SEOUL, (Yonhap) -- Scores of ethnic Korean journalists living abroad gathered on Monday for an annual conference in Seoul to discuss their role in bettering the national image and helping cultivate the identity of overseas Koreans, organizers said.About 70 journalists from 22 countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Nepal, are taking part in the 12th Overseas Korean Journalists Convention that opened at Korea Press Center in central Seoul, they said.Co-hosted by the Overseas Korea

NICOSIA, (AFP) Cash-strapped Cyprus will fall short by at least 75 million euros ($97 million) to pay its bills in April, including government salaries and pensions, an official warned on Monday.Accountant General Rea Georgiou told parliament's finance committee that the government was trying to avoid a payment default for the month of April."The cash deficit for April is 160 million euros. The 85 million in reserve is not enough and we need a similar amount to avoid a default," Georgiou said, a

TOKYO (AP) -- It's easy to write off North Korea's threats to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile as bluster: it has never demonstrated the capability to deploy a missile that could reach the Pacific island of Guam, let alone the mainland U.S.   But what about Japan?   Though it remains a highly unlikely scenario, Japanese officials have long feared that if North Korea ever decides to play its nuclear card it has not only the means but several potential motives for launching a

BRUSSELS,  (AFP) - It is unacceptable for Austria to refuse to reform its bank secrecy rules, the European Commission said Monday, after fellow holdout Luxembourg signalled it was ready to change amid an EU putsch on tax evasion."It is unacceptable that a member state blocks this," a spokeswoman for EU Tax Commissioner Algirdas Semeta said."It would appear very difficult for (Austria) to maintain its position ... when all member states are ready" to agree the automatic exchange of bank account i

KABUL (AP) ― A fierce battle between U.S.-backed Afghan forces and Taliban militants in a remote corner of eastern Afghanistan left nearly 20 people dead, including 11 Afghan children killed in an air strike and an American civilian adviser, officials said Sunday. The fighting along a main infiltration route from Pakistan on Saturday was indicative of a surge in hostilities as Afghanistan’s spring fighting season gets underway. This year’s will be closely watched because Afghan forces are having

PODGORICA (AFP) ― Incumbent Filip Vujanovic declared victory in Sunday presidential polls in Montenegro but his sole challenger disputed his claim, describing it as a “coup d’etat” in a move that could plunge the tiny EU candidate Adriatic country into a political crisis.Vujanovic said he had won 51.3 percent of the votes, with his rival Miodrag Lekic trailing behind with 48.7 percent.But Lekic said that, with 97 percent of the vote counted, “citizens have brought me victory” at the polls.Monten

WASHINGTON (AP) ― A noisy debate over the flawed U.S. immigration system will begin in earnest this week as senators finalize a bipartisan bill to secure the border, allow tens of thousands of foreign workers into the country and grant eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living here illegally. Negotiators warned of struggles ahead, but all involved are optimistic that it’s time to make the biggest changes to the nation’s immigration laws in more than a quarter-century. “There

China reported three more cases of human infection of a new strain of bird flu on Sunday, raising the total number of cases to 21.Six of those who contracted the H7N9 virus have died. All 21 cases have been reported in the eastern part of the country.Health officials believe people are contracting the virus through direct contact with infected fowl and say there's no evidence the virus is spreading easily between people.China's official Xinhua News Agency reported two new cases in Shanghai and o

An international cyber attack campaign against Israeli government websites on Sunday failed to cause serious disruptions despite dire threats from the Anonymous hacker collective, Israeli officials said Sunday.The global hacker group promised a mass assault to protest Israeli policy toward the Palestinians. The attack appeared timed to coincide with Israel's annual Holocaust memorial day, beginning at sundown Sunday.The cyber attack was just the latest in an almost constant effort by Israel's en

Disgraced former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac tried to invest some 15 million euros in a Swiss fund in 2009, Swiss public television network RTS reported Sunday."He is thought to have tried to invest this money in a financial management firm in Geneva, but the establishment is believed to have refused for fear of future complications, Jerome Cahuzac being a politically prominent figure," RTS said on its website, citing unidentified banking sources.The sum was many times bigger than that