The Korea Herald

Cuba’s Castro raises possibility of retiring

Feb 24, 2013

HAVANA (AP) ― Cuban President Raul Castro has unexpectedly raised the possibility of leaving his post, saying Friday that he is old and has a right to retire. But he did not say when he might do so or if such a move was imminent.The Cuban leader is scheduled to be named by parliament to a new five-year term Sunday, and Castro urged reporters to listen to his speech that day.“I am going to resign,’’ Castro said at a joint appearance with visiting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, an enigmat
Michelle Obama: America’s first lady of fashion

Feb 24, 2013

NEW YORK (AFP) ― She has, in the space of little more than four years, become America’s favorite fashion plate: First Lady Michelle Obama is without doubt the nation’s trend-setting arbiter of taste and style.From her breezy new bangs to her elegant inaugural gowns, the entire country sits in breathless anticipation of what new look Obama will come up with next.And for the obscure fashion designer, nothing catapults a career into the stratosphere like having Obama wear one’s clothes.This week, t
British teen dies in fall from ski lift

Feb 24, 2013

Italian officials said they were investigating the death of a 13-year-old British teen in a fall from a ski lift.Poonam Bhattal was on a class trip to Claviere, Italy, about 50 miles west of Turin on the French border. She was on the chairlift but standing up before she fell, the lift operator said.The metal safety bar was down and Bhattal could be seen grabbing onto it before she let go and plummeted to her death, the BBC reported Saturday.Officials said they don't know why Bhattal stood up on
Spain anti-austerity marches attract thousands

Feb 24, 2013

Tens of thousands of people marched on Spain's parliament on Saturday to protest austerity measures, a demonstration that came on the 32nd anniversary of a failed attempt by the armed forces to overthrow the government. Protest groups joined forces under the slogan ``Citizens' Tide, 23F,'' referring to the Feb. 23, 1981, attack by the armed forces on the parliament. Organizers said that Spain ``is under a financial coup'' and called on people to march against what they said was government favori
U.S. digs out from one winter storm as another looms

Feb 23, 2013

CHICAGO (AFP) -- The central United States was digging out from a massive winter storm Friday while East Coast residents were preparing for a whopper set to strike over the weekend.The weakened storm was nonetheless still packing a punch, snarling traffic and cancelling hundreds of flights as it hovered over the Great Lakes region.A United Airlines plane slid off a runway in Cleveland Friday morning, but officials said nobody was hurt.The National Weather Service warned that parts of New England
U.S. joins fraud lawsuit against Lance Armstrong

Feb 23, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department has joined a lawsuit against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong that alleges the former seven-time Tour de France champion concealed his use of performance-enhancing drugs and defrauded his longtime sponsor, the U.S. Postal Service.The lawsuit alleges that riders on the postal service-sponsored team, including Armstrong, knowingly violated their postal service agreements by regularly using banned substances and methods to enhance their performance."Lance
Obama asks Supreme Court to overturn gay marriage ban

Feb 23, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The Barack Obama administration took another step toward institutionalizing gay marriage, formally asking the US Supreme Court to strike down a 1996 law defining marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman.The request was contained in a legal brief filed Friday with the US court, whose nine justices will next month review whether or not to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bans marriage between homosexuals.The document marks the first time
Syria opposition condemns 'international silence' over war

Feb 23, 2013

DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syria's opposition National Coalition said it was pulling out of several international meetings to protest at the "international silence" despite the slaughter of civilians in the conflict.The announcement came after the coalition had said it would form a government to run "liberated areas" of Syria, and as international condemnation mounted against Thursday's devastating attacks in Damascus that left around 100 people dead.In further violence Friday, monitors said more than 12
China reports year's second fatal case of bird flu

Feb 23, 2013

BEIJING (AFP) -- A man in southwestern China has died of bird flu, health authorities said Saturday, becoming the second fatality from the H5N1 virus this year.The 31-year-old died in hospital in the city of Guiyang on Friday, the Guizhou province health department said in a statement, adding that no other human cases of avian flu had been reported in the province.Another city resident, a 21-year-old woman, died from the virus earlier this month.The Xinhua news agency said both of them had come
U.N. envoy warns of possible new Congo conflict

Feb 23, 2013

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. envoy to Congo warned Friday that large-scale conflict could erupt again without warning as 11 nations prepare to sign a peace agreement aimed at ending nearly two decades of unending fighting in the mineral-rich African nation.Roger Meece told the U.N. Security Council that the security situation in the eastern Congo continues to deteriorate amid increasing fears that the rebel group known as M23, which captured the key city of Goma in November, will resume major
Oscar Pistorius gets bail as murder trial looms

Feb 23, 2013

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) -- Oscar Pistorius walked out of court Friday -- free at least for now -- after a South African magistrate released him on bail, capping four days of often startling testimony that foreshadowed a dramatic trial in the Valentine's Day slaying of his girlfriend.But as he was driven away, chased by photographers and cameramen, questions continued to hound the double-amputee Olympian about what actually happened the night he gunned down Reeva Steenkamp inside a locked bat
More suicide bombs hit Mali after battle that kills 20 Islamists

Feb 23, 2013

GAO, Mali (AFP) -- Five people, including two suicide bombers, died Friday in car bombings in northern Mali, a day after fierce urban battles between French-led forces and Islamists left up to 20 extremists dead, officials said.Two vehicles targeting civilians and members of the ethnic Tuareg rebel group, the MNLA, exploded near the town of Tessalit, killing three and wounding several others, a security source said. The suicide bomber drivers also died.A spokesman for the National Movement for t
At least six tanks leaking at U.S. nuclear waste site

Feb 23, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- At least six underground tanks containing nuclear waste in the northwestern US state of Washington are leaking, but there is no imminent threat to public health, a spokeswoman said Friday.The US Energy Department told the state last week that one tank was leaking at the Hanford nuclear site, but Energy Secretary Steven Chu informed its governor Jay Inslee on Friday that more leaks had been discovered."Secretary Chu let him know today that there are actually more tanks they'v
Car bomb kills at least 53 in Syrian capital

Feb 22, 2013

DAMASCUS (AP) ― A car bomb exploded Thursday near Syria’s ruling party headquarters in Damascus, killing at least 53 people and scattering mangled bodies among the blazing wreckage in one of the bloodiest days in the capital since the uprising began almost two years ago.Elsewhere in the city, two other bombs struck intelligence offices, killing 22, and mortar rounds hit the army’s central command, activists said.Recent rebel advances in the Damascus suburbs, combined with the bombings and three
China slams Japan’s Abe over interview comments

Feb 22, 2013

BEIJING (AFP) ― China has slammed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for telling a U.S. newspaper that Beijing had a “deeply ingrained” need to challenge its neighbors over territory, state media said Friday.Abe, visiting the United States for talks with President Barack Obama, told the Washington Post in an interview published Thursday that Beijing uses disputes with Japan and others to shore up its domestic support.The Japanese leader’s trip comes as tensions between the Asian giants escalate