate secession in any part of the territory.” (Bloomberg)

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel on Sunday for the first time since an Egypt-mediated ceasefire on November 21, army radio and other media reported.The reports said it fell on open ground and caused no injuries, but an Israeli military spokesman denied that a rocket had hit."No rocket fell in Israeli territory," he told AFP, without elaborating.Israel and the militant Islamist group Hamas which rules Gaza fought an eight-day war last month in which 177

More than 60 people were killed in a regime air strike on a bakery in a rebel-held town on Sunday, monitors said, as peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi launched a new bid to resolve Syria's brutal 21-month conflict.In one of the deadliest incidents of the conflict, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike hit a bakery in Halfaya in the central province of Hama, killing more than 60 people and wounding at least 50.Many of the wounded were in critical condition, it said."In Halfaya, regime

North Korea confirmed Friday it was holding a U.S. citizen for a "crime" he has admitted committing against the communist country while leading a tour group there."American citizen Pae Jun Ho who entered Rason City of the DPRK on Nov. 3 for the purpose of tour committed a crime against the DPRK. He was put into custody by a relevant institution," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report, monitored in Seoul.DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North

South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama held phone talks on Friday and agreed to take cooperative steps to deal with the Northeast Asian security crisis triggered by North Korea's rocket launch.The two discussed the matter when Obama made a congratulatory call to Park on her recent election as South Korea's president, said an official at Park's ruling Saenuri Party. Park won the tightly contested presidential election on Wednesday against a liberal opposition c

Argentina's congress voted nearly unanimously to toughen human-trafficking laws following outrage over the acquittal of 13 people accused of running a sex slave ring.The chamber of deputies approved the reforms late Wednesday with 224 votes in favor and one abstention.Public fury over last week's acquittal had led to clashes between demonstrators and police, and protests were held in at least seven provinces including Tucuman, where the sex trafficking case had been heard.The new legislation fea

Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, stressed the importance of female education during the annual awards Gala of U.N. Correspondents Association. But instead of his usual solemn speech, Ban made an amusing parody video to make his point.In the video, a flustering advisor rushes into what appears to be a meeting of Ban’s advisors.“We’ve got a problem. Because of this man, Secretary-General is no longer the most famous Korean on the planet,” the advisor says, showing everyone

Gothenburg, Sweden, high school students, outraged over sexual Internet rumors, barricaded a school in protest and rioted in a shopping mall, police said.The turmoil began after a user of the Internet message service Instagram sought advice on local young girls, receiving over 200 pictures of girls age 13 to 14, with their names and alleged sexual activities posted. After the account was shut down the allegations appeared on a Facebook page, and commenters began naming each other and offering th

China has detained more than 100 further members of a Christian sect accused of predicting doomsday, state media said Friday, taking the total held beyond 1,000 as officials denied cold weather was apocalypse-related.More than 90 members of "Almighty God", a Christian sect which the government has accused of spreading rumors that three days of darkness would begin on Friday, were detained in the central province of Henan, the state-run China News reported.State media also reported 17 were held i