The Korea Herald

Taiwan to get new powerful rocket system

Jul 23, 2012

TAIPEI (AFP) ― Taiwan is scheduled to take delivery next month of a powerful multiple-launch rocket system aimed at neutralizing former rival China’s amphibious landing capabilities, local media reported Sunday.The weapon, called Ray Ting 2000 or “Thunder 2000”, will be put into service in August, said the Taipei-based Liberty Times, as the military plans to phase out the current rocket system introduced three decades ago.“After it is armed with the new weapons, the military will see its anti-la
Protests as U.S. aircraft arrive in Japan

Jul 23, 2012

TOKYO (AFP) ― The U.S. military’s Osprey aircraft arrived in Japan early Monday as residents rallied against their deployment after recent crashes raised safety concerns.Live television footage showed MV-22s being unloaded from a cargo ship at the U.S. Marines’ base in Iwakuni, western Japan.Local protesters in a dozen small boats demonstrated against the controversial aircraft’s arrival, chanting “We don’t want the dangerous Osprey!” and “Osprey, go back to America.”The demonstration against th
Obama honors shooting victims

Jul 23, 2012

Gun control debate drives talk showAURORA, Colorado (AFP) ― President Barack Obama paid emotional tribute Sunday to the victims and survivors of the Aurora cinema massacre, as the shaken U.S. town held a tearful vigil for the 12 dead filmgoers.Obama, making a visit to the stricken Colorado town, said he shed tears with relatives of those who died as the community struggles to recover from Friday’s shooting at a screening of the latest Batman movie, which also left 58 injured.“I confessed to them
Hundreds dance the wobble for scholarships

Jul 23, 2012

About 200 people came together in Detroit in a flash mob dance to promote the United Negro College Fund‘s 5K Walk for Education.The participants danced the wobble Saturday at the band shell on Belle Isle, the Detroit Free Press reported.“I think it was good,” Mike Simon, 54, who participated in the dance.UNCF development director Angela Bingham said she was pleased with how the event turned out, e
Cuban bar creates world's biggest daiquiri

Jul 23, 2012

Mixologists at the El Floridita bar in Havana say they made a record-breaking 71-gallon daiquiri as part of the celebrations of the bar's 195th anniversary.It took two waiters about half an hour to fill a 6.5-foot-tall cocktail glass with the rum, lemon and sugar concoction, World Records Academy, Miami, reported.El Floridita, which is located in an older part of Havana, claims to be the birthplace of the drink. The bar was also frequented by author Ernest Hemingway.During the record-breaking ev
Bear spotted in Pittsburgh mall

Jul 23, 2012

This photo is not directly related to this article.(MacClatch)A Pittsburgh mall was evacuated after a bear was spotted roaming through a Sears store, officials said.The small female brown bear entered the mall around 9 p.m. Saturday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.Wildlife conservation officers were able to lure the bear toward the entrance doors, where she was trapped between the double doo
Record levels of rain kill 37 in Beijing

Jul 23, 2012

The death toll from the heaviest rain to hit Beijing in over 60 years has risen to 37, Chinese state media reported on Sunday.Xinhua news agency said more victims of the downpours which battered much of the capital throughout Saturday had been discovered, revising up considerably the number of dead from ten.The rainstorms led to the evacuation of more than 50,000 people from their homes in Beijing
U.S. fighter jet pilot rescued after crash into sea off Japan

Jul 22, 2012

The pilot of a U.S. military fighter jet that crashed into the sea off northern Japan on Sunday has been rescued six hours after the accident, Japan's Coast Guard said.The unnamed pilot was placed safely on a nearby U.S. container ship around 6 p.m., according to the agency, which sent ships and a plane to the accident site."The F-16 jet crashed some 470 nautical miles northeast of Nemuro" at arou
Veteran dealmaker Mukherjee elected India president

Jul 22, 2012

NEW DELHI (AFP) -- Former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was elected Indian president on Sunday after votes from national and state lawmakers were counted in the race for the mainly ceremonial post.Some analysts believe Mukherjee, a veteran from the ruling Congress party, may take a more active approach to the job than his predecessors as India struggles with a parliamentary deadlock and slowin
Japan’s seniors find second working life abroad

Jul 22, 2012

TOKYO (AFP) ― After a life of dedication to a corporate cause that in Japan means long hours and few holidays, retirement might be seen as a well deserved rest. But for some, it is a chance to launch a new career.With opportunities at home few and far between, a scheme offering Japan’s seniors the chance to work abroad is increasingly being seen as a good way to keep active during a retirement that can easily last 20 years.As Toshio Hirouchi approached 60, he began to wonder what life would hold
China’s ‘unwanted’ single women feel pressure

Jul 22, 2012

Unwilling to ‘make do’ when marrying, over-30s worry about parents’ feelingsBEIJING (AFP) ― Xu, a pretty woman in her 30s, warily walked into a Beijing singles club in a bid to shed her status as one of China’s “Unwanted.”Xu had not been to the “Garden of Joy” for more than a year but, with time and societal judgment weighing heavily on her, she returned with cautious hopes.“I hope to find a husband,” she said, as she sat in front of a Mahjong table and awaited her date for the evening, who had
AIDS charity honors Gates

Jul 22, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Leading AIDS charity amfAR honored Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates Saturday, on the eve of the International AIDS Conference, for his part in funding an ongoing struggle against the disease.At a gala dinner at the Kennedy arts center, Gates accepted the Award of Courage on behalf of all scientists, health workers and those who have either died from AIDS in the past three decades or who live with the HIV virus.“We have many potential game-changers that are bringing us closer to the
Bullied U.S. grandmother gets $700,000 in donations

Jul 22, 2012

NEW YORK (AFP) ― An online fundraiser for a New York grandmother whose harassment at the hands of a busload of schoolchildren was captured on video raised more than $700,000 in a month.Bus monitor Karen Klein, 68, was ridiculed by a group of 12- and 13-year-olds about her weight, hearing aid and hairdo in a cell phone video posted to Facebook and YouTube last month.The video, which shows Klein trying to ignore taunts and profanity, went viral and led to an outpouring of public support.A campaign
Pakistan: Bomber attacks militant compound, 9 dead

Jul 22, 2012

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ― A suicide bomber attacked a compound in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday that was owned by a militant commander who had fallen out with the Pakistani Taliban, killing at least nine people, including three children, police said. There has been significant infighting over turf and leadership positions within the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella organization set up in 2007 to represent roughly 40 insurgent groups, many of whom are waging a bloody campaign against the govern
South Sudan accuses Sudan of bombing village

Jul 22, 2012

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) ― South Sudan accused Sudan on Saturday of bombing one of its villages just two weeks before a U.N.-imposed deadline on peace and oil negotiations between the two nations. Military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said Sudanese Antonov planes bombed the village of Rumaker in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state near the two countries’ border early Friday morning. Aguer said two civilians were slightly injured. The Sudanese government in Khartoum, however, promptly rejected the accusat