Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan urged the Group of 20 major economies to lend support to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), an organization that helps developing countries tackle climate change-related problems, in Washington on Saturday. In a meeting held immediately after the G-20 financial ministerial gathering, Choi said the GCF can help developing countries deal with environmental issues, adding that climate change can be utilized as growth opportunities.The meeting was also attended by World B

Thousands of American and Filipino soldiers on Monday will kick off expanded wargames, showcasing a deepening defence alliance as alarm bells ring over China. The 10-day exercises in the Philippines are an annual affair between the longtime allies, but this time they will involve double the number of soldiers as last year in a sign of their expanding military partnership. The Philippines is seeking more U.S. military and diplomatic support to fend off China's increasing forcefulness in its bid t

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for international action to end the Saudi-led air campaign on Huthi rebels as intense bombing hit Yemen again Friday and Al-Qaeda seized more ground in the chaos.Columns of smoke rose over an arms depot targeted by warplanes east of the capital Sanaa, witnesses said. The facility belonged to the elite Republican Guard, which remains loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Renegade troops loyal to Saleh are allied with the Huthi rebels, whose sweepi

President Juan Manual Santos delivered a sharp rebuke to Colombia's largest rebel group Friday, calling on its leaders to set a deadline to reach a peace deal following this week's slaughter of 11 soldiers while they were sleeping. Santos didn't propose any cutoff date to conclude peace talks taking place the last two years in Cuba between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. But he warned the guerrillas that the country's patience is wearing thin "Don't be deaf to us C

South Korean President Park Geun-hye called Friday for quick ratification of a free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia to further boost bilateral trade in the second day of her visit to the South American country. The sides clinched an FTA in February 2013, but opposition mainly from the automobile sector in Colombia has delayed the domestic ratification process. Colombia's Constitutional Court has yet to approve the deal, while South Korea's parliament has completed its ratification. Park said

KIEV (AFP) - Six Ukrainian troops were killed in two separate incidents in the troubled separatist-held east Sunday as isolated clashes continue to violate a fragile ceasefire to end the year-long war, officials said."Unfortunately, six Ukrainian soldiers have been killed today," army spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told AFP.Four soldiers died when their vehicle came under missile fire while crossing a bridge near the separatist bastion of Lugansk.Two others were killed when an anti-tank mine exp

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Francis called Sunday for an end to "absurd violence" in hotspots around the world while praising the breakthrough reached last week on curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions.In his traditional Easter message, the 78-year-old pontiff prayed that the framework accord reached Thursday between Iran and six major world powers would be "a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world."Tens of thousands of pilgrims huddled under umbrellas in a rain-soaked St Peter's Squa

CAIRO (AP) - A bomb blast on a bridge leading to an upscale neighborhood in central Cairo killed a policeman and wounded at least two passers-by on Sunday, police said. An Associated Press reporter saw a mangled corpse hanging out of a truck on the bridge, which spans the Nile River connecting the Giza district to the wealthy island neighborhood of Zamalek, where many embassies are located. Dozens of people gathered at the scene, some yelling in outrage, others in fear or grief. Several cars wer

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraqi officials say separate attacks in the capital Baghdad have killed at least nine people and wounded others. Police say the deadliest attack Sunday took place in the northern Sabi al-Bore neighborhood, where a bomb ripped through an outdoor market, killing four civilians and wounding 10 others. The two police officials said three policemen were killed and two others wounded when gunmen in two speeding cars opened fire on their checkpoint in the eastern New Baghdad district. T

JERUSALEM (AP) - An official Israeli analysis has drawn up a list of alleged shortcomings of the nuclear framework agreement between Iran and world powers, providing a basis for what is expected to be months of furious lobbying by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reshape or cancel the deal. Netanyahu, an outspoken critic of the negotiations with Iran, has already criticized the deal as insufficient. He is expected to lobby heavily against the framework deal as its language is finalized ahead

RANCHO MIRAGE (AFP) - South Korean rookie Kim Sei-Young birdied two of her final three holes to extend her lead at the LPGA Tour's ANA Inspiration event to three shots on Saturday.Kim fired a three-under 69 to finish 54 holes with a 10-under 206 in the first major championship of the season. American Stacy Lewis (68) is second while Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn and former winners Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lincicome are tied for third at six-under par.Ariya's older sister Moriya shot her second

South Korea edged out Russia 1-0 in the two countries' women's football friendly match at home on Sunday.Striker Ji So-yun scored in the dying moments of the match at Incheon Football Stadium, located just west of Seoul, to lift the home side over the visitors in a prep match ahead of this year's FIFA Women's World Cup. South Korea and Russia will go head-to-head again on Wednesday in Daejeon, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul. Ji, who plays club football for Chelsea Ladies in England, only ar

President Park Geun-hye on Thursday sanctioned an anti-corruption bill that won parliamentary approval early this month despite controversy over its possible violation of an individual's constitutional rights, her office said. The so-called Kim Young-ran Law, named after the former Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission chief who proposed the legislation in June 2011, subjects public officials, journalists and private school faculty to a maximum penalty of three years in prison or five time

Suspended Olympic swimming champion Park Tae-hwan will hold a press conference this week, his agency said Thursday, in what will be his first speech to the public following a 18-month suspension on an alleged anti-doping violation.   Team GMP, Park's agency, said the suspended swimmer will be speaking at a hotel in the southern Seoul district of Songpa at 3 p.m. on Friday.   The move comes after FINA, the international swimming governing body, on Monday handed down the ruling to Park, a four-tim

North Korea vowed to wage a "merciless, sacred war" against the United States on Thursday, days before the launch of annual joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises that have incensed Pyongyang."Nuclear weapons are not a monopoly of the U.S.," the ruling party's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, warned in an editorial carried by the state KCNA news agency."The U.S. is seriously mistaken if it thinks its mainland is safe," the editorial added.North Korea "will wage a merciless sacred war agains

BAGHDAD (AFP) -- The Islamic State group has suffered "devastating" blows in Syria's Kobane and on several Iraqi fronts, but analysts warn such victories in the fight against the jihadists cannot be replicated everywhere. Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led airstrikes this week ousted I.S. from most of Kobane, after a four-month battle whose symbolic importance had far outgrown the small Syrian town's military value. Simultaneously, Iraqi forces flushed the jihadists out of their last urban bast

ATHENS (AFP) - Greece's new Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Wednesday he wants to see a pan-European deal to encourage growth. The new anti-austerity Syriza-led government wants "a pan-European 'New Deal' that will lead Europe to a reboot," Varoufakis told reporters as he took over the post.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As the Federal Reserve ends its latest policy meeting Wednesday, it is widely expected to repeat the pledge it made in December: That it will be "patient" in raising interest rates from record lows. That pledge could endure well into 2015. The U.S. economy has steadily improved. Yet inflation has dipped further below the Fed's target rate, thanks to plunging oil prices and a surging dollar. The stronger dollar makes foreign goods cheaper in the United States. The statement tha

AMMAN (AP) -- Jordan said Wednesday it is willing to swap an Iraqi woman held on death row in Jordan for a Jordanian pilot captured in December by extremists from the Islamic State group. The statement by Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani made no mention of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, who is also being held by the Islamic State group.  Efforts to release the Jordanian pilot and the journalist gained urgency with the release late Tuesday of a purported online ultimatum claimin

 South Korea could thrive in the role of underdogs when they face hosts Australia in the Asian Cup final this weekend, says skipper Ki Sung-Yueng.Having reached the final for the first time in 27 years battered, bruised and held together by team spirit and sheer bloody-mindedness, the Swansea City midfielder told Korean reporters on Wednesday that the Red Devils had the steel to go all the way.  "I believe it will come down to mental strength," said Ki, who has been a calming influence on South