The Korea Herald

Santorum edges Romney in final Iowa count

World NewsJan 20, 2012

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) _ Rick Santorum edged front-runner Mitt Romney by 34 votes in a surprise flip to the final results of the Iowa caucuses, Republican officials said Thursday, but no winner was declared because some votes remain missing in the event's closest finish ever. Republican
5 unemployed Moroccans set selves on fire

World NewsJan 20, 2012

RABAT, Morocco (AP) _ Five unemployed Moroccan men set themselves on fire in the capital Rabat as part of widespread demonstrations in the country over the lack of jobs, especially for university graduates, a rights activist said Thursday. Three were burned badly enough to be hospitalized.Self-immol
Wikipedia, Google protest Internet bills

World BusinessJan 19, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Wikipedia went dark, Google blotted out its logo and other popular websites planned protests on Wednesday to voice concern over legislation in the U.S. Congress intended to crack down on online piracy.Wikipedia shut down the English version of its online encyclopedia for 24 hours to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate version, the Protect IP Act.Google placed a black redaction box over the logo on its much-visited U.S. h
U.S. factory output gives economy a lift

World BusinessJan 19, 2012

Industrial output rises 0.4 percent; producer prices fall in December, but core prices increaseWASHINGTON (AP) ― U.S. factories are roaring back from the depths of the recession, cranking out more machinery, vehicles and energy.Factory production has surged 15 percent above its lows of 2 and half years ago and is helping drive the economy’s recovery.A jump in manufacturing output last month coincided with other data suggesting that the economy began 2012 with renewed vigor. Wholesale prices are
Sarkozy unveils $550m jobs plan

World BusinessJan 19, 2012

PARIS (AP) ― President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a 430 million euro ($550 million) plan to drive down unemployment and restart growth Wednesday, a move criticized as an attempt to boost his popularity three months before France’s presidential election.With the unemployment rate pushing 10 percent and the recent downgrade of France’s credit rating by Standard & Poor’s, Socialist candidate Francois Hollande is hitting the president hard, saying the financial crisis reflects Sarkozy’s failed econom
Greece heads into talks as German growth falters

World BusinessJan 19, 2012

ATHENS (AFP) ― Greece launched fresh talks Wednesday with private creditors amid hopes for a deal to give the beleaguered eurozone a much-needed boost, as powerhouse Germany cut its 2012 growth forecast.“Our estimation is that we might have an agreement before the end of the week,” a finance ministry official told journalists after Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Prime Minister Lucas Papademos resumed talks with Charles Dallara, head of the Institute of International Finance and lead ne
Battle for control of Asia’s seas goes underwater

World NewsJan 19, 2012

YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) -- It’s getting a bit more crowded under the sea in Asia, where Andrew Peterson commands one of the world’s mightiest weapons: a $2 billion nuclear submarine with unrivaled stealth and missiles that can devastate targets hundreds of miles (kilometers) away.Super high-tech submarines like Cmdr. Peterson’s USS Oklahoma City have long been the envy of navies all over the globe -- and a key component of U.S. military strategy.“We really have no peer,” Peterson told the Associate
U.S. burns off last chemical weapons

World NewsJan 19, 2012

STOCKTON, Utah (AP) ― The U.S. Army has destroyed about 90 percent of its aging chemical weapons after it wraps up work this week in Utah, where it has kept its largest stockpile ― a witches’ brew of toxins, blister and blood agents that accumulated through the Cold War.The Army’s Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah’s west desert burned its last hard weapons in a 1,500-degree (815 degrees Celsius) furnace on Wednesday ― projectiles that contained mustard agent, which can produce painful skin blisters
30 immigrants dig out of detention in Indonesia

World NewsJan 19, 2012

SURABAYA, Indonesia, Jan 18, 2012 (AFP) - Thirty Pakistani and Afghan immigrants tunneled their way out of an Indonesian detention centre using spoons, nails and wooden sticks, an official said Wednesday.The men escaped through the two-metre tunnel in Surabaya city on Monday after digging their way
Moon mineral found for the first time on Earth in Australia

World NewsJan 19, 2012

A mineral brought back to Earth by the first men on the Moon and long thought to be unique to the lunar surface has been found in Australian rocks more than one billion years old, scientists said Thursday.Named after Apollo 11’s 1969 landing site at the Sea of Tranquility, tranquillityite was one of
Afghan President condemns child abuse by British soldiers

World NewsJan 19, 2012

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday condemned allegations of child abuse by two British soldiers in Afghanistan, calling it an "immoral" action by the troops.The London-based Sun newspaper reported that two British soldiers had been arrested after they allegedly encouraged an Afghan boy and a
Japan to set reactor lifespan at 60 yrs despite Fukushima

World NewsJan 18, 2012

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will allow nuclear reactors to operate for up to 60 years in revised regulations on power plant operators even as it looks to shift gradually away from atomic power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.The move on Wednesday, which marks the first time Japan will set a
Schools close, flights canceled as storm nears NW

World NewsJan 18, 2012

SEATTLE (AP) — Schools preemptively closed, crews salted down streets and more than two dozen flights into two Pacific Northwest cities were canceled as the region prepared for a potentially major snowstorm on Wednesday.Forecasts called for about 3 to 5 inches of snow in the Seattle metropolit
Average age of U.S. vehicles hits record 10.8 years

World BusinessJan 18, 2012

DETROIT (AP) ― That clunker in America’s driveway has reached a record old age, but there are signs that people may be growing confident enough in the economy to get a whiff of that fresh new car scent very soon. The average age of a car or truck in the U.S. hit a record 10.8 years last year as job security and other economic worries kept many people from making big-ticket purchases such as a new car. That’s up from the old record of 10.6 years in 2010, and it and continues a trend that dates to
Airbus takes record orders in 2011, beating Boeing

World BusinessJan 18, 2012

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) ― Airbus took in a record number of orders for new commercial aircraft last year as strong demand for its revamped single-aisle plane helped it best U.S. rival Boeing Co. in the race for orders for the fourth year running. The European jet maker said Tuesday that it took in 1,419 net new orders in 2011, worth $140 billion, well above Boeing’s total of 805 aircraft. That topped the previous record of 1,413 net orders recorded by Boeing in 2007. Airbus also delivered 534 airc