MANCHESTER, England -- Britain raced Thursday to track down a jihadist network suspected of orchestrating the Manchester concert attack, while a row escalated between London and Washington over leaked material from the probe.As more children were named among the 22 victims of Monday's massacre, the suicide bomber's father and brother were arrested in Libya and police in Britain made new arrests.However, British authorities were left "furious" by repeated leaks of material shared with their US co

MADRID -- Spain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed a 21-month jail sentence and $2.25 million fine imposed on Lionel Messi for tax fraud, months after the Barcelona soccer star lodged an appeal.The Argentina international and his father Jorge Horacio Messi were in July 2016 found guilty of using companies in Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay to avoid paying taxes on $4.67 million of Messi’s income earned from his image rights from 2007-09.The income related to Messi’s image rights tha

BEIJING - Taiwan's giant step towards allowing same-sex marriage has reverberated across Asia, but activists warn the fight for equality isn't over in a region where gay sex remains illegal in some countries.Challenges to an Asia-wide embrace of same-sex unions were highlighted by this week's caning of two Indonesian men as punishment for gay sex and a South Korean military court's jailing of a soldier for having intercourse with another man.In mainland China, two men lost a court battle to get

A South Korean activist was ordered to pay a 2 million won ($1,800) fine Thursday on charges of trespassing into the Japanese Embassy in Seoul while protesting against a controversial deal between the two countries over Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women.Kim Sam was indicted in August last year for entering the embassy building in central Seoul in December 2015, along with members of a student group she leads in support of the former sex slaves. A weekly rally is under way in fro

The drop in Japanese tourists last month is adding concerns to the faltering local tourism industry already reeling from a dearth of Chinese visitors amid diplomatic jitters with neighboring country, industry and government sources said Thursday. Some 165,700 visitors from Japan came to South Korea in April, down 5.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest data release by the Korea Tourism Organization.  (Yonhap)The tally on Japanese travelers had been on an upturn since February la

President Moon Jae-in is expected to announce his key minister nominees next week after the parliament completes its confirmation process for Prime Minister-nominee Lee Nak-yon, a source said Thursday.The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae has been carrying out an internal vetting process for candidates for a series of ministerial and vice ministerial posts, including the deputy prime minister for social affairs. President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)The new president has been striving to swiftly round o

South Korea's Justice Ministry said Thursday it has officially received notification from Denmark that the daughter of former President Park Geun-hye's friend dropped the appeal against her extradition order. On Wednesday, Danish prosecutors confirmed that Chung Yoo-ra will be extradited to South Korea as she dropped her appeal to the High Court of Western Denmark regarding a lower court's decision to send her back to Seoul.  In this file photo taken on Jan. 12, 2017, activists perform in front

South Korea said Thursday that 19 civic groups have asked the government to approve their request for contact with North Koreans over inter-Korean exchanges since the inauguration of President Moon Jae-in.They are seeking to provide humanitarian assistance and pursue projects in development and exchanges in the social and cultural sectors, according to the Ministry of Unification.South Koreans require government approval to contact North Korea or visit. This photo taken on May 24, 2017, shows of

A South Korean senior diplomat will depart to the United States on Thursday to prepare a summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump set for next month, the foreign ministry said.During his three-day trip, Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam is expected to discuss the timing, agenda and protocol details for the first talks between the two leaders, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam (Yonhap)Moon and Trump are expected to focus on North Korea's nucle

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday broke the mold of the top presidential secretariat meeting, telling his aides to stop wasting time taking notes and feel free to challenge his views on state affairs.Presiding over a meeting of his senior secretaries for the first time, Moon pointed out that it is their "duty" to oppose his views if need be -- remarks that set the mood for a free-wheeling debate in future meetings.This photo, taken on May 24, 2017, shows President Moon Jae-in speaking about his

North Korea's mortality due to air pollution is the world's highest, with 238 per 100,000 population dying because of poor air quality, a US broadcaster said Thursday. The North's rate is 2.6 times higher than the world average and more than 10 times higher than South Korea's 23.2 per 100,000, Voice of America said, citing the 2017 World Health Statistics, recently published by the World Health Organization. The WHS is the WHO's annual compilation of health statistics for its 194 member states.T

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has told a South Korean presidential envoy that he is willing to mediate between South and North Korea by dispatching his emissary to Pyongyang in a bid to help relieve tensions on the Korean Peninsula.Song Young-gil, a special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, quoted Putin as saying, in their Wednesday meeting, "I am willing," in response to his question asking whether he could send an emissary to Pyongyang to learn of North Korean leader Ki

The National Assembly on Thursday began the last session of the two-day confirmation hearing for Prime Minister-nominee Lee Nak-yon, putting his ethics, leadership credentials and policy orientations under the microscope.Opposition lawmakers were set to grill the former South Jeolla Province governor and veteran politician to see if he is fit for the government's No. 2 post at the time of security and economic challenges. Prime Minister-nominee Lee Nak-yon arrives at the National Assembly in Seo

GWANGJU -- Prosecutors said Wednesday they have indicted a former diplomat for sexually abusing a teenage girl in Chile.The former embassy official in Chile, identified only by his last name Park, is accused of hugging a 12-year-old girl against her will and sending her filthy text messages in September last year while teaching her Korean, according to the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office. (Yonhap)Tipped off by the girl, a Chilean television channel filmed and broadcasted the man sexually ha

South Korea's No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. said Wednesday it plans to spin off its foundry business in order to beef up its competitiveness in this sector.The announcement was made through a regulatory filing under request from the main bourse operator Korea Exchange last month. (Yonhap)SK hynix said it has decided to hand over the business to its subsidiary.The deal will be completed on June 30 with the price estimated to be 171.6 billion won ($152 million). (Yonhap)

JEONJU -- South Korean midfielder Paik Seung-ho already has two goals in two matches at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, he but emphasized Wednesday he always puts the team ahead of his own personal glory.Paik is currently South Korea's co-leading scorer with Lee Seung-woo at the U-20 World Cup. He rounded off the scoring in South Korea's 3-0 win over Guinea in the tournament opener on Saturday and converted a penalty in South Korea's 2-1 win over Argentina on Tuesday. With two wins, South Korea have al

South Koreans drank a total of 377 cups of coffee per person on average last year, mirroring brisk growth of the sprawling market fueled by a flurry of various franchises, a government report showed Wednesday.The average coffee consumption, based on South Koreans aged over 20, has grown at an annual rate of 7 percent since 2012, according to the report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. (Yonhap)The size of the domestic coffee ma

Starbucks Coffee Korea has been ordered to compensate a customer for providing only one free coffee after the consumer won an event that originally promised a free drink every day for a year, the plaintiff's lawyer said Wednesday.The customer, surnamed Ko, filed the case with the Seoul Central District Court in December after the local unit of the US-based coffee giant failed to keep its word, saying it mistakenly notified the customers, attorney Choi Soo-jin said. This image provided by law fir

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, said Wednesday it will test its i30N hot hatch in a 24-hour endurance race in Germany this weekend.Hyundai sent an 8-member driver team, composed of four research engineers and four professional drivers, to the 2017 24 Hours Nurburgring to test components that will eventually make it into production cars.In this photo, taken on April 23, 2017, four research engineers at Hyundai Motor pose after obtaining a license in a preliminary race

South Korean outfit Jeju United defeated Urawa Red Diamonds 2-0 to open their round of 16 series at the Asian Football Confederation Champions League on Wednesday.Marcelo Toscano opened the scoring in the seventh minute, and substitute Jin Seong-uk rounded out the scoring in the dying moments of the opening match in the round of 16 showdown at Jeju Stadium on the southern resort island.The second leg of their showdown will be next Wednesday at Saitama Stadium 2002 in Saitama, Japan. The aggregat