The Korea Herald

Maduro’s victory will stand despite audit: election official

Apr 21, 2013

CARACAS (AFP) ― A top election official warned the opposition Saturday against raising “false expectations” over an audit of Venezuela’s presidential election, saying it cannot overturn President Nicolas Maduro’s win.Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles accepted the expanded audit in lieu of a vote-by-vote recount on the eve of Maduro’s swearing-in Friday, helping to ease tensions that had led to eight deaths in post-election protests.Capriles on Saturday said his campaign, which announced it
China bird flu death toll rises to 18

Apr 21, 2013

BEIJING (AFP) ― The death toll from a new strain of bird flu in China has reached 18, with dozens infected, state-run media reported, after experts said there is no evidence so far of human-to-human transmission.A 69-year-old man surnamed Xu is the most recent person to die from from the H7N9 virus, China’s official news-agency Xinhua said on its website Saturday. He died on Friday in eastern province of Zhejiang, the agency said.The virus has been found in a total of 96 people, mostly in easter
Iraq counts votes from first polls since U.S. pullout

Apr 21, 2013

BAGHDAD (AFP) ― Iraqi election officials were to begin counting votes on Sunday from the country’s first elections since U.S. troops departed, which served as a key test of its stability amid a spike in violence.Attacks killed three people on election day, a fraction of those who died in a wave of violence preceding Saturday’s polls, which seemed generally well organized, according to diplomats touring polling stations and AFP journalists.Turnout for the provincial vote was about 51 percent, acc
Napolitano reelected as Italy’s president

Apr 21, 2013

ROME (AP) ― Italy’s Parliament on Saturday reelected Giorgio Napolitano to an unprecedented second term as president, after party leaders persuaded the 87-year-old to serve again in hopes of easing the hostility that has thwarted formation of a new government. Napolitano easily surpassed the simple majority required to be elected Saturday afternoon. He garnered 738 votes, far more than the 504 needed for victory for another seven-year mandate. Parliament had a much harder time. It took it three
U.S. to double aid to Syria’s opposition

Apr 21, 2013

ISTANBUL (AFP) ― The United States said Sunday it would double its aid to Syria’s opposition, including with new non-lethal military equipment, but paid no heed to calls for arms supplies or a direct intervention.In a statement after talks among the pro-opposition “Friends of Syria” group in Istanbul, Secretary of State John Kerry said U.S. assistance to the opposition would double to $250 million.Some of the money will be used to “provide an expanded range of support” to rebel fighters battling
In Boston and beyond, thanks and jubilation

Apr 21, 2013

BOSTON (AP) ― They gathered in silence on Boylston Street, just three blocks away from the chaos and carnage caused by twin bombings four days earlier. Some were crying. Boston University student Aaron Wengertsman, 19, wrapped himself in an American flag. He was on the marathon route 1.6 kilometers from the finish line when the bombs exploded. “I’m glad they caught him alive,” he said of one of two brothers authorities say were responsible for the explosions. “I thought people might be more exci
Online detectives flourish ...in hunt for Boston bombers

Apr 21, 2013

SEATTLE (AP) ― The hunt for the bombers behind the deadly Boston Marathon attacks didn’t take place only on the streets with professional police officers and SWAT teams. In an era of digital interactivity, it also unfolded around the country from the desks of ordinary people. Fueled by Twitter, online forums like Reddit and 4Chan, smartphones and relays of police scanners, thousands of people played armchair detective as police searched for men who turned out to be suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan
Boston suspects’ family traveled long road

Apr 21, 2013

TOKMOK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) ―The two brothers accused of blowing up homemade bombs at the Boston Marathon came from a Chechen family that for decades had been tossed from one country to another by war and persecution. Their father and former neighbors from Kyrgyzstan ― home to many Chechens who were deported from their native villages by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ― tell of a family often on the move in search of safety and a better life. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in a shootout, and hi
USA Today founder Neuharth dies in Florida at age 89

Apr 21, 2013

COCOA BEACH, Florida (AP) ― Al Neuharth changed the look of American newspapers when he founded USA Today, filling the newspaper with breezy, easy-to-comprehend articles, attention-grabbing graphics and stories that often didn’t require readers to jump to a different page.Critics dubbed USA Today “McPaper” when it debuted in 1982, and they accused Neuharth of dumbing down American journalism with its easy-to-read articles and bright graphics. USA Today became the nation’s most-circulated newspap
Prince Harry to trek to South Pole with wounded troops

Apr 21, 2013

LONDON (AFP) ― Britain’s Prince Harry is to join a team of wounded war veterans in a race to the South Pole, he announced on Friday.The third-in-line to the throne, who is 28, will set off in November for the 335-kilometer charity race against injured troops from the United States, Canada and Australia.The prince, an Apache helicopter pilot who has served in Afghanistan, said the veterans aim to “meet a challenge head-on and overcome it ― and inspire others to do the same.” “These men and women
Boston bomb suspect hospitalized under heavy guard

Apr 21, 2013

The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing lay hospitalized in serious condition under heavy guard _ apparently in no shape to be interrogated _ as investigators tried to establish the motive for the deadly attack and the scope of the plot.People across the Boston area breathed easier the morning after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was pulled, wounded and bloody, from a tarp-covered boat in a Watertown backyard. The capture came at the end of a tense day that began with his 26-year-old brothe
US set to expand nonlethal aid to Syrian rebels

Apr 20, 2013

The United States is poised to significantly expand its non-lethal military aid to the Syrian opposition as European nations weigh easing an arms embargo to potentially supply the rebels with arms and increase pressure on President Bashar Assad to step down. The European Union arms embargo expires at the end of May and may be allowed to expire or be modified to only block weapons that are headed to Assad's government. If that happens, it will amount to a new threat to give weapons to the reb
Boston police: Bombing suspect is in custody

Apr 20, 2013

A 19-year-old college student wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings was taken into custody Friday evening after a manhunt that left the city virtually paralyzed and his older brother and accomplice dead. Police announced via Twitter that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was in custody. They later wrote, ``CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.'' Tsarnaev's brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was killed early Friday in a furious attempt to
Rescuers search for survivors from Texas plant explosion

Apr 19, 2013

WEST, Texas (AP) ― Rescuers searched the smoking remnants of a Texas farm town Thursday for survivors of a thunderous fertilizer plant explosion, gingerly checking smashed houses and apartments for anyone still trapped in debris while the community awaited word on the number of dead.Initial reports put the fatalities as high as 15, but later in the day, authorities backed away from any estimate and refused to elaborate. More than 160 people were hurt.A breathtaking band of destruction extended f
Attorney: Man denies mailing ricin to Obama

Apr 19, 2013

OXFORD, Mississippi (AP) ― A Mississippi man charged with mailing ricin-tainted letters to national leaders wrote in online postings that he had uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market, and on Thursday his attorney said he was surprised by his arrest and maintains he is innocent.Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, wore shackles and a Johnny Cash T-shirt Thursday in a federal courtroom. His handcuffs were taken off for the brief hearing, and he said little. He faces two charges on