PATNA, India (AP) -- Maoist rebels killed at least seven Indian paramilitary soldiers by blowing up their armored vehicle Wednesday in central India, police said.The insurgents detonated a roadside land mine near Malewara, a village in insurgency-wracked Chhattisgarh state, top police officer R.K. Sahu said. Other details were not available.The area is not considered to be a rebel stronghold, but they apparently came from their forest hideout to target the Central Reserve Police Force soldiers.

Park Eun-jeong (not her real name), a single mother of two, suffered a car accident just seven months after her divorce back in 2014. Her husband had agreed to wire 800,000 won ($688) monthly for child support when signing his divorce papers. But he abruptly changed his phone number and stopped paying the funds after learning about Park’s accident. 　Severely injured in the spine and unable to work, she relied on the government’s emergency needs allowance for seven months until she was told that

South Korea’s Gender Minister Kang Eun-hee expressed Seoul’s determination and “achievements” in eradicating violence against women and children at a United Nations meeting in New York on Tuesday, even as recent government statistics show otherwise.　“The Korean government especially acknowledges that child abuse is an important social issue requiring keen social attention and thus endeavors to strengthen the legal and policy framework,” the minister said at the two-week annual session of the U.N

More than 95 percent of South Koreans are against the Health Ministry‘s decision to bar geriatric hospitals from rejecting AIDS patients, the Korean Association of Geriatric Hospitals claimed Friday, citing their own research. 　The organization surveyed earlier this year a total of 5,627 South Koreans, including 674 family members of senior patients who needed geriatric care, as well as 996 health care workers in medical facilities that treat elderly inpatients. 　The research found that 95.9 per

Police on Thursday arrested a couple in their 20s who are suspected of letting their 2-month-old daughter die by not taking her to the hospital after she suffered an injury at their home in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.　According to the police, the 22-year-old father is suspected of pushing the baby off the bed and leaving the injured child on the floor for more than 10 hours without getting her necessary medical attention. 　The infant died early Wednesday morning. 　Police said the father had also

More than 30 percent of foreign-born South Koreans aged 15-24 are not in school and out of work, while for 58.3 percent of them, their parents had divorced before they moved to South Korea, a report released by the Gender Ministry showed Wednesday.　“Foreign-born children” refers to young South Koreans who were born and grew up overseas and moved to Korea as minors, including children who were born to non-Korean citizens overseas and moved to Korea after one of their divorced parents -- usually t

　Han Min-ji (not her real name), a single mother in her late 30s, gave birth to her fourth child in January. She had three children from her previous marriage and had broken up with the newborn’s father, several months before the delivery. Still, she did not think that her single parenthood would prevent her from receiving the government allowance, which is given to all new parents as part of the efforts to tackle the nation’s low birthrate. 　When she visited the city hall in Namyangju, Gyeonggi

Nearly 80 percent of Korean women who were diagnosed with cancer while pregnant between 1995 and 2013 chose to continue with their pregnancies, a study by Samsung Medical Center showed Monday.　The study, which researched a total of 50,412 women who gave birth at the medical institution from 1995 to 2013, found that 87 women were diagnosed with cancer while pregnant. The average age of the patients was 32.5. They were on average 24 weeks pregnant at the time of their diagnosis.　According to the p

VIENNA, (AFP) -- Celebrated Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, considered to be the "pope" of the Baroque music revival, died Saturday aged 86, his family announced via the APA news agency."Nikolaus Harnoncourt took his last breath peacefully surrounded by family," said the short announcement run by the Austrian news agency.In December Harnoncourt had announced his retirement, citing health reasons, in a farewell letter to the audience of the Musikverein, home to the Vienna Philharmonic or

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis says the four nuns killed in an attack on a home for the elderly in Yemen are modern-day martyrs and victims of indifference.Francis told the faithful Sunday that the nuns ``gave their blood for the Church'' and that they were not only victims of the attackers but also of "this indifference of globalization."The nuns were among 16 people killed Friday by gunmen who stormed a retirement home run by a charity established by Mother Teresa. The pope also praised an

China on Saturday cut its growth target for this year to a range of 6.5 to seven percent, as the world's second-largest economy faces a litany of challenges from overcapacity to weak trade.The country is a key driver of global growth but expansion fell last year to 6.9 percent, its slowest in a quarter of a century, and worries over its health have sent tremors through stock markets around the world.Premier Li Keqiang told the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC) parliament, the count

South Korean Jang Ha-na picked up her second LPGA Tour win of the season in Singapore on Sunday.Jang cruised to a four-stroke victory at HSBC Women's Champions at Sentosa Golf Club's Serapong Course, after a blistering final round of seven-under 65 took her to 19-under 269 for the tournament. Jang, who won the Coates Golf Championship last month for her maiden victory, is the first LPGA golfer to win twice in 2016, and took home US$225,000 in winner's check.Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand was alon

Economists were evenly divided Sunday on whether the Bank of Korea would slash interest rates to a fresh low this week, ending an eight-month pause in the monetary easing cycle. 　But regardless of whether a rate cut is coming, many thought that Korea’s economy needs a shot in the arm now in order to avoid an export-led recession and keep the recovery momentum alive. 　“What Korea is witnessing now is the spillover of external shocks onto the domestic economy,” Hyundai Research Institute said in a

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- Providing new evidence that there's no quick end in sight to the fractious Republican Party race for president, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump each captured two victories in a four-state round of primary voting. Bernie Sanders won Saturday in Nebraska and Kansas in the Democratic race, while front-runner Hillary Clinton took Louisiana, another divided verdict from the American people.Cruz, a Texas senator, claimed Kansas and Maine, and declared it "a manifestation of a real sh

Kim Sae-byul has arguably one of the most unusual jobs in South Korea. His company, named “Bio Hazzard,” offers cleaning services after murders, suicides and unattended deaths in private homes. He is also often contacted by South Korean hoarders, who have inability to discard large quantities of objects -- including food garbage and animal feces -- that literally overwhelm the living areas of their properties. 　The cleanup specialist in his 40s cleans the homes of the loneliest, including hoarde

Children of foreign-born residents in South Korea suffer from racial discrimination and lack of access to social resources and opportunities as Korea has yet to pass a comprehensive antidiscrimination law, the latest research findings by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea showed. 　According to the report, children of undocumented immigrants were especially vulnerable to social isolation as well as lack of basic medical care. Children who were born overseas and moved to Korea as one of

South Korean police announced Sunday plans to introduce legislation that would allow Koreans to browse their romantic partners’ criminal history, after discovering nearly 60 percent of Korean date abuse offenders arrested last month had previous convictions.　The National Police Agency launched its special one-month campaign to crack down on date abuse in early February. During the campaign period, 1,279 cases were reported from abuse survivors and witnesses nationwide, and 61 offenders were plac

Park Myeong-eun (not her real name), an office worker in her 30s in Seoul, was devastated when her father abruptly collapsed and lost his consciousness back in 2012. She and her family took him to the nearest general hospital, where he was admitted to its emergency facility, which was packed with patients. Her father soon awoke, but he had to wait more than five hours to get an x-ray done. 　“It was really frustrating,” she told The Korea Herald. “We were just repeatedly told that we needed to wa

Lee Soo-jin (not her real-name), a single woman in her mid-30s in Seoul, recently decided to freeze her eggs, should she later want to have a child. She’s not currently dating anyone and doesn’t have any plans to get married in the near future. 　“I have high professional ambitions, and I’m passionate about my work,” she said through a representative at the Cha Fertility Center, where she underwent the procedure. “Right now I’m not sure if I ever want to get married or have children. The procedur

The number of South Korean men who sought help at Sunflower Centers -- government-affiliated agencies for sexual violence survivors -- increased dramatically by 66 percent last year from the year before, the Gender Ministry announced Monday.　The Gender Ministry currently runs a total of 36 Sunflower Centers nationwide, providing services including medical and legal assistance to sex abuse victims. Notably, the number of male sex abuse victims aged 19 or above, who visited the centers for support