The Korea Herald

Marine discharged for Obama Facebook criticism

Apr 27, 2012

A sergeant will be discharged for criticizing President Barack Obama on Facebook in a case that called into question the Pentagon’s policies about social media and its limits on the speech of active duty military personnel, the Marine Corps said Wednesday.Sgt. Gary Stein will get an other-than-honorable discharge and lose most of his benefits for violating the policies, the Corps said.The San Dieg
The ’92 riot: Revisiting dark day in L.A. history

Apr 26, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Henry Keith Watson remembers April 29, 1992, as if it happened just last week. History won’t allow him to forget it. It was a day that marked the beginning of one of the deadliest, most destructive race riots in the nation’s history, and one in which Watson’s spur-of-the-moment decision to take part made him one of the enduring faces of the violence. He was at home that day like thousands of others when he heard the news that was racing across Los Angeles: A jury with no black
Japan political power broker acquitted in scandal

Apr 26, 2012

TOKYO (AP) ― Ichiro Ozawa, the veteran Japanese lawmaker who engineered the ruling party’s rise to power, was acquitted Thursday in a political funding scandal that has damaged his chances of becoming prime minister.The scandal also cost Ozawa his membership in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, though he continued to wield great influence as a political power broker. The acquittal means his membership could be reinstated, allowing him to exert even more sway.The 69-year-old was charged last
Ugandan man fathered 158 children

Apr 26, 2012

Kigongo with his youngest wife aged 18, and his children and grandchildren in 1997A 103-year-old Ugandan man died after fathering 158 children and amassing around 500 grandchildren.Jack Kigongo of Kateera village fathered his children from 20 wives, with the oldest child being 60-years-old and the youngest being 15, The New Vision, Uganda, reported Wednesday.Patrick Bulira Kigongo said his father,
Madeleine McCann could still be alive: UK police

Apr 26, 2012

British police reviewing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann said Wednesday they believe she could still be alive five years after she went missing in Portugal and urged authorities there to reopen their search.The Scotland Yard team sifting through a wealth of material relating to the youngster, who vanished in 2007, said they had identified 195 “investigative opportunities” that could be follo
Annan calls for quick deployment of Syria observers

Apr 25, 2012

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) ― U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan called Tuesday for the rapid deployment of 300 cease-fire monitors in Syria but a top U.N. official said it will take at least one month to get the first 100 in place.U.N. Security Council powers called on the United Nations to speed up the deployment.Annan said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has still not fulfilled a promise to end violence and said the situation was “bleak” and “unacceptable.”The special envoy said he was “particularly
U.K. government under fire for Murdoch links

Apr 25, 2012

LONDON (AFP) ― Press tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s son got regular confidential updates from the British government over News Corp.’s bid for full control of pay-TV giant BSkyB, a press ethics inquiry heard Tuesday.A string of emails from the Murdochs’ media empire, read out in a dramatic day of evidence at the Leveson inquiry, revealed the closeness and frequency of News Corporation’s contacts with advisors to culture minister Jeremy Hunt.James Murdoch, a top News Corp. executive, denied that Hunt ha
Romney secures ticket, promises ‘better America’

Apr 25, 2012

Former Massachusetts governor sweeps Connecticut, Delaware, N.Y., Pennsylvania and Rhode IslandWASHINGTON (AFP) ― Mitt Romney effectively claimed the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday, reveling in a five-state primary sweep and urging voters to help him oust President Barack Obama in November.With wins in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, according to U.S. media forecasts, Romney essentially kicked off his general election campaign and began making his c
Village planned for dwarves in India

Apr 25, 2012

Almost 70 dwarves will soon live with dignity and comfort in a village in north-eastern India that is being set up with special homes adapted to their stature, a news report said Tuesday.A theatre personality in Assam state planned the village in the central Udalguri district, the IANS news agency reported."I have got land for the project 'Amar Gaon' meaning Our Villagein Assamese," Pabitra Rabha
Obama: I know about student debt

Apr 25, 2012

U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday he knows what it's like to come out of college in debt and that's why Congress can't let student loan rates skyrocket.Obama took his campaign to get Congress to take action to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where 8,000 people jammed Carmichael Arena to hear him."Michelle and I, we've been in your shoes. Like I said, we didn't come from weal
Real-life Barbie's transformation animated

Apr 25, 2012

A Ukrainian woman’s plastic surgery-induced transformation into a real-life Barbie doll has been dramatized by a Taiwanese animation company. Next Media Animation, a production company famous for satirical animated shorts depicting news events, created a short video depicting an animated version of model Valeria Lukyanova, 21, undergoing plastic surgery to emulate Barbie’s huge chest, tiny wais
Mexico volcano roars, spews glowing rocks

Apr 25, 2012

A big cloud of ash and smoke spews from Popocatepetl Volcano as seen from Paso de Cortes, in the Mexican central state of Puebla, on April 24, 2012. (AFP)Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano, outside the capital, rumbled continuously and spewed gases and glowing rocks to almost one mile (one kilometer) beyond its crater, authorities said Friday.In an increase of activity the volcano registered “62 expuls
Evidence of historical tsunami found

Apr 25, 2012

Geological evidence suggests a tsunami described by the ancient historian Herodotus did indeed protect a Greek village from Persian invaders, scientists say.Researchers from Aachen University in Germany said sediment on the northern Greek peninsula where the ancient village Potidea and the modern town of Nea Potidea are located shows signs of massive marine events such as large waves, evidence of
Official: Sudan bombs 3 areas in South Sudan

Apr 24, 2012

RUBKONA, South Sudan (AP) -- Sudanese warplanes bombed a market and an oil field in South Sudan, killing at least two people after Sudanese ground forces had reportedly crossed into South Sudan with tanks and artillery, elevating the risk of all-out war between the two old enemies.The international community urged Sudan and South Sudan to talk out their disputes, which include arguments over where the border lies and over ownership of oil resources.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned th
Panetta dismisses Iran claims of copying U.S. drone

Apr 24, 2012

BOGOTA (AFP) ― U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday dismissed claims by Iran that it had gleaned data from a downed US drone and was now building a copy of the robotic spycraft.“I can tell you from my experience that I would seriously question their ability to do what they said they’ve done,” Panetta, a former CIA director, told reporters before landing in Bogota.The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ aerospatial division, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said on Sunday that Iran