The Korea Herald

Legendary car designer, racer Shelby dies at 89

May 13, 2012

DALLAS (AP) ― Decades after a heart condition forced him to retire from racing, Carroll Shelby still loved to drive muscle cars. Well into his 80s, the legendary car designer spent hours testing his last Mustang Shelby GT500, which sets a new record for horsepower and hits a top speed of more than 200 mph.A one-time chicken farmer, Shelby had more than a half-dozen successful careers during his long life: champion race car driver, racing team owner, automotive consultant and safari tour operator
Facebook Co-Founder may gain choosing Singapore over U.S.

May 13, 2012

Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co- founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill. Facebook plans to raise as much as $11.8 billion through the IPO, the biggest in history for an Internet company. Saverin’s stake is about 4 percent, according to the website whoownsfacebook.com. At the high end of the proposed IPO market capitalization, that would be wor
Palestinians say hunger strike breakthrough close

May 13, 2012

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) ― Palestinian officials said Saturday they expected a breakthrough soon on efforts to end a mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israel, some of them close to death.But Amin Shoman, head of a monitoring group of Palestinian political factions, said that if Israel gave a negative response, prisoners would intensify their fast and break off further talks with prison authorities.“The prisoners will stop taking vitamins and water and stop negotiation
Men in Afghan police uniforms kill 2 NATO troops

May 13, 2012

KABUL (AP) ― Men wearing Afghan police uniforms shot dead two NATO service members Saturday in southern Afghanistan, authorities said, the latest in a string of attacks on international troops by Afghan security forces or militants disguised as police.Two other coalition service members also died Saturday in Afghanistan, one in an insurgent attack and another of non-battle related injuries.There were conflicting reports about the shooting in Helmand province.Fareed Ahmad, a spokesman for the Hel
Algerian regime tightens grip despite Arab Spring

May 13, 2012

ALGIERS (AFP) ― Algeria’s ruling party tightened its grip on power in an election that bucked the regional trend of Islamists gaining strength since the Arab Spring, according to results Friday that drew accusations of fraud.President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s National Liberation Front won 220 out of 462 seats up for grabs in Thursday’s election, improving on its share in the outgoing national assembly.The seven Islamist parties contesting the polls could only manage a combined 59 seats, a major se
Syria violence kills 15 as U.N. mission grows

May 13, 2012

DAMASCUS (AFP) ― Violence in Syria cost at least 15 lives on Saturday as a U.N. force to oversee a truce neared half its planned strength, monitors said.In Idlib province, a stronghold near the Turkish border of rebels fighting President Bahar al-Assad’s regime, security force gunfire killed a man and a woman during a series of raids, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Another civilian and a child were killed in pre-dawn shelling in central Hama province, the Britain-based watchdog sai
Indonesia jet crash bodies sent for identification

May 13, 2012

CIJERUK, Indonesia (AFP) ― Body bags containing the victims of a Russian jet crash arrived in the Indonesian capital Saturday as Russian investigators flew in to probe how the new aircraft smashed into the side of a dormant volcano.Rescuers said the bodies of those who perished when Sukhoi’s new Superjet 100 hit Mount Salak in western Java on Wednesday, killing all on board, were badly dismembered and had been placed in 16 body bags.“Today we did the evacuation by land and air, and we brought al
Putin to visit China after skipping U.S.

May 13, 2012

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russia’s newly sworn-in President Vladimir Putin will make what could be his first foreign trip to China next month after deciding to skip the G8 summit in the U.S., a diplomatic source said on Friday.Putin’s June 5-7 visit will include talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, the source told Russian news agencies.Putin, sworn in for a third term as president on Monday after spending the past four years as premier, had
Man charged with filming roommates

May 13, 2012

Police in Florida said they arrested a man accused of hiding a camera in an air vent to record his roommates having sex in their bedroom.Key West police said officers were called to the home Sunday by a 30-year-old man who told them he found the recording device taped inside the air conditioner vent directly over the bed he shares with his 26-year-old girlfriend, the Key West Citizen reported Frid
Man wins six $1M prizes from same lottery

May 13, 2012

An Arizona man who purchased six Powerball lottery tickets with the same numbers ended up with six $1 million prizes.Karen Bach, an Arizona Lottery spokeswoman, said the Glendale man, who asked to remain anonymous, purchased the tickets for the April 25 lottery with the numbers 4, 25, 29, 34, and 43 for Powerball 29 and each ticket won him a $1 million second prize, the Arizona Republic reported F
2012 not end of world for Mayans after all

May 13, 2012

Mayan wall writings in Guatemala include calendars suggesting the culture was not convinced the world will end in 2012, as many have believed, researchers say.Some previously discovered Mayan calendars did not go beyond 2012 -- but the newly discovered writings and calendars do, scientists said."So much for the supposed end of the world," said archaeologist William Saturno of Boston University, le
Japan population clock shows 'extinction' in 1,000 years

May 13, 2012

Japanese researchers on Friday unveiled a population clock that showed the nation's people could theoretically become extinct in 1,000 years because of declining birth rates.Japanese people cross a street in Tokyo on Thursday. (AP-Yonhap News)Academics in the northern city of Sendai said that Japan's population of children aged up to 14, which now stands at 16.6 million, is shrinking at the rate o
Romney counters notion he bullied gay classmates

May 11, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama’s presumed Republican challenger in this year’s election, apologized Thursday for “stupid” high school pranks and moved quickly to stamp out any notion that he bullied schoolmates because they were gay. Romney’s swift response reflected the candidate’s recognition that his record on gay rights is under heightened scrutiny after Obama on Wednesday became the first president in history to support gay marriage. Obama made his historic endorsemen
Egypt sees Arab’s first presidential debate

May 11, 2012

CAIRO (AP) ― Two election front-runners, a former foreign minister and a moderate Islamist, squared off Thursday in the Arab world’s first ever presidential debate, trading barbs over the role of religion and how to bring democratic reform to Egypt.Egyptians crowded around television sets in outdoor cafes for the four-hour debate, aired on several independent TV channels ― a startling new experiment for Egypt after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule under President Hosni Mubarak, ousted last
Eighteen month-old baby weighs over 19kg

May 11, 2012

Eighteen month-old Dan Dan has been taken to the Hunan Provincial Children’s Hospital in China by her parents who were concerned over the baby’s massive size.Dan Dan weights over 19kg, which is more than double the standard weight for her age. “She has a big appetite,” her mother said, explaining that Dan Dan can nearly finish a big bowl of rice each meal.Despite the baby’s worrying weight, Dan Dan’s parents say they do not know how she could have grown so fat.“She started to grow quickly from o