DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syrian forces killed nearly 140 people on Sunday including at least 100 when the army stormed the flashpoint protest city of Hama to crush dissent on the eve of Ramadan, activists said.Activists said it was one of deadliest days in Syria since demonstrators first took to the street

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders reached historic agreement Sunday night on a compromise to permit vital U.S. borrowing by the Treasury in exchange for more than $2 trillion in long-term spending cuts.Officials said Republican Speaker John Boeh

A top aide to President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday arrived at a South Korean island in the East Sea in an effort to thwart a planned trip by three Japanese lawmakers seen as an attempt to reassert Tokyo's claim to the Korean territory.Lee Jae-oh, a lawmaker of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) who

South Korea's consumer prices jumped at a faster pace in July, raising concerns that inflationary pressure is building up despite the government's anti-inflation efforts, a report showed Monday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index rose 4.7 percent last mont

 The recent talks between North Korea and the U.S. in New York may not immediately resolve their differences but represent a positive "first step" toward more discussions, a South Korean official said Sunday.   The official said the meeting between North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, was "an extension" of an

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House and Republican congressional leaders made significant progress toward a deal to avert a potentially catastrophic first-ever government default threatened for early next week, according to officials familiar with the talks.Under a plan negotiated late Saturday night, the nation's debt limit would rise in two steps by about $2.4 trillion and spending would be cut b

South Korea will face Kuwait, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates in Asian qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.Korea, which is aiming for its eighth consecutive World Cup finals, is in the B group alongside the Middle Eastern countries after the draw in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. The Korean national team, which made it into the last 16 at the 2010 World Cup finals, will be a strong favorite in Gro

The Korean government is set to face an uphill battle in keeping the Korean won from appreciating at a rapid clip as the U.S. debt crisis is sending ripples throughout financial markets across the world.“The local currency could gain to the 1,000 won level against the greenback by the end of the year,” said Huh In, an international finance analyst at the state-run Korea Institute for International

South Korean and Chinese naval forces are close to agreeing on holding joint search and rescue exercises, a high-level government source said on Sunday. “China expressed the wish to hold joint SAR (search and rescue) exercises last Saturday during the inaugural South Korea-China strategic defense dialogue,” said the official. The talks were led by Air Force Gen. Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the ge

Japanese lawmakers are expected to go ahead with their planned trip to an island near South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo on Monday, upping tensions as the Seoul government plans to ban them from entry. Despite South Korea’s official announcement that it will bar the Tokyo politicians from entering its land, three lawmakers of Japan’s opposition Liberal Democratic Party said they would go ah

Maritime police have yet to find a crashed Asiana Airlines cargo plane and its pilot and co-pilot, police officials said Sunday. Mobilizing 10 army and police vessels, three aircraft and underwater sonar, police and the navy have for three days searched the waters off Jeju, where the Boeing-747 aircraft, operated by Asiana Airlines Co., went down early Thursday. “We found nothing special yet, exce

A grenade presumed to be from the Korean War was found on a university campus in Seoul, police officials said Sunday. The explosive was found Friday afternoon in one of the flowerbeds at Ewha Womans University, in Sinchon, central Seoul, by a member of the cleaning staff. It did not have a safety pin in it.Police, who arrived on the scene with a bomb squad, determined that it had been deactivated.