The Korea Herald

U.S. man dies in fire at home, spontaneous combustion ‘not ruled out’

Feb 20, 2013

An Oklahoma man was killed at his home by a mysterious fire, as investigators say they have not ruled out spontaneous combustion as cause of death, U.S. media reported Tuesday.The body of the 65-year-old victim was discovered by his neighbors on Monday who rushed to his home after seeing smoke coming out. They found completely charred remains of the victim in his kitchen, but no other damage was done to the home. Sheriff Ron Lockhart of the Sequoyah County, who reportedly spent 20 years as an ar
Tunisia P.M. resigns after cabinet initiative fails

Feb 20, 2013

Tunisia's prime minister announced his resignation Tuesday following a failed effort to form a technocratic government to see the country out of its political crisis.The resignation is expected to further deepen the country's political instability, which earlier Tuesday prompted an international ratings agency to downgrade the government's credit rating.Tunisians overthrew a dictator in January 2011, sparking the Arab Spring revolutions. A moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, won subsequent electio
Allen retires, declines top NATO job

Feb 20, 2013

President Barack Obama is looking for a new candidate to lead American and allied forces in Europe after his first choice, Marine Gen. John Allen, bowed out Tuesday and announced his intention to retire for what he called personal reasons.The move further clouds the picture for Obama as he repositions key figures on his national security team and in key military leadership roles. The White House is fighting for Senate confirmation of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary; a confirmation vote was stal
Authorities: 4 dead in California shooting spree

Feb 20, 2013

A shooting spree early Tuesday left three people dead and two others injured in Orange County, and the search for the gunman ended when he shot himself to death in a stolen car as police closed in, authorities said.There were multiple crime scenes in the county south of Los Angeles and many more victims who were shot at but unhurt, said Tustin Lt. Paul Garaven.The shootings began at 4:45 a.m. local time when deputies responding to a call found a female shot multiple times in a house in Ladera Ra
Patient dies from SARS-like virus in Britain: hospital

Feb 20, 2013

A person suffering from a SARS-like virus has died in Britain, hospital officials said on Tuesday, becoming the sixth fatality from the illness worldwide.The patient was being treated for so-called novel coronavirus at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, and died on Sunday, the hospital said.The victim was one of three people in the same family with the virus, which appeared to have been caught by one of the family members during a recent visit to the Middle East and Pakista
Afghan civilian death toll down 12%: U.N.

Feb 19, 2013

KABUL (AP) ― Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition killed 126 Afghan civilians last year, a nearly 50 percent drop from the year before, the U.N. said Tuesday. The report came a day after President Hamid Karzai banned government forces from requesting foreign air support during operations in residential areas. The overall civilian death toll in 2012 also declined some 12 percent to 2,754, compared with 3,131 the previous year, according to an annual report by the United Nations Mission to Afghani
Nigerian extremists claim abduction of 7 foreigners

Feb 19, 2013

BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) ― A little-known Islamic extremist group claimed responsibility Monday for the kidnapping of seven foreign workers from northern Nigeria, threatening their safety if anyone tried to intervene and free them. The group that calls itself Ansaru issued a short statement, obtained by the Associated Press, in which it said its fighters kidnapped the foreigners Saturday night from a construction company’s camp at Jama’are, a town about 200 kilometers north of Bauchi, the capital of
Scientists claim discovery of Russian meteorites

Feb 19, 2013

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Scientists announced the discovery Monday of dozens of tiny fragments of a massive meteor whose ground-shaking shockwave hurt 1,200 people and damaged buildings across five regions of Russia.The giant space rock streaked spectacularly over the central city of Chelyabinsk on Friday before exploding with the force of 30 of the nuclear bombs dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.There was initial disappointment when Russian Emergency Ministry workers who scour
Russian lawmaker’s body found cemented in barrel

Feb 19, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) ― Authorities say the body of a Russian local lawmaker has been found cemented in a barrel. Another politician has been accused of ordering the killing over an $80 million debt. Mikhail Pakhomov, 37, went missing last week. He was a member of the local legislature in Lipetsk, a city some 350 kilometers south of Moscow, and was last seen when three unidentified men pushed him into a car and drove away. Russia’s Investigative Committee says several suspects were detained in the case, a
Prosecutor charges Pistorius with murdering girlfriend

Feb 19, 2013

PRETORIA (AP) ― A South African prosecutor charges Olympian Oscar Pistorius with the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend. The prosecutor said Tuesday that Pistorius shot 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door of his home in a guarded and gated complex in the South African capital, Pretoria. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court the door had been broken open. The family of the 26-year-old Paralympian and Olympic athlete says police evidence will show there should
Armenian president re-elected, exit poll says

Feb 19, 2013

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, who has overseen a modest economic recovery in his country, was re-elected in a national election on Monday, according to an exit poll. The poll of 19,130 voters conducted by Gallup and other pollsters and carried by ArmNews TV showed Sarkisian winning 58 percent of the ballots. The closest of his six rivals, the American-born Raffi Hovanessian, who was post-Soviet Armenia's first foreign minister, polled 32 percent.Just over 60 percent of Armenia's 2.5 millio
Singapore police report rise in cybersex scamming

Feb 19, 2013

Singapore police have reported a rapid rise in online scamming where women seduce men to into cybersex on webcams, and then blackmail them, according to U.S. news reports.In such cases, female con artists initiate an online conversation with male victims and perform sexual acts in front of the camera, according to Singapore Police Force. The women would then invite victims to take off their clothes or perform sexual acts themselves, while recording the entire process.Afterwards, the scammers wou
Belgian court keeps pedophile killer in prison

Feb 19, 2013

Pedophile killer Marc Dutroux was on Monday denied conditional release from jail, which would have allowed him to walk the streets with an electronic ankle bracelet, the latest turn in a case that has long transfixed and horrified Belgium.Dutroux is serving a life sentence for kidnapping, torturing and abusing six girls in 1995 and 1996. He was also found to have murdered two of the girls and let two others starve to death in a dungeon. Dutroux, who has been in prison for 16 years, tried to con
Suspected missionaries accused of spying in Libya

Feb 19, 2013

Four foreigners detained on suspicion of proselytizing Christianity in Libya have been accused of espionage, a senior security official said on Monday.Libyan officials say that the group includes a Swedish-American, a South Korean, a South African and an Egyptian.The police chief behind the detention, Abdel-Salam el-Barghathi, told the Associated Press that embassy officials have been allowed access to the four, but that the group has raised suspicions by refusing to meet any.Speaking to the AP
NATO kills insurgent behind U.S. soldier's death

Feb 18, 2013

An Afghan soldier-turned-insurgent who was feted by the Taliban for killing an American soldier during an insider attack in eastern Afghanistan last year has been killed in a raid, the U.S.-led international coalition said on Monday.NATO identified the insurgent as Mahmood and said that he and an accomplice, identified only as Rashid, died in last Wednesday's operation in eastern Kunar province's Ghaziabad district. No other details were provided. Mahmood is thought responsible for the May 11 ki