The Korea Herald

18 dead, 20 missing in Ukraine mine tragedies

Jul 29, 2011

LUGANSK, Ukraine, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - Eighteen miners died and another 20 were missing Friday in two separate accidents at coal mines in the east of Ukraine, an industrial region notorious for its mining safety record.At least 16 miners were killed instantly as a result of an explosion at the Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine in the eastern Lugansk region early Friday, the emergencies ministry
China to increase compensation for train crash victims

Jul 29, 2011

HONG KONG, July 29 (Yonhap) -- China will increase compensation for each victim of the recent high-speed train crash in an attempt to soothe the pain of the bereaved families, a state-run news outlet said Friday.The train crash took place late Saturday near the city of Wenzhou in East Zhejiang Province when a high-speed train rear-ended another train, leaving at least 40 people dead and 192 others
New Peru president: The poor are my priority

Jul 29, 2011

LIMA (AP) ― Ollanta Humala, the leftist military man who won Peru’s presidency after abandoning a radical platform, promised in his inaugural address Thursday to make his priority the one in three Peruvians still mired in poverty.The 49-year-old former army lieutenant colonel charted a plan for spreading the wealth from Peru’s mineral boom beyond Lima, where it has been concentrated among a small
Libyan rebels say military chief killed

Jul 29, 2011
Bong to direct short film on Japanese earthquake

Jul 29, 2011

Bong Joon-ho, the director and screenwriter of hit films, “The Host” and “Memories of Murder,” will direct a short film on the tragic March earthquake in Japan, according to reports.Bong Joon-ho (Korea Herald file photo)The South Korean director is one of 60 film directors expected to join in an omnibus movie project aimed at paying respects to quake victims. Among the 60 directors, 40 are Japanes
U.S. ambassador reunites with former student after 35 years

Jul 28, 2011

U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens said Thursday that she was recently reunited with one of the students she taught in the 1970s as a Peace Corps volunteer, describing the meeting as another reminder of her “unbreakable” ties with South Korea. Kathleen StephensThe meeting between Stephens and the student, Lee Chul-won, who becomes a colonel in the South Korean Army, took place after Lee’s wife spo
U.S. Senate confirms Locke as ambassador to Beijing

Jul 28, 2011

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke won unanimous Senate confirmation Wednesday as ambassador to Beijing, becoming the first Chinese American to hold the prestigious and difficult diplomatic post.Locke, whose grandfather came from China to the United States on a steamboat, promised during his smooth confirmation hearings to be a forceful advocate for human rights and for U
China defends carrier plans amid neighbors’ concern

Jul 28, 2011
Murder of mayor deals new setback to Karzai

Jul 28, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) ― An assassin struck at the heart of President Hamid Karzai’s political machine in southern Afghanistan Wednesday, killing the mayor of Kandahar with an exploding turban and deepening a power vacuum in the Taliban’s main stronghold.The slaying of Mayor Ghulam Haider Hamidi was the third killing of a Karzai associate in a little more than two weeks. The attacks have jeopa
‘Putin considers Kremlin return’

Jul 28, 2011
Norway agrees security review after killings

Jul 28, 2011
China says equipment flaws caused train crash

Jul 28, 2011

BEIJING (AP) -- Design flaws in signal equipment and human error caused last weekend's high-speed train crash in China that killed at least 39 people, a railway official said Thursday.The preliminary finding comes in the face of public anger about the government's handling of the accident near Wenzhou in Zhejiang province. Relatives of the victims in Saturday's train crash talk to the media as the
Man charged of sexual assault of 93-year-old

Jul 28, 2011

An American nursing assistant had been charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault of a 93-year-old patient suffering from dementia.Robert Phelan Jr., 56, was allegedly witnessed by another staff member while having inappropriate contact with the victim at Lexington Health Care, Illinois. Phelan had been working at the facility for less than two weeks.Aggravated criminal sexual assault is refe
Man charged of sexual assault of abusing 93 years-old

Jul 28, 2011

An American nursing assistant had been charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault of a 93-year-old patient suffering from dementia.Robert Phelan Jr., 56, was allegedly witnessed by another staff member while having inappropriate contact with the victim at Lexington Health Care, Illinois. Phelan had been working at the facility for less than two weeks.Aggravated criminal sexual assault is refe
'Knights Templar' says no Norway tie: AP

Jul 28, 2011

LONDON (AP) _ Before he carried out the attacks that killed scores of people in Norway, Anders Behring Breivik wrote of his allegiance to the Knights Templar, which he described as a secret society created to carry out a crusade against Islam in Europe.While law enforcement agencies said they had never heard of the group, a man named Paul Ray, who writes an anti-Muslim blog called ``Lionheart,'' h