The Korea Herald

Woman who killed animals out of jail

Jan 8, 2013

A young Canadian woman convicted of torturing and killing animals and who fantasized about killing homeless people is out of jail, authorities say.Kayla Bourque, a 23-year-old former Simon Fraser University criminology major, will live in Vancouver, British Columbia, under supervised conditions, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported the provincial Ministry of Justice confirmed Monday.Bourque was found guilty in November of causing unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to animals, illegally ki
Japan to boost military budget amid China row

Jan 8, 2013

Japan will increase military spending in 2013 for the first time in more than a decade, the ruling party said Tuesday, as Tokyo summoned the Chinese ambassador over a simmering territorial row.The newly-elected Liberal Democratic Party's national defense task force has decided to boost the defense budget request by more than 100 billion yen ($1.15 billion) in response to an emboldened Beijing, a party official told AFP.The relatively small amount is likely symbolic, but it reflects anxiety over
Porn plays behind Swedish news anchor

Jan 8, 2013

A Swedish news channel said precautions are being taken after a pornographic film became part of a news broadcast.Viewers of TV4 News, a 24-hour news station, said they noticed a pornographic film playing on a TV screen behind the anchor Monday morning while he was interviewing a correspondent in Moscow about Syrian President Bashar Assad's weekend speech, The Local.se reported Monday.TV4 news editor Andreas Haglind said the 10-minute porn problem was likely related to a computer server in the s
Regime calls for massive pro-Chavez rally in Caracas

Jan 8, 2013

Venezuela's leftist leadership on Monday called for a massive show of support for ailing President Hugo Chavez in Caracas on January 10, the day he is supposed to be sworn in to a new six year term.The request came as the government faced a rising storm of criticism over plans to indefinitely delay Chavez's inauguration if the cancer-stricken leader, still in hospital in Havana, is too sick to be inaugurated."All of Venezuela will come here in front of the Miraflores presidential palace, the peo
Obama taps Hagel for Pentagon, Brennan for CIA

Jan 8, 2013

Despite Republican misgivings, President Barack Obama announced Monday he will nominate former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary. He also chose White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. Controversy surrounds both choices, but the president called on the Senate to quickly confirm both at what are expected to be tough confirmation hearings.Hagel has faced tough criticism from fellow Republicans who say he is anti-Israel and s
Obama to nominate John Brennan as CIA director: official

Jan 7, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Barack Obama will on Monday nominate White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan as CIA director, an administration official said."Brennan has the full trust and confidence of the president," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. "Over the past four years, he has been involved in virtually all major national security issues and will be able to hit the ground running at CIA."
Protesters gather at Chinese newspaper in censorship row

Jan 7, 2013

BEIJING (AFP) ― Protesters gathered Monday at the offices of a Chinese newspaper at the center of a censorship row, in a rare public demonstration in support of media freedom in the country.Hundreds of people were outside the Southern Weekly’s office in Guangzhou, according to online reports, with one banner reading: “We want press freedom, constitutionalism and democracy.”The demonstration in the southern city came after censors Thursday blocked a New Year article in the popular liberal newspap
India-Pakistan tensions rise in Kashmir

Jan 7, 2013

ISLAMABAD (AP) ― Pakistan and India traded accusations Sunday of violating the cease-fire in the disputed northern region of Kashmir, with Islamabad accusing Indian troops of a cross-border raid that killed one of its soldiers and India charging that Pakistani shelling destroyed a home on its side. The accusation of a border crossing resulting in military deaths is unusual in Kashmir, where a cease-fire has held between these two wary, nuclear-armed rivals for a decade. Tensions over the dispute
Australians bracing for ‘worst ever’ fire danger

Jan 7, 2013

SYDNEY (AFP) ― Australians were bracing Monday for what officials warned could be the worst fire danger day ever seen, as police searched for some 100 people still missing in ravaged Tasmania.Prime Minister Julia Gillard urged Australians to be vigilant in coming days, with scorching temperatures predicted in several states and hundreds of blazes already raging.The danger was most acute in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, with the mercury expected to hit 43 degrees Celsius in Sy
Violence in Northern Ireland continues despite peace talks

Jan 7, 2013

BELFAST (AFP) ― Violence flared for the fourth night running in Northern Ireland on Sunday, hours after politicians and church leaders held talks in a bid to quell a row over the flying of the British flag.After three nights of rioting and attacks on police, Northern Ireland’s chief police officer Matt Baggott said 52 officers had been injured, but he warned his force would deal firmly with the violence for as long as it was necessary.“You may be assured there will be sufficient resources in the
‘Conflict brewing between Chavez allies’

Jan 7, 2013

CARACAS (AP) ― An opponent of Hugo Chavez alleged Sunday that conflicts are brewing within Venezuela’s ruling party and argued that alleged differences between the president’s close confidants have prompted them to postpone the socialist leader’s inauguration.Opposition lawmaker Julio Borges told a news conference Sunday that a rivalry between Vice President Nicolas Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello was behind the postponement of Chavez’s Jan. 10 swearing-in ceremony. Chave
Abbas orders official use of 'State of Palestine'

Jan 7, 2013

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas gave orders Sunday for work to begin on new passports, ID cards, drivers' licenses and stamps reading "State of Palestine," official media said.The decree, carried by the official WAFA news agency, came in the wake of the Palestinians' successful bid late last year for non-member observer state status at the United Nations over intense Israeli and US opposition.Abbas said the changed language on official documents would help strengthen the Palestinian state "on
Sources: Obama to nominate Hagel as Pentagon chief

Jan 7, 2013

President Barack Obama will nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary, a senior administration official said Sunday, choosing a former Senate colleague and a decorated Vietnam veteran and signaling he's ready for a contentious confirmation fight likely dominated by questions about Hagel's stands on Israel and Iran.Obama, who avoided a Capitol Hill battle by deciding not to nominate U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as his first choice for secretary of state, went ahead with Hagel, 66, even as
Syria's Assad offers road map to end conflict

Jan 7, 2013

President Bashar al-Assad offered a road map to end Syria's civil war in a rare speech Sunday in which he branded the opposition "slaves" of the West and told foreign powers to stop backing the rebels.The main armed opposition group the National Coalition, swiftly rejected the plan and Washington said Assad's speech, his first in public in seven months, showed he was "detached from reality".The European Union again called on him to step aside.And Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi told CNN he back
EU reiterates that Assad must 'step aside'

Jan 6, 2013

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The European Union reiterated Sunday that President Basahar al-Assad must step aside to allow a political settlement after the Syrian leader called for a national dialogue in a much-awaited speech in Damascus.A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a short statement: "We will look carefully if there is anything new in the speech but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition."The 27-nation bloc first deman