South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party will stick to its current presidential candidate selection process, but will check to see if there are shortcomings that can be addressed, the party's chairman said Saturday.At the end of a workshop event for lawmakers, Hwang Woo-yea said meeting the primary election timetable set by the party's constitution will be a challenge in itself. He said that because the

The cost to dine with investor Warren Buffett has apparently spiked in value, with one deep-pocketed bidder forking over nearly $3.5 million during a charity auction Friday night.The annual auction for a private lunch with the Nebraska billionaire closed following a flurry of activity in the final hours. In the end, the highest bid was a record-breaking $3,456,789.The auction benefits the Glide Fo

A University of Georgia professor famous for his life-long study of German literature and history has been charged with prostitution in a suburb of Atlanta, officials said.Max Reinhart, 65, was arrested Thursday afternoon after investigators answered an online ad listed by an individual on Backpage.com, according to local media reports. The website has an "adult" section that includes "escorts" an

China will launch a manned spacecraft this month, state news agency Xinhua said Saturday, in the latest step in a programme aimed at giving the country a permanent space station by 2020.The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and its carrier rocket have already been moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, Xinhua said, quoting an official with the country's manned

The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) was set to pick its new leadership at a national convention Saturday ahead of this year's presidential race.Party sources said that Reps. Kim Han-gil and Lee Hae-chan were in the lead for the top post as the party gathering got underway at the KINTEX convention center, northwest of Seoul.They added that Kang Gi-jung, Choo Mi-ae, Woo Sang-ho and Cho

Police have arrested 190 people and rescued 18 children in a major US crackdown on child pornography, including some detained in Europe and elsewhere, judicial authorities said Friday.Most of the arrests in Operation Orion through the month of May took place in the United States, but suspects were also picked up in Argentina, Britain, the Philippines and Spain."Many of the child exploitation cases

Britain's government announced plans Friday to make forced marriage a criminal offence, with parents who coerce their children into marrying to face "very tough punishments".Prime Minister David Cameron said forced marriage had been tolerated as a cultural practice in Britain's Asian community for too long and was "little short of slavery"."For too long in this country we have thought 'well, it's

MEXICO CITY -- The Peruvian military and police are ready to send in rescue teams to find a helicopter carrying eight South Koreans that went missing earlier in the week, a diplomatic source said Friday.The South Korean Embassy source in Lima said a 21-person air rescue team is on standby so they can be sent in by helicopter to the Hualla Hualla region where the ill-fated S-58 chopper may have cra

Two North Korean nationals were sentenced to eight year prison terms after being caught trying to steal secret rocket technology from the Ukraine, local sources said Saturday.Sources said the North Koreans identified as Ryu Song-chul and Lee Tae-kil were arrested for spying in July after they tried to steal classified technology from the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipropetrovsk. The sentence was h

Nexon Co., a Tokyo-based maker of online games, bought a 804.5 billion won ($685 million) stake in NCSoft Corp. to become the South Korean company's biggest shareholder.Nexon purchased 3.2 million NCSoft shares, a 14.7 percent stake, from NCSoft Chairman Kim Taek-Jin for 250,000 won apiece, it said in a statement today. That's 6.7 percent less than today's closing price in Seoul for NCSoft, which

Lee Keun-ho scored the first two goals at 26 minutes and 80 minutes. (Yonhap News)Korea went into the final round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers after trouncing Qatar 4-1 at the Al Sadd Stadium in Doha on Saturday.The game took off with a bad start for the Korean team as Qatar dominated the pitch in the beginning of the half.It was Yousef Ahmad that rocketed past two defenders to sink in a goal

PATROL BASE PUL-I-ALAM, Afghanistan (AP) -- The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan has apologized for civilian deaths in a coalition airstrike earlier this week.Marine Gen. John Allen flew to Logar province on Friday to personally deliver his regrets to villagers and provincial officials for the deaths of women, children and village elders in Wednesday's pre-dawn raid to capture a Tali

GENEVA (AP) -- Switzerland's supreme court has ruled that Google doesn't need to be perfect when it comes to privacy.The Internet giant has won a partial repeal of a lower court decision that required the company to guarantee absolute anonymity for people pictured in its popular Street View service.``It must be accepted that up to a maximum of 1 percent of the images uploaded are insufficiently an

HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- Tens of thousands of asthma-sufferers have mobbed a southern Indian stadium to swallow live sardines smeared with a yellow herbal paste they believe will cure their breathing problems.Despite doctors' criticism, the Goud family has drawn throngs of people for years with its secret fish and herbal formula it says it received from a Hindu saint about 170 years ago.Hyderabad

The U.S. Defense Department has stopped issuing weapons to thousands of law enforcement agencies until it is satisfied that state officials can account for all the surplus guns, aircraft, Humvees and armored personnel carriers it has given police under a $2.6 billion program, The Associated Press has learned.The program provides police departments and other law enforcement agencies with military e

TOKYO (AP) -- The U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights issues says that political and economic reforms unfolding in Myanmar are a great example for North Korea to follow.Robert King told reporters in Tokyo on Friday that if North Korea took similar steps as Myanmar, the international community would probably respond favorably, as it has with Myanmar.In the wake of President Thein Sein's reforms

CHEONAN (Yonhap) -- The ruling Saenuri Party held a lawmakers' workshop Friday, marred by the absence of two presidential hopefuls apparently in anger after the party's leadership rebuffed their demand for changing the primary rules.The two-day worshop in the central city of Cheonan was closely watched as intense debate was expected over the primary rule issue amid speculation that three minor con

서울에서 월드 투어의 첫 발을 내디딘 레이디 가가는 그녀의 사진을 노리는 각종 언론 매체와 숨바꼭질을 벌였지만, 하염없이 그녀를 보려고 기다린 팬들과는 함께 사진을 찍고 인사를 나누는 등 팬들에 대한 애정을 과시했다. 코리아헤럴드는 레이디 가가가 지난 22일 리츠칼튼 호텔 로비에서 팬들과 정겨운 대화를 나누는 모습을 담은 사진을 단독 입수했다.  Lady Gaga and her fans at lobby of The Ritz-Carlton on Sunday. (Courtesy of Jung Jin-woo) Lady Gaga and her fan (Courtesy of Jung Jin-woo)사진에 담긴 레이디 가가는 매니저를 대동하고 팬들에게 둘러싸여 웃고 있었으며 팬들과 함께 사진을 찍기도 했다.지난  일주

PYONGYANG (AFP) -- North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-Un on Friday led a mass rally for his late father and grandfather following the country's failed rocket launch.The defiant launch drew condemnation from world leaders who described it as a "provocative" act that threatened regional security, despite Pyongyang insisting it was intended to put a satellite into orbit for peaceful purposes.But Jong-

SEOUL, April 13, 2012 (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was elected "first chairman" of the powerful National Defence Commission, apparently a new title, state media said Friday.His late father Kim Jong-Il was named "eternal" chairman of the commission, the country's top decision-making body, at an annual session of the North's rubber-stamp parliament, the official KCNA news agency said.The