The Korea Herald

Annan quits as Syrian envoy, blames lack of unity

Aug 3, 2012

Kofi Annan, former Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League for Syria, speaks during a press briefing, at the European headquarters of the United Nations, UN, in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday. (AP-Yonnhap News)Kofi Annan announced his resignation Thursday as peace envoy to Syria and issued a blistering critique of world powers, bringing to a dramatic end a frustrating six-mont
Somali leaders pass constitution

Aug 2, 2012

MOGADISHU (AP) ― Somali leaders voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to adopt a new constitution that contains new individual rights and sets the country on a course for a more powerful and representative government. The vote came after two thunderous blasts at the gates of the meeting site from a failed suicide attack.The 825 Somali leaders who debated the constitution for a week approved the document with 621 for, 13 against and 11 abstentions. The constitution, some eight years in the making, ma
Clinton challenges Africa to embrace democracy

Aug 2, 2012

DAKARl (AP) ― In veiled swipes at China’s investments in Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday urged African leaders to embrace democracy and partnerships with responsible foreign powers as a means to improving their living standards and addressing the root causes of extremism on the continent.Clinton, speaking to university students, lawmakers and diplomats in Senegal’s capital, challenged Africa’s elite to fully respect human rights and she warned of the consequen
Few holdovers, Islamists in new Egyptian cabinet

Aug 2, 2012

CAIRO (AP) ― Egypt’s incoming Cabinet will have few Islamists and some holdovers from the outgoing military-backed team in key positions, according to a partial list released by state media Wednesday, a day before the first government under the country’s new Islamist president is sworn in.The choices by President Mohammed Morsi’s prime minister, Hesham Kandil, are seen as a test of the intentions of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s official news media listed more than 20 ministers in the new
Chen raises China concerns with U.S.

Aug 2, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The dissident who was at the center of a standoff between China and the United States on Wednesday accused Beijing of failing to live up to its promises as U.S. lawmakers rallied behind him.Chen Guangcheng, a blind activist who was jailed after exposing abuses in China’s one-child policy, has lived in New York since May 20 after a dramatic escape from house arrest to the U.S. embassy in Beijing.Visiting Congress in his highest-level contact yet with the U.S. government, Chen v
Dark side of China’s glorious moments at Olympics

Aug 2, 2012

China is proving that it is one of the strongest sports nations in the world, topping the 2012 London Olympics with 17 gold medals as of Wednesday. Behind such glorious scenes, however, Chinese athletes have undergone rigorous training closer to abuse since childhood.The Chinese government has conducted a program to produce Olympic gold medalists and prove Chinese power in sports. According to news reports, the government conducts sports tests with children and has sent more than 400,000 of them
Torch-carrying boy gets new leg from Euromillion winners

Aug 2, 2012

A 13-year-old who lost a leg to cancer will get a new prosthetic limb, donated by Britain‘s biggest-ever lottery winners.Kieran Maxwell cannot stand up by himself after he fell while carrying the Olympic torch. He needs help from others because of his heavy prosthetics. Maxwell’s problem will soon be over, as he is set to receive a life-changing new leg thanks to the donation from Euromillion winn
China paper blames Western media over doping row

Aug 2, 2012

China‘s most influential newspaper on Thursday hit back against doping suspicions levelled at gold medal winning swimmer Ye Shiwen, accusing Western media of “deeply ingrained prejudice”.Ye Shiwen, 16, captured the women’s 400m individual medley title in a world record time, swimming faster than Men‘s champion Ryan Lochte in the final stage of the race.But her victory was marred by suspicions of doping after the head of the World Swimming Coaches Association said the achievement was “impossible”
Tetra Pak scion avoids jail for delaying wife's burial

Aug 2, 2012

Tetra Pak heir Hans Kristian Rausing received a suspended jail sentence Wednesday after admitting he delayed the burial of his wife, whose body lay rotting in their London mansion for two months.The 49-year-old millionaire said in a statement read to a London court that he had been unable to "confront the reality" of the death of his US-born wife Eva, 48, and tried to act as if it had not happene
Woman did not know she was pregnant

Aug 2, 2012

(123rf)An Ohio woman said a police officer helped deliver her baby when she didn't even know she was pregnant.McKenzie Acierno said she and her husband called 911 early Sunday when she was experiencing severe stomach pains, the Ashtabula (Ohio) Star Beacon reported Wednesday."I told my husband that it felt almost like I was having a baby," she said.Geneva-on-the-Lake auxiliary police officer Sandy
Last member of 1942 Auschwitz escape dies

Aug 1, 2012

WARSAW (AP) ― A spokesman for Auschwitz museum says the last surviving member of a group of prisoners that escaped the German Nazi concentration camp in 1942 has died. Spokesman Pawel Sawicki said Monday that August Kowalczyk died Sunday at a hospice he helped found in the town of Oswiecim in southern Poland where the former camp is located. He was 90 years old. Kowalczyk was brought to Auschwitz in December 1940. In June 1942 he was among 50 Polish inmates who tried to flee the camp while worki
Wind, rain from offshore storm batter Philippines

Aug 1, 2012

MANILA (AP) -- Fierce wind and heavy rain from a slow-moving, offshore typhoon battered the Philippines again Tuesday, killing at least 10 people, displacing 145,000 others and briefly scaring authorities when it veered onto a direct path toward the archipelago.Typhoon Saola later shifted to blow away from the Philippines after lashing Manila and two-thirds of the nation since Sunday."The typhoon was making a U-turn for three hours and that gave us a scare," said Benito Ramos, who heads the coun
Iran, Syria top Panetta‘s agenda in Israel

Aug 1, 2012

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel‘s threats to attack Iran and the violence convulsing Syria top the agenda of U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s meetings Wednesday with Israeli government leaders.Panetta arrived in Israel on Tuesday after meeting in Cairo with Egypt‘s new president and its military chief.In Cairo, Panetta denied Israeli press reports that he planned to share with the Israelis any U.S. plans for military action against Iran. He said the reports gave a "wrong characterization’‘ of what
U.S. maintains Cuba on its terror black list

Aug 1, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States kept Cuba on a black list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism for the 30th year running, the State Department said Tuesday in an annual report.Cuba angrily denounced the action as another U.S. attempt to justify its 50-year-old trade embargo on the communist-ruled island.“Cuba’s foreign ministry energetically rejects that such a sensitive issue as terrorism be used for petty political purposes and demands that the government of the United States stop lying
Russia charges top Putin foe with embezzlement

Aug 1, 2012

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russia charged popular protest leader Alexei Navalny with embezzlement on Tuesday, reviving a case that could land one of President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics behind bars for 10 years.The Investigative Committee said Navalny would also be barred from leaving Moscow during the probe into his role as an unofficial advisor in a timber deal struck by regional officials in 2009 that triggered the charges.The charismatic 36-year-old corporate lawyer, who rose to prominence as a