The Korea Herald

Chavez insists he is cancer-free

Jul 11, 2012

CARACAS (AFP) ― Firebrand Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez insisted Monday that he is “totally” cancer-free and ready to take on what promises to be a tough re-election battle without “physical restrictions.”“Free, totally free,” he replied when asked by a reporter if he had beaten the disease, as he gears up for the bruising campaign against unified opposition rival Henrique Capriles ahead of the Oct. 7 vote.“Thanks to God, I am here and every day I feel in better physical condition, and I real
Tetra Pak heir held after wife’s death: reports

Jul 11, 2012

LONDON (AFP) ― British police on Tuesday arrested a 49-year-old man, reported to be the heir to the Tetra Pak packaging fortune, after his wife was found dead at their luxury London home.Officers identified the woman as 48-year-old Eva Kemeny and said her body was found after police conducted a search of the five-storey house she shared with her husband at Cadogan Place in the wealthy London borough of Chelsea following the man’s arrest.Metropolitan Police detained the man at a south London poli
Japan summons China envoy over island dispute

Jul 11, 2012

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador Wednesday as a diplomatic row flared up after three Chinese patrol boats approached a chain of islands at the centre of a bitter territorial dispute.The Japanese coastguard said the vessels entered Japanese waters around the islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese early Wednesday.That prompted Japan’s Foreign Ministry to summon the Chinese ambassador in protest, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimu
Egypt court freezes Morsi decree as crisis deepens

Jul 11, 2012

CAIRO (AFP) ― Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court froze on Tuesday a presidential decree reinstating the Islamist-led parliament, hours after the lower house convened in defiance of the judiciary and military.The top court’s decision is expected to heighten a crisis that has raged since President Mohamed Morsi, a former member of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, issued the decree Sunday just eight days after taking office.“The court ordered the freeze of the president’s decree,” a judicial sour
Clinton visits Laos; first in 57 years

Jul 11, 2012

VIENTIANE (AFP) ― Hillary Clinton Wednesday became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos for 57 years, on a trip focused on the damaging legacy of the Vietnam War and a controversial dam project.At Vientiane’s flag-bedecked Wattay International airport, Clinton was given flowers by girls in traditional purple-silk costumes, kicking off her brief but historic trip.“It’s a pretty big deal for the Laotians, and we will underscore a number of areas that we’re working on together,” a senior
Hollande, Cameron laugh off differences

Jul 11, 2012

LONDON (AFP) ― French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron tried Tuesday to laugh off a rocky start to their relationship despite lingering differences over the eurozone crisis.Hollande also met Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle near London on his one-day visit, the socialist leader’s first trip to fellow NATO ally and EU heavyweight Britain since he was elected in May.After talks at Downing Street, Hollande and Cameron stressed their shared ground on foreign p
Climate change boosts odds of extreme weather

Jul 11, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Severe droughts, floods and heat waves rocked the world last year as greenhouse gas levels climbed, boosting the odds of some extreme weather events, international scientists said Tuesday.The details are contained in the annual State of the Climate report, compiled by nearly 400 scientists from 48 countries and published in the peer-reviewed Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.The report itself remains “consciously conservative” when it comes to attributing the cau
U.K. police: Heir's wife found dead in London

Jul 11, 2012

(MCT)One of Britain's richest women, American-born Eva Rausing, was found dead in her west London home and a man was arrested in connection with the case, British police said Tuesday, adding that an autopsy had failed to uncover a formal cause of death. Rausing, 48, was the wife of Hans Kristian Rausing, heir to the TetraPak fortune his father built by creating a successful manufacturer of lamin
UFO appeared at 1999 match beween Chelsea, ManU

Jul 11, 2012

The U.K. government released classified files showing UFO sightings, including one which appeared during a soccer game.According to the documents, a cop witnessed a UFO at the 1999 FA Cup quarterfinal between Manchester United and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, which is Chelsea’s home turf.The officer said that he saw something he had never seen before, describing it as an almond-shaped yellow object with four lights.The files, consisting of over 6,700 pages, include comments of UFO witnesses recor
ICC to sentence Congo militia boss

Jul 10, 2012

THE HAGUE (AFP) ― The International Criminal Court will hand Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga its first-ever sentence on Tuesday, after his conviction for using child soldiers in a brutal conflict in the central African country.Lubanga, 51, was convicted in March of war crimes, specifically for using child soldiers in his rebel army in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002-03, in the ICC’s first verdict since it started work a decade ago.The former militia commander will face the bench at a p
Annan to put new ‘approach’ to rebels after Assad talks

Jul 10, 2012

DAMASCUS (AFP) -- International envoy Kofi Annan has announced a new political “approach” in a bid to end Syria‘s 16-month-old conflict, as the West voices concern over the violence spreading across the Lebanese border.“We discussed the need to end the violence and ways and means of doing so. We agreed an approach which I will share with the armed opposition,” U.N.-Arab League envoy Annan said after meeting Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Monday.Syrian foreign ministry spokesman
Egypt’s Morsi, judiciary in parliament tug of war

Jul 10, 2012

CAIRO (AFP) ― Egypt’s top court has rejected a decree by President Mohamed Morsi to reinstate the parliament it ruled invalid, setting him on a collision course with the military which says the rule of law must be respected.“All the rulings and decisions of the Supreme Constitutional Court are final and not subject to appeal ... and are binding for all state institutions,” the court said in a statement Monday.The powerful Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which handed the rules of powe
Romanian court confirms president’s suspension

Jul 10, 2012

Romania’s constitutional court on Monday approved last week’s vote by lawmakers to suspend the country’s president, and appointed a member of the center-left ruling coalition to replace him.“The court notes that the procedure for the suspension from his duties of Romanian President Traian Basescu has been respected ... and that the function of interim president will be assured by Crin Antonescu,” it ruled.Prime Minister Victor Ponta welcomed the ruling, which he said confirmed that “the governme
Mexico elections certain to face court challenges

Jul 10, 2012

MEXICO CITY (AP) ― Mexican leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday he will mount court challenges against the results of the July 1 election, claiming vote-buying and campaign overspending by the winner of official vote counts, Enrique Pena Nieto.The announcement comes amid rising calls to investigate what appears to have been the distribution of thousands of pre-paid gift cards to voters before the election, and allegations by Lopez Obrador’s supporters that some
EU’s Barroso, Netanyahu talk Iran, peace process

Jul 10, 2012

JERUSALEM (AFP) ― EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran’s nuclear program on the second day of his trip to Israel and the West Bank.The two leaders “discussed the importance of expanding cooperation between Israel and Europe in all areas, Iran’s effort to arm itself with nuclear weapons and the resumption of the peace talks with the Palestinians,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.European Union officials said in