The Korea Herald

Obama dives into South China Sea turmoil

Nov 20, 2012

PHNOM PENH (AFP) ― U.S. President Barack Obama is set to dive into the tumultuous diplomatic waters of the South China Sea on Tuesday at a summit in which rival claims to the strategically vital area have dominated.Obama is widely expected to express concerns about the disputes between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors, which have stoked tensions across the region this year and hampered efforts to foster economic cooperation.Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao are among the leaders of 18
Australia jails ‘collar bomber’ for at least 10 years

Nov 20, 2012

SYDNEY (AFP) ― An Australian investment banker who attached a fake bomb around the neck of a Sydney schoolgirl in a bid to extort money from her wealthy family was Tuesday jailed for at least 10 years.Paul Peters, 52, who was arrested and extradited from the United States in September last year with the help of the FBI, pleaded guilty to aggravated breaking and entering, and detaining the teenager for advantage.The father-of-three made global headlines when he broke into the multimillion-dollar
Congolese rebels seize Goma, take airport

Nov 20, 2012

GOMA, Congo (AP) -- A rebel group created just seven months ago seized the strategic provincial capital of Goma, home to more than 1 million people in eastern Congo, and its international airport on Tuesday, according to a rebel spokesman and witnesses.Explosions and machine-gun fire rocked the lakeside city as the M23 rebels pushed forward on two fronts: toward the city center and along the road that leads to Bukavu, another provincial capital which lies to the south. Civilians ran down sidewal
Erdogan calls attacks on Gaza ethnic cleansing, not self-defense

Nov 20, 2012

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Israel's assertion that its strikes on Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip were self-defense, saying the Jewish state is carrying out "ethnic cleansing" against Palestinians."No one can say Israel is using its right to self defense," Erdogan told lawmakers from his party in a speech at the Turkish parliament in Ankara today. "Israel is snubbing peace in the region, stomping on international law and carrying out ethnic cleansing against a people.
Israeli strikes kill 6 in Gaza, hiking toll to 116

Nov 20, 2012

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) -- Six Palestinians were killed Tuesday in a new wave of Israeli strikes on Gaza, medics said, raising the Palestinian toll from six days of bombardment to 116.The raids ended a night of relative quiet in which no-one was killed for the first time since Israel launched its relentless aerial assault on rocket-firing militants in the enclave on November 14, Palestinian medics said.More than 920 people have been injured in the bombing campaign.Emergency serv
Greenhouse gases rise to record levels in atmosphere, WMO says

Nov 20, 2012

Concentrations in the atmosphere of the three main gases blamed for global warming all rose in 2011 to their highest since records began, the United Nations said.Carbon dioxide, responsible for about 80 percent of the global warming effect of greenhouse gases, gained 0.51 percent to 390.9 parts per million molecules of air, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization said today in an e-mailed bulletin. The methane concentration increased 0.28 percent and the nitrous oxide level rose 0.31 percen
Obama meets China, Japan leaders amid sea tensions

Nov 20, 2012

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- President Barack Obama closed his Asian tour in diplomatic talks with leaders of Japan and China, their economic message overshadowed by security tensions over disputed waters and territories. The crisis between Israel and Hamas militants intervened, too, as Obama rushed his top diplomat straight from Cambodia to the Mideast.Obama was wrapping up four days in Southeast Asia on Tuesday and starting the long journey home, where fiscal deadlines and decisions await.On t
Israel police: Armed man attacks U.S. Embassy guard

Nov 20, 2012

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A knife and ax-wielding Israeli man attacked and lightly wounded a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv on Tuesday before he was apprehended at the scene, police said.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the assailant was an Israeli citizen in his early 40s. He said man's motive was unknown, but political motives were not suspected and the incident had nothing to do with Israel's battle with Hamas militants in Gaza.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled
Obama sends Clinton to Mideast amid Gaza crisis

Nov 20, 2012

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- President Barack Obama dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East on Tuesday as the U.S. urgently seeks to contain the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.Clinton hastily departed for the region from Cambodia, where she had joined Obama for summit meetings with Asian leaders. The White House said she would make three stops, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Palestinian officials in Ramallah, in the
Bishop arrested for alleged sex offenses

Nov 20, 2012

Retired English bishop the Rev. Peter Ball was arrested on suspicion of eight sexual offenses against boys and men, detectives said.Ball, 80, former bishop of Lewes and later bishop of Gloucester, was arrested at his home in Landport Tuesday and is believed to be the most senior Church of England official to be arrested in connection with a sex abuse investigation, the British newspaper The Guardian reported Tuesday.Officers from the Sussex Police serious crime directorate completed a six-month
Israel, Hamas trade fire and tough truce proposals

Nov 20, 2012

Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers traded fire and tough cease-fire proposals Monday, and threatened to escalate their border conflict if diplomacy fails. No deal appeared near.An Israeli airstrike targeting a Gaza media center killed a senior militant and engulfed the building in flames, while Gaza fighters fired 95 rockets at Israel, nearly one-third of them intercepted by an Israeli missile shield.A total of 38 Palestinians were killed Monday, bringing the death toll since the start of Israel's o
Colombia cool to rebel-announced cease-fire

Nov 20, 2012

Colombia's main rebel group announced a unilateral cease-fire on Monday as it began much-anticipated peace talks, but the Bogota government responded that it would continue military operations. Top negotiator Ivan Marquez said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia would halt all acts of sabotage and attacks against government and private property starting at midnight Monday and running through Jan. 20.He made the announcement as negotiators for both sides entered the talks in Havana withou
Syrian rebels seize part of strategic army base

Nov 19, 2012

BEIRUT (AFP) ― Syrian rebels on Sunday took control of part of a strategic army base they have besieged for weeks in the northern province of Aleppo, a watchdog and residents said.The rebel fighters also captured at least 25 regime soldiers during clashes with the military at the same base, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.“Several insurgent groups have seized control of a large part of Base 46,” said the Britain-based watchdog, citing activists in the region.During their assault on
Rebel group in Congo reaches door of Goma

Nov 19, 2012

GOMA, Congo (AP) ― A rebel group believed to be backed by Rwanda advanced to within 3 kilometers of Goma, a crucial provincial capital in eastern Congo, marking the first time that rebels have come this close since 2008.Congolese army spokesman Col. Olivier Hamuli said the fighting has been going on since 6 a.m. Sunday and the front line has moved to just a few kilometers outside the city. After more than nine hours of violent clashes, the two sides took a break just after 3 p.m., with M23 rebel
Rebel, government negotiators at Colombia peace talks meet

Nov 19, 2012

BOGOTA (AP) ― The two chief negotiators didn’t shake hands. They didn’t even look at each other as they formally inaugurated talks to end Colombia’s stubborn five-decade-old conflict in Norway last month. On Monday, the rebel former seminarian known as Ivan Marquez and government representative Humberto de la Calle, a sage veteran of Colombian politics, will sit down in Havana to negotiate in earnest. The two have little in common other than eyeglasses, a slight paunch and a previous failed atte