A female national intelligence agent appeared for questioning by police Saturday over allegations that she repeatedly made negative comments online about main opposition presidential candidate Moon Jae-in.The 28-year-old official from the National Intelligence Service (NIS), surnamed Kim, is suspected of having put anti-Moon comments online over the past three months from an office in southern Seoul to influence the race.With the presidential election only four days away, the allegation has emer

A Los Angeles judge revoked actress Lindsay Lohan's probation Wednesday and scheduled a hearing to determine whether she should go to jail. TMZ said Lohan, 26, could spend as many as 245 days behind bars for allegedly violating her probation in a necklace-theft case by lying to police and driving recklessly when she crashed her Porsche into a truck last June. The hearing is scheduled for Jan. 15.Lohan is a former child star whose once-bright career in films such as "The Parent Trap" and "Mean Gi

Japan scrambled eight fighter jets on Thursday after a Chinese state-owned plane breached its airspace for the first time, over islands at the centre of a dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.It was the first incursion by a Chinese state aircraft into Japanese airspace anywhere since the country's military began monitoring in 1958, the defense ministry said.The move marks a ramping-up of what observers suggest is a Chinese campaign to create a "new normal" -- where its forces come and go as they pl

An ex-con from New Mexico and his nephew planned to kill Justin Bieber and his bodyguard, police said. Mark Staake of Albuquerque was allegedly taking orders from a man he met while both were doing time in a prison in Las Cruces, N.M., KRQE-TV in Albuquerque reported. Dana Martin, who received two life sentences for the rape and murder of a Vermont teenager, was allegedly so obsessed with Bieber he has a picture of the Canadian teen pop sensation tattooed on his leg.Investigators say Martin also

The U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's successful rocket launch on Wednesday and said it will urgently consider “an appropriate response.”Whether that response includes new sanctions against the North, which the United States and its European allies are seeking, depends first and foremost on China, the North's closest ally which has not made its position clear. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei cautioned Wednesday in Beijing that the council's response should be “prudent and

Ruling Saenuri Party's presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye maintained a narrow lead over main opposition rival Moon Jae-in in the last nationwide polls that can be made public ahead of this year's presidential election, political watchers said Thursday.The five surveys taken from Monday through Wednesday showed Park's approval rating between 42.8 percent and 48.9 percent, compared to 41.4 percent to 47.5 percent for the Democratic United Party (DUP) candidate.Among the surveys released by broadca

The Federal Reserve sent its clearest signal to date Wednesday that it will keep interest rates super-low to support the U.S. economy even after the job market has improved significantly.The Fed said it plans to keep its key short-term rate near zero until the unemployment rate reaches 6.5 percent or less _ as long as expected inflation remains tame. Unemployment is now 7.7 percent.That plan adds detail to what the Fed had said before: that it expects to keep the rate low until at least mid-2015

The Federal Reserve will spend $45 billion a month to sustain an aggressive drive to keep long-term interest rates low. And it says it plans to keep a key short-term rate near zero until unemployment drops below 6.5 percent.The policies are intended to help an economy that the Fed says is growing only modestly with 7.7 percent unemployment in November.Stocks and bond yields rose after the Fed's statement was released Wednesday after its final policy meeting of the year. The Dow Jones industrial

Believers of the Mayan calendar prediction that the world will end on December 21 have flooded into a small village in western Turkey, near the ancient Greek city of Ephesus.Some New Age spiritualists are convinced of a December 21 "doomsday" foretold by Mayan hieroglyphs -- at least according to some interpretations.Sirince, a village of around 600 inhabitants, has a positive energy according to the doomsday cultists, who say that it is close to an area where Christians believe the Virgin Mary

  An Australian anthropologist has created what she says is an evidence-based image of the tiny "hobbit" species known as Homo floresiensis.With a background in forensic science, Susan Hayes was able to flesh out the face of a 3-foot tall, 30-year-old female based on remains uncovered in the Liang Bua cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.Homo floresiensis, nicknamed hobbits because of their diminutive size, lived on the Indonesian island of F

Following is the first in a series of articles based on the assessment of the presidential manifestos by the Herald expert panel. ― Ed.The main presidential candidates Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in have dedicated much of their time to economic pledges, but experts say that their plans fall far short of being viable solutions. According to Herald Corp.’s manifesto review panel comprised of leading academics, the plans put forward by the Saenuri Party’s Park and the Democratic United Party’s Moon

China on Wednesday rapped North Korea over its long-range rocket launch, demanding North Korea comply with UN resolutions against using ballistic missiles, the official news agency Xinhua said."Pyongyang should... abide by relevant UN Security Council resolutions... which demands the DPRK not to conduct 'any launch using ballistic missile technology' and urges it to 'suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programme'," Xinhua said in a commentary.China, North Korea's sole major a

North American Aerospace Defense Command officials said North Korea appeared to have successfully launched an object in orbit on a missile, marking a technological success for the hermit nation.North Korea had confirmed hours earlier the launch of a long-range rocket on Wednesday and said it had succeeded in its mission of placing a satellite into orbit.A previous launch of the same Unha-3 rocket in April had ended in failure, with the carrier exploding shortly after take-off."North American Aer

The launch of North Korea's long-range rocket is expected to become a big issue in South Korea's upcoming presidential election, political observers said Wednesday.Observers said the surprise launch coming just seven days ahead of the Dec. 19 poll can raise uncertainty surrounding the Korean Peninsula and fuel concerns about national security.Such developments can influence whom people will support when they go to cast their ballots, although its effects on public sentiments has yet to be determ

The following is a chronology of major events leading to North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket on Wednesday.-- August 31, 1998: North Korea fires its first ballistic missile, the Unha-1 rocket, also known as the Taepodong-1 missile, from the launch site of Musudan-ri in North Hamgyong Province.-- July 4, 2006: North Korea fires the more advanced Taepodong-2 missile at the launch site of Musudan-ri.-- April 5, 2009: North Korea launches the Unha-2 rocket at the launch site of Musudan-ri wit

The U.S. government has "noted" North Korea's multistage rocket launch and it is preparing for a formal response, an official said Tuesday."We have noted the launch and we are monitoring the situation," a U.S. administration official told Yonhap News Agency, requesting anonymity. "We will have further official comment at a later time."A Pentagon official also said the U.S. military plans to issue a statement on the trajectory of the North Korean rocket.The first informal responses came about two

South Korean outfielder Choo Shin-soo of the Cleveland Indians in Major League Baseball (MLB) has been traded to the Cincinnati Reds, the teams said Wednesday, Korean time.The Indians dealt Choo and infielder Jason Donald to the Reds as part of a three-team, nine-player trade that also involved the Arizona Diamondbacks. In exchange, the Reds sent center fielder Drew Stubbs and shortstop Didi Gregorius to Cleveland.The Indians then shipped Gregorius, pitcher Tony Sipp and first baseman Lars Ander

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner sought an elusive compromise Tuesday to prevent automatic economy-damaging tax increases and spending cuts at year's end, conferring by phone after a secretive exchange of proposals.Many economists say failure to reach a deal that would pull the U.S. economy back from the Jan. 1 ``fiscal cliff'' that would trigger a combination of tax increases and spending cuts could push the country back into economic recession.Details were sparse and evide

North Korea successfully launched its long-range rocket on Wednesday, indicating major progress in its capability to deliver nuclear weapons as far as the mainland United States.The provocation prompted condemnations from the international community including South Korea, the U.S., Japan and the European Union. China, its traditional ally, expressed regret. The Unha-3 rocket blasted off from the Dongchang-ri site in the North‘s northwest at 9:49 a.m., officials said. Its first stage fell into th