The Korea Herald

Missoni scion on plane missing in Venezuela

Jan 6, 2013

CARACAS (AP) ― Rescue crews used boats and aircraft on Saturday to search for a small plane that disappeared off Venezuela carrying the CEO of Italy’s iconic Missoni fashion house and five other people. But more than a day after the BN-2 Islander aircraft disappeared from radar screens on its short flight from the Venezuelan resort islands of Los Roques to Caracas, no sign of the plane had been found, officials said. “We have no other news’’ about the plane carrying 58-year-old Vittorio Missoni,
Myanmar's Suu Kyi says any peace bid 'up to government'

Jan 6, 2013

YANGON (AFP) -- Myanmar democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday said she would not step in to help end worsening conflict between the army and ethnic Kachin rebels without government approval."It is up to the government. This case is being handled by the government at the moment," Suu Kyi told AFP when asked if she would get involved in efforts to resolve the fighting, after the army's use of air strikes drew international concern.The Nobel laureate said she would need an official invita
D.C. school testing questioned

Jan 6, 2013

Student test scores at an acclaimed District of Columbia school fell sharply after testing oversight was beefed up, a TV documentary to be aired Tuesday found.The hourlong "Frontline" documentary, "The Education of Michelle Rhee," raises questions about whether district officials adequately investigated suspicions public school employees may have altered standardized test answers while Rhee was chancellor from 2007-2010, The Washington Post reported.Adell Cothorne, principal at Noyes Education C
Police: Teen drugged parents to use web

Jan 6, 2013

Police in California said they arrested a teenager accused of drugging her parents with sleeping pills so she could use the Internet.Rocklin police said the teenager was upset her parents wouldn‘t let her use the Internet after 10 p.m., so she bought them milkshakes Dec. 28 and spiked them with her friend’s prescription sleeping pills, KOVR-TV, Sacramento, reported Thursday.Lt. Lon Milka said the parents thought the milkshakes tasted odd and only consumed about a quarter of them, but it was enou
Richardson, Schmidt to go to N.Korea next week

Jan 6, 2013

Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and Google chairman Eric Schmidt will head to North Korea next week on a “private humanitarian mission,” Richardson‘s office said Saturday.Richardson, a veteran troubleshooter on North Korea, will hold a press conference at the airport in Beijing on Thursday, his office said in a statement, adding that no journalists would be accompanying the delegation.The US State Department has voiced concerns about the trip, saying it was ill-timed in the wake of Py
Woman, oldest living US citizen, dies at 114

Jan 6, 2013

A 114-year-old South Carolina woman who was the oldest living U.S. citizen has died, two of her daughters said Saturday.Mamie Rearden of Edgefield, who held the title as the country‘s oldest person for about two weeks, died Wednesday at a hospital in Augusta, Georgia, said Sara Rearden of Burtonsville, Maryland, and Janie Ruth Osborne of Edgefield. They said their mother broke her hip after a fall about three weeks ago.The Gerontology Research Group, which verifies age information for Guinness W
Implants left at hotel

Jan 6, 2013

Hotel staff must find any number of strange things left behind in vacated hotel rooms, but this might be the weirdest yet.Travelodge says staff found a pair of breast implants left behind at the Newcastle Central location in Britain sometime during 2012, ABC News reported.Also on its list of odd items left behind are several animals, expensive jewelry and a tanning booth.One woman staying near Birmingham airport left behind a Persian Chinchilla kitten named Porsha who was due to participate in a
India gang-rape victim's friend recounts attack

Jan 5, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The suffering of a university student and her male friend who were brutally attacked aboard a bus in India's capital did not end after the woman was gang-raped and both were savagely beaten for 2 1/2 hours. Dumped naked on a roadside, the pair encountered shocking apathy as passersby offered only cursory looks and police debated jurisdiction for 30 minutes before taking them to a hospital, where the man received no treatment as he sat without clothes on the floor, the friend r
Disputes brewing over Chavez’s inauguration

Jan 4, 2013

CARACAS (AP) ― President Hugo Chavez is due to be sworn in for a new term in less than a week and his closest allies still aren’t saying what they plan to do if the ailing leader is unable to return from a Cuban hospital to take the oath of office.Chavez hasn’t been seen or heard from since his Dec. 11 cancer surgery, and speculation has grown that his illness could be reaching its final stages. The president’s elder brother Adan and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello joined a parade o
Car bomb in Iraq kills 20 Shiite pilgrims

Jan 4, 2013

BAGHDAD (AP) ― A car bomb explosion tore through a crowd of Shiite pilgrims returning home on Thursday from a religious commemoration, killing at least 20 and reinforcing fears of renewed sectarian violence, according to Iraqi officials.The blast erupted late in the afternoon in the town of Musayyib, about 60 kilometers south of the Iraqi capital. It targeted worshippers returning from the Shiite holy city of Karbala following the climax of the religious commemoration known as Arbaeen.Children w
At least nine killed by Damascus car bomb

Jan 4, 2013

DAMASCUS (AFP) ― At least nine people were killed when a car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday amid reports of furious combat raging around a major airport and a military airbase in the north of the country.Many people were seriously wounded in the car-bomb attack in a northern Damascus neighborhood, and the death toll may climb, the group’s director Rami Abdel Rahmane said.The Observatory, which relies on a network of fighters and doctors t
Five charged in India gang rape

Jan 4, 2013

NEW DELHI (AP) ― Five men accused of raping a university student for hours on a bus as it drove through India’s capital were charged Thursday with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty.The attack on the 23-year-old woman, who died of severe internal injuries over the weekend, provoked a fierce debate across India about the routine mistreatment of females and triggered daily protests demanding action.There have been signs of change since the attack. Rapes, often ig
Steve Jobs bio film set for April release

Jan 4, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― The first film based on the life of legendary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs will be released in April, according to a distribution deal for “jOBS” announced on Thursday.The “biopic” starring Ashton Kutcher as Jobs, who died in 2011, will premier later this month on the closing night of the Sundance Film Festival, according to independent distributor Open Road Films.Written by Matthew Whitely and directed by Joshua Michael Stern, “jOBS” focuses on the Apple co-founder’s life f
Clinton ‘raring’ to be back at desk next week

Jan 4, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― A day after being released from hospital following treatment for a blood clot, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was Thursday hoping to return to work next week and end her month-long absence.“She’s resting at home,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. “Some of the senior staff who spoke to her about half an hour ago say that she’s sounding terrific, upbeat, raring to go.”The globe-trotting 65-year-old diplomat was admitted to New York Presbyterian Ho
Indian politician stripped and beaten by crowd after rape

Jan 4, 2013

An Indian lawmaker who was accused of rape was taken into custody after he was attacked and beaten by angry mob, Indian media reported.Bikram Singh Brahma of the ruling Congress Party in Assam had allegedly entered a woman’s house early Thursday and sexually assaulted her, police in Chirang district said. The victim screamed for help, and villagers came and captured the attacker.TV footage from local broadcasters show men and women beating and kicking Brahma. A woman comes in, tears off his shir