The Korea Herald

NATO withdraws Afghanistan staff after shooting

Feb 26, 2012

KABUL (AFP) ― NATO on Saturday pulled all its staff out of Afghan government ministries after two U.S. military advisors were shot dead in the interior ministry, as anti-U.S. protests raged for a fifth day.Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying it was in revenge for the burning of Korans at a U.S.-run military base ― an incident that forced U.S. President Barack Obama to apologize to the Afghan people.In a day of violence across the country, a U.N. compound came under
Clinton urges Tunisians to protect freedoms

Feb 26, 2012

U.S. secretary of state warns against return to autocracy; Tunisia was cradle of the Arab Spring revolutionsTUNIS (AP) ― U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday warned of backsliding in the democratic transformations under way in the Mideast and North Africa, and appealed for countries in the region to fulfill the promise of reform offered by the Arab Spring.In Tunisia, the catalyst for the tumult that engulfed the region last year, Clinton said the continued embrace of refor
Polls back Australian P.M.’s rival Rudd

Feb 26, 2012

SYDNEY (AFP) ― Kevin Rudd’s bid to lead Australia again was boosted Saturday when opinion polls showed he remains more popular than Prime Minister Julia Gillard and likely Labor’s best chance of winning an election.Rudd will face off against colleague Gillard on Monday in a ballot taken by the 103 members of the Labor Party caucus after a divisive battle that has seen the ruling party engage in unprecedented infighting.Gillard has said she is confident she will win the vote but Rudd has called o
Two dead after blast destroys Brazil’s Antarctic base

Feb 26, 2012

SAO PAULO (AFP) ― An explosion destroyed a Brazilian research base in Antarctica Saturday, killing two navy personnel and injuring a third, authorities said.Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim confirmed the deaths of non-commissioned officer Carlos Alberto Vieira Figueiredo and sergeant Roberto Lopes dos Santos, who had earlier been reported missing.“In an act of heroism, they were precisely in the area of major risk in a bid to extinguish a fire and they did not succeed,” Amorim said.Navy s
Berlusconi bribery trial ends with no verdict

Feb 26, 2012

MILAN (AP) ― Silvio Berlusconi’s corruption trial has ended with a court ruling that the statute of limitations had run out, handing the former premier another victory in a long string of judicial challenges.Berlusconi, who stepped down as premier in November as the sovereign debt crisis flared, was accused of paying a British lawyer, David Mills, $600,000 to lie during two 1990s trials to shield the politician and his Fininvest holding company from charges related to offshore companies Mills he
Britain cleaning up in Europe-wide lottery

Feb 26, 2012

A third British ticket-holder in just over a month has won the jackpot in Europe's biggest lottery game.The unidentified winner matched all seven numbers to scoop 54.9 million euros ($73.8 million) on the twice-weekly EuroMillions lottery.A couple won 54.2 million euros on February 7 and another cou
Man steals fire truck, kills pedestrian in U.S.

Feb 26, 2012

A naked man stole a fire truck at a South Carolina apartment complex and sped away, killing a pedestrian who was walking on a sidewalk, authorities said Saturday.The fire engine driver, identified as 26-year-old Kalvin Hunt, drove about three kilometers Friday before he hit a man, careened off the r
Police say Argentine man imprisoned wife seven years

Feb 26, 2012

A 33-year-old man has been arrested for holding his wife captive in their home for seven years under threats of death against her and their four children, an Argentine court official said Saturday.His 24-year-old wife, identified as Sofia, had been locked in their small home in the Buenos Aires subu
Pakistan begins demolition of bin Laden's compound

Feb 26, 2012

Under powerful floodlights and surrounded by rings of soldiers and police, heavy machines began Saturday night to demolish the three-story compound in northwestern Pakistan where Osama bin Laden lived for years and was killed by U.S. commandos last May.In this photograph taken on May 3, 2011,
94 people killed in Syria on Saturday: monitoring group

Feb 26, 2012

Violence in Syria on Saturday left 94 people dead, including 68 civilians, a monitoring group said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths included 24 civilians who died in the besieged city of Homs while eight others were killed in the area around the town.Twenty-three members of th
New Yemen president takes oath of office

Feb 25, 2012

SANAA (AP)--Yemen's new president Abed Rabo Mansour Hadi has been sworn in before the country's parliament, replacing Ali Abdullah Saleh who ruled the country for 33 years before leaving office in a power transfer deal aimed at ending over a year of political turmoil.Hadi, who was Saleh's vice presi
Bird flu kills an Indonesian boy on Bali

Feb 25, 2012

BALI (AP)--Indonesian health officials say a 12-year-old boy has died of bird flu on the resort island of Bali, bringing the country's death toll from the virus to 154 since 2005.Rita Kusriastuti, an official at the health ministry, said Saturday that the boy died on Feb. 21 after suffering high fev
Hundreds of Afghans in anti-US protests

Feb 25, 2012

KABUL(AFP)--Hundreds of Afghans took part in anti-US protests in four different provinces on Saturday, authorities said, in a fifth day of demonstrations over the burning of Korans that have killed 24 people. Rallies were being held in the eastern provinces of Lo
U.S. envoy says 'long way' before resumption of N. Korea nuclear talks

Feb 25, 2012

The U.S. special envoy on North Korea policy said Saturday that diplomacy aimed at restarting the six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear weapons program was unlikely to produce a breakthrough anytime soon, saying there is still a "long way" to go before a resumption of the talks.Glyn Davies m
N. Korea "sacred war" threat over US-South drill

Feb 25, 2012

SEOUL,(AFP)--North Korea on Saturday threatened to stage a "sacred war" over US-South Korean annual joint military exercises next week, denouncing the drill as a "silent declaration of war". The North's National Defence Commission (NDC) described the exercise as "unpar