The Korea Herald

U.N. adopts global arms trade treaty

Apr 3, 2013

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ― The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the first international treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade Tuesday, after a more than decade-long campaign to keep weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists, warlords, organized crime figures and human rights violators. Loud cheers erupted in the assembly chamber as the electronic board flashed the final vote: 154 in favor, 3 against and 23 abstentions. “This is a victory for the world’s peop
French ex-minister admits lying about bank account

Apr 3, 2013

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday decried an “unforgiveable moral error” by his former budget minister, who has jolted France's body politic by admitting on his blog to having lied about a once-secret foreign bank account.Authorities filed preliminary charges against Jerome Cahuzac, a former plastic surgeon-turned-politician, for alleged money laundering, a spokeswoman for Paris prosecutors said. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a 375,000 euro ($481,500) fine.Aft
China: 4 more rare bird flu cases, new steps taken

Apr 3, 2013

China reported Tuesday that four more people in one province were seriously sickened by a bird flu virus new to humans while cities along the eastern seaboard stepped up public health measures to guard against a disease that has already caused two deaths. The health bureau of eastern Jiangsu province said in a notice on its website that three women, aged 45, 48 and 32, and an 83-year-old retired man, from different cities in the province, were all critically ill with the H7N9 virus, a diagnosis
U.N. adopts treaty to regulate global arms trade

Apr 3, 2013

The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the first international treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade Tuesday, after a more than decade-long campaign to keep weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists, warlords, organized crime figures and human rights violators.Loud cheers erupted in the assembly chamber as the electronic board flashed the final vote: 154 in favor, 3 against and 23 abstentions.“This is a victory for the world's people,” U.N. Secretary-Gene
Syria, elections cloud next Iran nuclear talks: experts

Apr 2, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Experts on Monday downplayed hopes of any breakthrough in upcoming nuclear talks with Iran, cautioning that progress is unlikely before Iranian elections or while the Syrian conflict rages.Negotiators from Iran and the five world powers are due to meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Friday and Saturday for a new round of talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.But former EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, who was the West’s main negotiator with Iran from 2003 to 2009,
Pope visits St. Peter’s tomb under Vatican

Apr 2, 2013

VATICAN CITY (AP) ― Pope Francis on Monday took an emotional, close-up look at the tomb of Peter, the church’s first pontiff, buried beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican said. By doing so, Francis became the first pontiff to visit the necropolis, where pagans and early Christians were buried, since extensive archaeological excavations were conducted at the ancient site decades ago, the Vatican said. The 45-minute “visit of devotion to the tomb of St. Peter” was private, the Vatican said, bu
U.N. to vote on global arms trade treaty

Apr 2, 2013

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ― The U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote Tuesday on what would be the first U.N. treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar international arms trade after Iran, North Korea and Syria blocked its adoption by consensus. Assembly spokesman Nikola Jovanovic told the Associated Press on Monday that the resolution to adopt the treaty requires support from a majority of the 193 U.N. member states. Since the treaty had strong support when it was brought before U.N. members last
'Thigh gap’ concerns body-obsessed teenage girls

Apr 2, 2013

American teenage girls have gotten caught up in what is called the “thigh gap” obsession. The latest “thinspiration” among girls centers on the space between the upper thighs when standing with legs and knees together. According to a report by ABC’s “Good Morning America,” a group of four high school junior girls all responded that they had friends who are obsessed with a thigh gap image. Normally, there’s no thigh gap but photos of dangerously thin actresses and models with the gap are being s
Exhibition stirs disputes in Germany

Apr 2, 2013

An exhibition called “Jew in the Box” at the Jewish Museum in Germany is facing a wave of criticism. The show, intended to shed light on the Jewish culture, invites Jews to join the program as participants. It is presented in a setting that is reminiscent of Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann sitting in a glass booth at the 1961 trial in Israel. The war criminal was eventually executed. At the exhibition, a Jewish man or woman sits inside a glass box for two hours to answer any questions asked
Hamas re-elects Mashaal as its leader

Apr 2, 2013

The Islamic militant group Hamas on Monday re-elected longtime leader Khaled Mashaal, officials said, choosing a relative pragmatist who has sparred with movement hardliners in the past over his attempt to reconcile with Western-backed Palestinian rivals.The secretive Hamas did not issue an announcement, but Mashaal's re-election was confirmed by two Hamas officials. The vote late Monday capped a year of internal elections spread over several countries and shrouded in mystery.The Qatar-based Mas
6,000 Syrians killed in March, deadliest month yet

Apr 2, 2013

March was the bloodiest month yet in Syria's 2-year-old conflict with more than 6,000 documented deaths, a leading anti-regime activist group said Monday, blaming the increase on heavier shelling and more violent clashes.Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the increased toll is likely incomplete because both the Syrian army and the rebel groups fighting the government often underreport their dead in the civil war.“Both sides are hiding information, Abdul-Ra
Syrian news agency accuses rebels of setting fire to oil wells

Apr 1, 2013

BEIRUT (AP) ― Heavy shelling in a neighborhood in the northern city of Aleppo sent civilians fleeing for their lives on Sunday, and the state news agency accused rebels trying to topple the government of setting fire to three oil wells. Syria’s civil war has battered the country’s infrastructure and torn its social fabric. After more than two years of conflict, neither President Bashar Assad’s regime nor the rebels fighting for his ouster appear close to victory. The Britain-based Syrian Observa
Egyptian TV satirist released after questioning

Apr 1, 2013

CAIRO (AP) ― Egypt’s most popular television satirist, who every week skewers the Islamist president and hard-line clerics on his Jon Stewart-style show, was released on bail Sunday but could face charges of insulting the country’s leader and Islam. Bassem Youssef is the most prominent critic of President Mohammed Morsi to be called in for questioning in recent weeks, in what the opposition says is a campaign to intimidate critics amid wave after wave of political unrest in deeply polarized Egyp
Palestinian leader clamps down on critics

Apr 1, 2013

HUSSAN, West Bank (AP) ―Mahmoud Abbas’ government in the West Bank is getting tougher with critics, interrogating, prosecuting and even jailing several journalists and bloggers in recent months for allegedly “defaming” the Western-backed Palestinian leader. Rights activists say the legal hassles are meant to silence dissent and that the campaign is intensifying despite promises to the contrary by Abbas. Targets of the crackdown include supporters of Abbas’ political rival ― the Islamic militant
Afghan leader meets Qatar emir on Taliban office

Apr 1, 2013

DOHA (AFP) ― Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks Sunday with the emir of Qatar during a visit to discuss opening a Taliban office in the Gulf state, in preparation for a possible peace deal with the militants. Karzai discussed “issues of mutual interest” with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, state news agency QNA said, without giving details of the low-profile meeting in Doha.QNA later said the talks examined “the perspectives for peace in Afghanistan” but did not elaborate.The Afghan pre