The Korea Herald

Turkey to launch sanctions on France over genocide bill

World NewsDec 22, 2011

ANKARA (AFP) ― Ankara will announce sanctions against Paris, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday on the eve of a debate in the French parliament on a law criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide by Turkish forces.“Tomorrow probably I will announce what we will do at the first stage and we will announce what kind of sanctions we will have at the second and third stages,” Erdogan said late Wednesday, according to Anatolia news agency.He said the move by French President Nic
Population growth rate in U.S. lowest since 1940s

World NewsDec 22, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) ―The U.S. population grew by 2.8 million, reaching 311.6 million people. That growth of 0.92 percent was the lowest since the mid-1940s, according to data released Wednesday by the Census Bureau.Many states that posted big population gains in the 2010 census are now seeing their decade-long growth fizzle, hurt by a prolonged economic slump that is stretching into larger portions of the South and West.New 2011 estimates by the Census Bureau are the first state numbers since the 20
Finland probes China-bound Patriot missiles

World NewsDec 22, 2011

HELSINKI (AFP) ― Finland has launched a probe after 69 surface-to-air Patriot missiles were found in a ship bound for the Chinese port city of Shanghai, police said.“An investigation found 69 Patriot missiles, explosive material and propelling charges,” a police statement said.The missiles, produced by U.S. firm Raytheon, were discovered following a customs search on the British-registered Thor Liberty, owned by Danish firm Thorco, at the port of Kotka, about 120 kilometers from Helsinki.Finnish
Finland launches probe into China-bound Patriot missiles

World NewsDec 22, 2011

HELSINKI, Dec 21, 2011 (AFP) - Finland has launched a probe after 69 surface-to-air Patriot missiles were found in a ship bound for the Chinese port city of Shanghai, police said."An investigation found 69 Patriot missiles, explosive material and propelling charges," a police statement said.The miss
Cocaine curves model caught at Rome airport

World NewsDec 22, 2011

Italian airport police eyeing up a busty Spanish model's curves made a startling discovery on Wednesday -- 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of pure cocaine stashed as implants in her bust and backside.The 33-year-old woman arriving in Rome from Sao Paulo in Brazil was wearing tight-fitting clothes to enha
ECB lends banks $639 billion over 3 years

World BusinessDec 22, 2011

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) _ Struggling banks snapped up (euro) 489 billion ($639 billion) in cheap loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday, a sign of just how hard or expensive it has become to borrow from each other.The huge demand for newly available three-year loans comes as fears rise th
Microsoft wins ruling over Android phones

World BusinessDec 21, 2011

Microsoft Corp. won a ruling that Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.’s Android phones violate one of its smartphone patents, while failing to convince a judge that six others are being infringed as well. Motorola Mobility, which is being acquired by Google Inc., violated a patent for generating meeting requests and group scheduling, U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Theodore Essex said in a notice Tuesday. The finding is the second in two days from the ITC that has determined that some feat
BMW-Audi battle hinges on China market

World BusinessDec 21, 2011

Luxury cars sold in China may climb 39% to 939,000 in 2011China may overtake Germany as the world’s second-largest market for luxury cars behind the U.S. this year, fueled by demand for the two brands that are fighting for leadership in the category: BMW and Audi. The number of luxury cars sold in China may climb 39 percent to 939,000 in 2011, exceeding the 914,000 vehicles that will probably be delivered in Germany, Jenny Gu, a Shanghai- based analyst at research firm LMC Automotive, said in an
BoJ cuts economic view for second month

World BusinessDec 21, 2011

Japan’s central bank has left key rate unchanged at zero to 0.1 percentJapan’s central bank lowered its assessment for the nation’s economy for a second straight month while refraining from boosting monetary stimulus, citing easy domestic financial conditions. Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and his policy board kept the central bank’s asset-buying fund at 20 trillion yen ($257 billion), and its credit-lending program at 35 trillion yen, it said in a statement in Tokyo Wednesday. The be
EU leaders to hold summit on Jan. 30 to discuss jobs, growth

World BusinessDec 21, 2011

European Union leaders will hold a summit on Jan. 30 to discuss jobs and economic growth, EU President Herman Van Rompuy said. “I’m preparing this meeting intensively,” Van Rompuy said in a video message posted on the EU’s website Tuesday. “It will be focused on jobs, and that’s a big challenge in a context where zero growth is expected in most of our economies. In some of them there will even be a recession.” Euro-area governments yesterday pledged to channel 150 billion euros ($196.2 billion)
Moody’s warns Britain on ‘AAA’ credit rating

World BusinessDec 21, 2011

LONDON (AFP) ― Moody’s on Tuesday warned Britain that its “AAA” credit rating may not survive future economic shocks, but the country’s structural strengths means its gold-standard rating is safe for now.In its annual update to the markets on Britain’s credit outlook, the U.S. ratings agency highlighted the ongoing euro crisis and rising public debt as potential triggers for a downgrade.The current rating is “predicated on the country’s significant structural strengths” but is threatened by the
Bird flu virus reported in Hong Kong

World NewsDec 21, 2011

HONG KONG (AFP) ― Hong Kong culled 17,000 chickens Wednesday and suspended live poultry imports for 21 days after three birds tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus.Health chief York Chow announced the measures late Tuesday after a dead chicken at the city’s main wholesale market and two wild birds tested positive for the virus, which can be fatal to humans.Authorities raised the bird flu alert level to “serious” and suspended live poultry imports while they trace the origi
Egypt women march against army in fury over abuse

World NewsDec 21, 2011

CAIRO (AP) ― Around 10,000 women marched through central Cairo demanding Egypt’s ruling military step down Tuesday in an unprecedented show of outrage over soldiers who dragged women by the hair and stomped on them, and stripped one half-naked in the street during a fierce crackdown on activists the past week.The dramatic protest, which grew as the women marched from Tahrir Square through downtown, was fueled by the widely circulated images of abuses of women. Many of the marchers touted the pho
Two days of Syria violence leave 150 dead

World NewsDec 21, 2011

Promise to allow foreign observers was not enough to stop Assad’s iron fistBEIRUT (AP) ― Security forces pursuing anti-government activists and army defectors shot dead at least 47 people in Syria on Tuesday, pushing the toll for two days of violence to nearly 150 even as the regime prepared to allow in foreign monitors under an Arab League plan aimed at stopping the bloodshed.Syrian state television showed pictures of military maneuvers and said they were meant to show its forces are ready to
Thai P.M. first ASEAN leader to meet Suu Kyi

World NewsDec 21, 2011

YANGON (AP) ― Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Thailand’s prime minister on Tuesday in her first ever audience with a head of government from the region, her political party said.The meeting was also Suu Kyi’s first with a prime minister since her release from house arrest about a year ago, National League for Democracy spokesman Nyan Win said.Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra attended a two-day summit of regional leaders in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, and than traveled to