PAKISTAN (Reuters) - Gunmen in Pakistan fired on the vehicle of a politician driving past worshippers leaving a mosque on a Muslim holiday on Friday, killing nine people and wounding 27 in the city of Quetta, police said. Quetta is the capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan, where several militant groups are active, including the Pakistani Taliban, who claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack that killed 30 people at a policeman's funeral on Thursday. The United States has w

South Korea's top negotiator on ending North Korea's nuclear program will fly to Moscow next week to discuss denuclearization policy with his Russian counterpart, the foreign ministry said Friday.Cho Tae-yong, Seoul's point man on the long-stalled six-party talks, will visit Russia for three days from Tuesday to hold the bilateral meeting with Igor Vladimirovich Morgulov, Moscow's top negotiator on North Korea's denuclearization, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.During the meeting, t

Asiana Airlines Inc. said Wednesday it has withdrawn its plan to file a defamation suit against a U.S. television station for damaging the carrier's reputation over the deadly crash of its plane in San Francisco. "We decided not to proceed with the suit to concentrate all our efforts on dealing with the aftermath of the accident," the South Korea's second-largest flag carrier said in a statement.The airline also cited an apology by the San Francisco Bay Area station KTVU Channel 2 for its abrupt

North Korea said Wednesday four more people have died from floods over the past few days and some 180 houses were destroyed or inundated, raising the death toll to six.The country's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said one person is still missing after the heavy downpour, which was recorded as reaching as much as 518 millimeters in its southeastern province of Gangwon between July 9 and 16. The agency had reported two deaths last week and over 760 people left homeless.In a separate report, the

South Korea has become an observer to the Pacific Alliance, a Latin American economic bloc, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.The Pacific Alliance, launched in June last year, groups Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru and aims to strengthen their joint competitiveness through free trade. It now has 20 observer nations, including South Korea.The ministry said the tie with the bloc would enable South Korea to be ready for a possible link between the Pacific Alliance and the U.S.-led Trans Pacific

South Korea's government team sent to investigate the Asiana jet crash returned home on Wednesday and vowed continued efforts to reveal the cause of the deadly accident.Six officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport have been in San Francisco since July 7 participating in a joint investigation with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Asiana Flight 214. Three Chinese teens died and over 180 people were injured after the passenger jet crash landed at San

MOSCOW (AFP) – U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who has applied for temporary asylum in Russia, does not rule out applying for Russian citizenship, a lawyer assisting him said on Wednesday."He does not rule out the possibility of asking for Russian citizenship," prominent lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, who helped Snowden put together his asylum bid on Tuesday, told reporters. "He told me: 'I am not going to go anywhere from Russia.'"  

BERLIN (AFP) - Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone was on Wednesday charged with bribery by German prosecutors.The 82-year-old motor racing magnate has been charged by state prosecutors in Munich in relation to a $44 million payment he made to German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, which was linked to the sale of the Formula One rights in 2006.Last month, Gribkowsky was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail in Munich and Ecclestone has always denied bribing the German to avoid a British tax inqu

South Korea squeezed past Uzbekistan 1-0 in their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, taking a huge step toward another appearance at the quadrennial tournament.On the rainy night at Seoul World Cup Stadium, South Korea built a first-half lead on an own goal by Uzbekistan and hung on for dear life for the crucial victory. The win kept South Korea at the top of Group A with 14 points, three better than Uzbekistan. Iran, which has 10 points in third place, was to play Lebanon early Wednesday in Korean

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said he expects an overhaul of immigration rules to become law by the end of the year, but that the Senate's version "doesn't go far enough" to secure the U.S. border with Mexico or enforce the proposed new system."I've got real concerns about the Senate bill, especially in the area of border security and internal enforcement of the system. I'm concerned that it doesn't go far enough," Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, t

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to retake an Istanbul protest square on Tuesday as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned he would show "no more tolerance" for the unrelenting mass demonstrations against his Islamic-rooted government.   Hundreds of police stormed the city's Taksim Square, the epicentre of nearly two weeks of deadly unrest, in the early morning and brought bulldozers to clear the makeshift barriers erected by demonstrators after police p

KABUL (AFP) - The Taliban have said they are willing to discuss how to reduce civilian casualties in the ongoing insurgency in Afghanistan, a top UN envoy said on Tuesday.Jan Kubis, the UN special representative for Afghanistan said that the militants had agreed to hold talks with the UN and discuss the issue of civilian deaths, which rose by 24 percent in the first half of 2013 compared to last year."I can confirm that we sent publicly and also through our channels a signal of our willingness t

An international hacking group that had previously claimed it hacked North Korean Web sites said on Sunday it launched more cyber attacks into about a dozen sites based in the communist state.The group called "Anonymous" said on its Twitter account (@AnonyOpsKorea) that it successfully hacked the Web site for the North Korean radio station called "Voice of Korea." Anonymous released the photo of the opening page of the Web site, with the "VOK" logo at the top right-hand corner and the word "Hack

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Francis on Sunday created the first saints of his reign, canonizing some 800 Italian martyrs who refused to convert to Islam in the 15th century, as well as a Colombian and a Mexican who founded congregations.Thousands of faithful gathered in St Peter's Square to attend the mass in which he formally bestowed the sainthoods, which had been approved by Francis's predecessor Benedict XVI.The new saints include Italian cobbler Antonio Primaldo, who was killed along with an

CAIRO (AP) – In his first comments to the media by since he was detained more than two years ago, Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak said he is dismayed at the country's state of affairs and particularly the plight of the poor.The 85-year old Mubarak spoke to Al-Watan newspaper after a session of his retrial for his role in the killing of hundreds of protesters during the popular uprising that forced him to step down in 2011. His comments were published Sunday, a day after he appeared in the

PARIS (AP) – The French Health Ministry says a second case of a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS has been confirmed.A ministry statement issued Sunday said a hospital roommate of the 65-year-old man who initially contracted the virus has tested positive.The two shared a room for a few days in late April at Valenciennes hospital in northern France, and hence were in ``prolonged and close contact.'' Both are now hospitalized in nearby Lille.Four suspected cases, all people who had cont

The former presidential spokesman who was dismissed over sexual assault accusations admitted last week to touching the buttocks of the alleged victim during an internal investigation by the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, an action he later denied, officials said Sunday.According to Cheong Wa Dae officials, Yoon Chang-jung contradicted himself at Saturday's press conference, where he denied all sexual harassment allegations that led to his dismissal.Yoon was fired on Thursday in Los Angeles,

The main opposition party elected Rep. Kim Han-gil as the new chairman and renamed itself as the Democratic Party on Sunday, as it seeks to recover from election defeats and to grow its supporter base.“I feel heavy responsibility for being elected with overwhelming support from the party and the public. The fact that I, who do not belong to any faction, have been elected is a symbol of big changes for the Democratic Party,” Kim said.He added that he will remove factionalism from the party and un

민주당 새 대표에 김한길 후보가 선출됐다. 김대표는 당선이 확정된 후 박근혜 대통령과 새누리당을 향해 정기적인 ‘여야 국정협의체’를 구성해 운영하자고 제안했다.김한길 의원은 당 대표 수락연설을 통해 “안보와 민생현안 등의 해결을 위해 대통령과 야당 대표가 참여하는 정기적인 여야 국정협의체 구성과 운영을 박 대통령과 여당에 제안한다”고 말했다.김 대표는 “지금 국민들의 삶은 처절하다”며 “박근혜정부 출범 이후 새로운 여야관계 정립을 위해 ‘6인회의’를 진행하고 있으나 아무런 성과도 없이 관계만 악화되고 있다”며 이같이 제안했다.그는 “민주당은 민생을 살리기 위해 정부ㆍ여당과 초당적으로 협력할 준비가 되어 있다”면서도 “그러나 계속 국민과 야당을 무시하고 불통의 국정운영을 고수한다면 무서운 민주당, 강력한 야당의 모습을 보게 될 것”이라고 강조했다.최고위원에는 신경민, 우원식, 양승조, 조경태 의원이 당선됐다. 지역별로는 수도권 출신이 당 대표에 선출된 가운데 최고위원은 수도권 2명,

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Israeli warplanes have targeted a Syrian weapons shipment headed for Hezbollah in Lebanon, media quoted U.S. officials as saying Saturday, as Sunnis were fleeing a city for fear of a massacre.The news came as U.S. President Barack Obama, under mounting criticism that he has allowed Bashar al-Assad's regime to cross his own declared "red line" on using chemical weapons, came close to ruling out deploying U.S. troops to Syria.CNN said U.S. and Western intelligence agencies were re